So, what are you doing this Valentine’s Day?  

Please don’t tell me about your candlelit dinner by the bay nor the meal you plan to whip up for your partner;  I don’t care for that (although you could tell the hubby so he’d get some ideas.)  I’m more curious to find out how active, adventurous couples plan to spend Valentine’s Day, which lands perfectly on a Saturday—the best day for a romantic long run before the sun rises…aaaah, if only I could run long!

Last week, I got an email about Valentine’s Yoga Classes at Yoga Manila.  I thought it would be fun, doing pretzel poses and head stands with the hubby, so I enthusiastically asked him “Hey, you wanna do this?”  He barked back “No way!”  Well, it was worth a try.

A long run together would’ve been ideal, but I can’t run over 5k just yet.  Swimming is not a good idea too as hubby doesn’t enjoy it as much as I do.  We’ll probably end up biking as scheduled in my program.

After that, I’m thinking we could go to Clark to watch the Philippine Hot Air Balloon fiesta.  (Thanks to my siblings for the idea.)  No workout for us and I’m sure I’ll be drooling when I see the roads of Clark, but it should be fun.  Anyway, those balloons may serve as a perfect distraction to the long runs I’m missing.

It seems to be working!  My homemade training recipe to rid me of Runner’s Knee and ITB problems is finally showing positive results. Maybe Jun is right, I should start calling myself Dr. Bull Runner due to my extensive experience with injuries.

Last month, I created the “TBR 2 x 6 Recovery Program” which goes like this:

MON:  Spin 1hr + Weights (Upper body)
TUES: Swim, min 1km
WED: Run, min 5km + Weights (Lower body) + Hatha Yoga (PM)
THUR: Spin, 1hr + Weights (Upper body)
FRI: Swim, min 1km 
SAT: Bike out + Weights (Lower body)
SUN: Run, min 5km + Bikram Yoga (PM)
* Plus: sports massage twice in a week

Why 2 x 6? Because it’s twice per week for each of the six activities: run, swim, bike (this is actually thrice), yoga, weights and my favorite, massage! There’s a REST DAY that pops up in there every week depending on my sched with work and the kids. But, for the most part, I’ve stuck with the program the past month as best as I can.

To be honest with you, I don’t know what I was thinking when I created this program. It’s almost like a serious triathlete’s training program, but without much of the distance and intensity as I don’t want to injure the few body parts I have that are functioning properly.

So far, it’s given me a lot of benefits, from keeping the injury blues at bay to strengthening all the other muscles that were never touched by running.  But, the biggest benefit so far is this: Running pain-free twice this week!  Yes, I think I’m finally on my way to full recovery!  Crossing my fingers!

Guess who has a new hand-me-down roadie…

Uhm, well actually it isn’t mine. It was just entrusted to me by my dearest running buddy, Annie, before she left for Singapore.

Annie loves this bike of hers.  She cleans it every morning and cares for it as if it was her 4th child. Her decision to leave the bike with me truly meant a lot to me as she knew how much I needed cross training to get over this injury. I guess, being best running buddies, she knew that I would take forever to spend so much money on purchasing my own bike.

Last Saturday, exactly one week to the day Annie left for Singapore, I thought of spending the day with her beloved bike. I planned on making casual conversation with the bike and try to get to know it better in hopes that it would make for a good training buddy. Unfortunately, the rain started to pour so my date with the roadie was postponed.

Instead, I headed for the gym for solo time spinning plus strength training.  Gawd, it was so boring.  (Can I just say this one more time?  I hate the gym!)  I took a quick shower and headed out the door dwelling on the mind-numbing workout I just had vs. the fun I would have had if Annie hadn’t left. After all, it was a Saturday morning and Saturday mornings were always LSD days with Annie.  

That’s when it happened. Suddenly, I missed Annie so much. By the time I entered the car, I was crying my eyes out, utterly depressed over the loss of Annie.  I texted her about how much I missed her knowing that I wouldn’t get a reply soon because she’d be busy working.

Ugh. All this drama creeps up on me every now and then—when I drive past San Juanico where we used to meet, when I’m thinking about signing up for a race, when I remember Saturday mornings—but, I’ll be fine. Annie is doing great over there too.  

That Saturday evening, Annie called.  She asked me how the injury was going, her bike, upcoming races, and she went on to tell me that she lived near a track oval (lucky girl) and a huge sports center. She’s been awfully busy so she’s been running through the city at night. We chatted about everything and anything under the sun, just like before, as if she hadn’t left.

As for the bike and I, I have a feeling we’ll get along just as well as Annie and I did…

She didn’t look like an angel when she arrived.  Clothed in the generic pristine, white uniforms of massage therapists, her outfit was perhaps the only thing angelic about her in my eyes.  She was a heavy, dark woman with boy’s cut hair, almost as big as Eddie Murphy in the movie Norbit…okay, maybe not that big.

This was the first time I had tried out this home service massage agency and, with one look at the masahista before me, I knew I hit the jackpot.  I asked her in the vernacular “So, can you give me a super super super strong massage, especially on my thighs?”  She nodded shyly, but even if she had said otherwise, I wouldn’t have believed her.  This girl was going to squeeze out all the tightness from my poor legs.

While other masahistas would give equal attention to every part of the body, this one took extra care of my legs.  Or, shall we say, she gave it some hard pounding and beating due to its misbehavior over the past few weeks.  Aaah, it was so painful but it was just what I needed.  All the while, as I lay in bed, I had my eyes shut tight in pain but I was thanking the high heavens for sending me a masahista who knew how to loosen up my tight muscles.  Yes, there is a God!

I was viewing Leica Carpo’s photo in NYC Marathon again last night.  And, lo and behold, I was surprised to discover that Coach Rio secretly ran the marathon too.  Seems like he put on some weight though (don’t we all when we’re abroad?) and quickly shed it off before he flew back to Manila.  

Can you spot Coach Rio?

* Coach, joke lang! 🙂
** Again, thanks to Leica for the photos.