Posts Tagged with: "Alabang"

I haven’t posted for a while now (yes, a few days is long for me) for two reasons: 1) I attended a four-day seminar, which to an independent, multi-tasking designer/mother like me, felt like forever and left me exhausted every single day, and 2) I have fever. Argh…I feel terrible about skipping training the next few days.

I hit the sack early this evening at around 8:30 but couldn’t get an ounce of sleep with the kids jumping around in the background. By 10:30, I received a text from Ben and, despite the achy bones and slight headache, I knew I had to get up and view his blog.

You see, I was fortunate enough to be handpicked by Photographer Ben to be one among the few that he’s shot for his runner’s profile. (First was Chaia, followed by Coach Rio.)  Ben is a magician with the camera. His photographs are simply amazing. Combine that talent with a great passion for running and you get running photos that just leave you speechless (and in Coach Rio’s case left girls drooling!)

Here’s my favorite photo climbing up my not so favorite hill in Country Club Drive…

And here I am running past St. James the Great Church where hubby and I got married…
This is me on the treadmill with the kids drawing. Ben, I love this shot!

And this is where Ben almost tumbled over as he chased me down the street..

Last but not the least, this is what Ben calls my profile shot…

To view more TBR shots (where my thighs look huge, my tummy is bulging, or my face looks kinda funny which is largely my fault, not Ben’s!) and other runners that Ben has profiled, click here to visit the Photographer on the Run. To race organizers, Ben also shoots races, such as Condura Run and Champion Run.

Thanks so much to Ben and RC for the photos!

This time it’s for real… I am back! My 7-day forced abstinence from running is officially over. I am healed!

– Annie and I after our run. We look so poised! You wouldn’t believe that we were laughing like noisy high school girls before this shot. It was a happy happy day. –

I ran 7.7 km at Ayala Alabang today at a conservative 6.22 pace and there was absolutely no pain. None whatsoever! Not even a hint of a tiny popping sound from the smallest cartilage of my left knee.  Woohoo!

Good riddance knee injury! Don’t you dare come back!

Should I try it or not? I knew it was dangerously addictive. I had heard of so many innocent, naive people in the past who simply experimented with this and, after experiencing the proverbial high, they could never let it go; they were forever hooked.

I stood there in the middle of the road, my mind racing. I took a deep breath and did it. I gave the LSD a try.

For non-runners or newbies, LSD in the running world is this: LONG, SLOW DISTANCE. As Jeff Galloway emphasizes in his book: “They are the single most important element in your program.” Here are some of the benefits one can derive from a long, slow distance run:

1. strengthens your heart
2. increases endurance
3. trains your muscles to burn fat more efficiently
4. increases number and size of mitochondria
5. increases capillary growth into muscle fibers
6. increases myoglobin concentration in muscle fibers
7. increases aerobic efficiency
8. increase in maximum VO2
9. builds your mental toughness

Yes, I survived the very first LSD I did alone last Saturday! (Hey ultramarathoners, don’t laugh, 20 km is long for me!)

The greatest thing about this is that I thoroughly enjoyed it! At first I thought I would succumb to exhaustion or boredom, but it was quite the opposite. I was excited to see the outcome of this challenge I put out for myself. Could I do it? 30 minutes into the run, I felt strong. I wondered, could adding Back Street Boys to my playlist have helped in giving me that extra energy today?

1 hour in and I still felt strong, but I was getting a bit worried about hydration. So, I headed back to my headquarters (read: my in-laws house) and played the part of a trail runner. You see, before the run, I surreptitiously hid half a bottle of gatorade in their garage (just as trail runners plant their snacks and drinks in the bushes). Excitedly, I snuck into the garage, inhaled the gatorade in a second, and headed out again for the 2nd part of my run full revitalized.

