Happy Christmas!

Its quite a bore coming to work after Christmas.  It seems like it just too soon.  The best Holiday of they year just spent for a day, just like say a Sunday but merrier?!  Well, I’m here in the office… early… quiet… will be sleepy in a while… with tired legs… Zzzz…

Anyway, yes, tired legs – have been running this week, after a zero run the previous week.  So far I managed to wake up this morning (though late) with the thought that I will run.  So the runner in me is focused on getting back on track.  This December might have affected my fitness level seriously than I thought:

• Having some foot pains now – (from a 5k-10k-5k run at 6min pace)
• Felt my body’s a bit heavier on runs

Now I have mentioned in the previous blog that December really was a toxic month.  It took away the rest, the food and made me dehydrated at times.  Those contributed to the current level I’m now at.

Realization

Good health is a continuous process.  We can’t just say that I’ve been good this month so I’ll take this week off.  Well, you can probably have 1 cheat day, but really not a long time.

The good thing is that I have come to realize that while still early.  And I started to go back on track this week.  Plus, there will be quite a long holiday after the 27^th.  So there’ll be more time to run, yey!

Speaking of long holiday, 2013 will be over soon.  Might have to do the year-end blog to get a good look at what I accomplished, to cap things off and to create a new running goal for 2014.  Let’s do this!

Happy Holidays!  More miles this 2014!

A lot to make up for and a mid-life - transition?

Ok, so I haven’t been blogging enough for about 3 months now, and this month have been laying low in mileage as well.  But that doesn’t mean that I’m about to give up running!

The “ber” months are the crucial times for retail, which in my case have been the most important months since I started working.  It is the time of the year where plans are executed and there really are a lot of those plans in place.  We even opened around 11 stores from November until December, 8 of those within 3 weeks of December.

Although I have managed to receive a free trip to Spain last October 20 to 29 with the boss, and even though Spain is not really on my choice of places to visit, it turned out just fine.  I have managed to run the cold and windy beach of San Sebastian, and got to circle around Retiro Park.  I also got to experience my first – first run on a treadmill!

There is a blog about the Spain trip, I’m surely gonna finish it before Christmas! I sure had a lot of good and not-so-good experiences there that I would like to document. Hehe!

Now this blog mentions about Mid Life… Transition.  Suddenly came out upon noticing that I have been missing on some “things” that I used to enjoy – basically socializing.  I came to realize that I have been prioritizing heavily on 3 things – family, running and work; all others come very far from these 3.  Cases in point:

1. Due time from work to commute on the way home with the wife to get some playtime with my daughter
2. Can’t afford to go late night for a group drinking session as I will run in the morning
3. Make sure to free up the weekend for the following activities:
1. Morning long runs
2. House chores
3. Playtime
4. Trip to the mall
4. Being (unreasonably) uptight in work area to meet deadlines

Have been a bit depressed for 2 days from this, yes just 2 days and I’m now fine that quickly.  Realization – avoid being an @$$ in work, and there’s always time to run and to interact.  Well, family time is still the same, I won’t sacrifice that.

So does this mean I’m gonna take time off running?  Nope!  Just time management; I don’t have to train hard, but instead train smart (whatever this means, I’ll have to find out) well I guess I really don’t have to rush into being fast and running far.

So does this also mean that I’ll be softer at work?  A bit, yes – realized that I have to be human every once in a while.

So its really a transition, not a crisis.  This was an eye-opener, to change for the better.  Cheers to a new Runner In Me! 

Sante Barley Domination Run 2013

Another successful running event to end my 2013 race season (yeah, I do have a race season so I won’t burn out) thanks to Sante Barley.

This caps of my 3-21k (including a 25k NB Run) for the year.  And what a very fitting end as I got a PB of 2 hours!  Okay, let’s summarize:

RACE	Distance/Chip-time	Distance/Soleus-time
Milo HM	21k/2:09:31 (9.76km/h)	21.62k/2:09:38 (10.0km/h)
New Balance – 25k	25k/2:36:11 (9.61km/h)	25.77k/2:36:12 (9.9km/h)
Sante Barley HM	21k/1:59:40 (10.61km/h)	21.35k/1:59:43 (10.7km/h)

Coming from a 2:10 HM to a 2:00 HM is a huge improvement.  Thinking about it I have come to a couple of theories:

1. Milo HM probably was a case of the jitters plus blisters
2. NB 25k adjusted the shoes but the Buendia overpass was too much for me
3. Sante Barley’s route was relatively flat with very few turns; plus the 2 previous experiences helped

For now I’m just happy with the result.  As I think aside from the reasons above, my trainings really did it for me.

Going back to the race, was a bit irritated even before the race began as (1) traffic at Pier area due to trucks and this was 3am!  Almost didn’t make it here; (2) 30 minutes late gun start, although I made it just in time, plus the wait due to the delay.

The route was mostly flat with a few minor inclines.  I felt it on the 7^th or 8^th kilometer mark as we approach the end of coastal hi-way on the way to Cavitex.  After that it was a straight, relatively flat Cavitex road, then back.

There’s nothing much to say about the race though as I made an even pace all through out.  Except that I think after the first 8k I began taking water at almost every stop.  I don’t do that on practice runs but for this race I felt the need to.  It didn’t affect my time that much though.

I knew I was doing great after the 10k where my time was around 57-ish minutes.  It was there that I focused on my pace and form and not to get too excited.  Although I felt the need to slow down coming in to the 20km, but upon seeing the clock at 2:00:xx gave me my second wind.  I got a strong finish (along with a strong facial expression)

As for the way the race was organized, my comments below:

1. Late gun start – this is a big negative for me. 
2. Dark portion on some part of the route
3. No energy drinks on station – although there was plenty water
4. Late-finishers complained about dried-up water stations (wouldn’t know)
5. Heavy investment on photographers – plus plus points!
6. New addition – late result posting!  Its been more than a week now! (update – released after 8 days!)

What a way to end my running season!  I’m really happy with my performance. 

So what’s next for me?  I’ll take running easy now (or at least I plan to).  Not much pressure in running xx distance at xx time – just to enjoy running.  Unfortunately, last weekend run was a 1:33:xx 10-miler – still a competitive time for me.  Oh well, I guess I’ll just run it as I feel it.

If the next few weeks I’m still up to running “competitively”, I might just move on to the longer 32k.  Hmm, still having some “boring” issues during long runs, might need to work on that first.