Somewhere after the 1st hour, I felt slight knee pain. Wary of my meniscus problem, I varied the pace (I know, I know, I should’ve been going a little bit slower) and I added a few walking breaks. I initially planned on getting just 18 km in, but due to my lack of navigational skills, I miscalculated my distance and found myself closing in on 20 km when my car was still nowhere in sight. Fortunately, I survived without having to scrape myself off the road. After several minutes, Lance Armstrong announced I had ran the farthest distance in my record. Woohoo!

After such a fantastic experience, I wondered how anyone who’s ever tried LSD resist not to do this long, run at least once every two weeks (as prescribed by Jeff)? I can only expect to crave for this very, very often. I am hooked on LSD, I tell you.

Reference: Dr. Stephen M. Pribut

I am pooped.

Annie, Mary Anne, and I ran an estimated 18k for 1 1/2 hours at Alabang early this morning. That’s the farthest I’ve gone ever. Close to the end of the run, my big toe started hurting (I cringed at the thought of another dead toenail), my calves felt sore, and I was slightly exhausted…but, boy oh boy, did it feel awesome.

Now I know what Rick, my new blogger friend, meant when he wrote “My legs stiffened up quickly after I stopped running, a good sign that they got a good workout. Just an overall pain and stiffness from hard effort, nothing indicating injury.”

I read Rick’s blog just last night and thought little of the post, but after this morning’s run, I completely got it (as I’m sure all of you other running masochists do!) Eureka, I thought!

Last summer, when I had started building up to a 10k, each training day challenged my body to its fullest. I would arrive home feeling like a truck ran over me yet my mind would be racing with excitement over the next run. Nowadays, I’ve been religiously running at an easy to medium intensity 4x a week but I knew something was missing. On good days, I would run 10k nonchalantly. On bad days, I wouldn’t wake up for a scheduled run and force myself to make up for it later on the treadmill. Either way I’d end the run feeling like I didn’t even workout at all.  Yup, I was still running but I felt like my body was bored.

Now I know the reason: it wasn’t challenging for me anymore!

So, today I declare that, every Saturday henceforth, my runs shall be long, intense, heart-wrenching, leg-numbing, belly-shrinking, toenail-blackening workout days. I shall challenge myself to run longer every other week (as best friend Jeff Galloway advised) and welcome, if not conquer, sore muscles and aching feet. I shall focus more on my time, not my speed nor my distance.  And, I should arrive home saying only these five words: “I’m pooped…but I’m happy.”

Bring on the pain, brother!

If you need even more reason to run (and bike or swim) then this should give you one. On Sept. 8, the Gabriel Symphony Foundation will hold its 5th Annual Multi Sport Celebration in Memory of Gabriel, the little boy of Atty. Butch Sebastian and Senator Pia Cayetano, who was born with a rare chromosomal disorder and passed away at nine months.

The idea is to get people to participate in a sports event of their choice for the purpose of raising funds for the foundation (while having fun and getting a good workout, of course!) The foundation supports children with disabilities, such as those in need of cleft-palate-lip operations, as well as blind and deaf children.

On Sept. 8, you can choose from the following activities: (as taken from the Gabriel Symphony website)

• Individuals – they can do the regular run, walk or bike for any length of time and distance and target a specific beneficiary by donating a specific amount for every kilometer that they make.
• Kids – there will be a Maxitoylab Super Kids Triathlon wherein kids will accomplish a triathlon with distances based on their age category.
• Pinay In Action (PIA) Women’s Tri – this will be a buddy system triathlon wherein a seasoned triathlete is partnered with a first time or neophyte triathlete to guide them through a triathlon distance of 250m swim, 10km bike and 2.5km run.
• Clubs – groups of friends belonging to a Club that will run or bike together for a cause and not just simply for a workout.
• Corporations – employees of a corporation come together for a team building activity and get fit by doing a relay for 12 hours.

This will be held from 6:00AM to 6:00PM at the Polo Field of Alabang Country Club, Ayala Alabang Village, Muntinlupa. Food and drinks will be available for all participants. For more information, visit Gabriel Symphony, email blessings@gabrielsymphony.com or call Vib Marabut at 552-9003 or mobile number 0927-4045187.