In my previous post, which I now realize is over a month old, I hit the marathon wall again, and when I did, I panicked and didn’t deal with it well as I could actually have.

You see, I hate that marathon wall, so as early as now, I am training my body to prepare and hopefully avoid it in my next marathon race.

Last year, I read BaldRunner’s blog on the Collapse Point or popularly known as the Marathon Wall. He mentioned that the average weekly mileage to avoid the marathon wall would have to be 105Kms (65miles) for 2months (this would have to include tapering). I cannot help but agree with him.

So for the past 4weeks, I’ve been gradually increasing my weekly mileage to try to pass that 65MPW, increasing at approx 10% per week. In my earlier runs, when I increase by 20%, I then feel quite exhausted that week. Fortunately, my still young body seems to absorb this quickly and then adapt to the next challenge. It seems to handle 10% increases better.

I’ve calculated my theoretical maximum mileage, based on the maximum time I could spend for running, considering I work 10hours/day with 2hours commute time, to be 70miles per week. That would mean sacrificing other hobbies or cross training with other sports, that consume a lot of time, like table tennis, or even blogging, which explains why I blog even less the more I run

This week I was able to finally run 69miles, quite close to that 70MPW theoretical limit. My long run has been increased to 24miles. Another disadvantage I see with higher mileage training is the need to sleep more, and rest frequently. I try to take a 30minute nap at work, and at the bus during commute times. Also, in order for my body to absorb all these running, I try to eat more, and I seem to be successful in avoiding overtraining syndrome symptoms like low energy at work like I’ve did before.

Weekly Mileage

The current ramp-up of my mileage felt the same as when i first started ramping-up my mileage early 2008, and even on 2009. The limiting factor on running higer mileage seems to be the strength of the connective tissues of the running muscles, not necessarily VO2max or speed. This may explain why it will take years for runners to really run long, or 65MPW for this matter, no matter how talented they may be.

Pace

From the articles I’ve read, running more have diminishing returns of performance as one increases beyond 40MPW. However, this will vary greatly from runner to runner. I doubt that this high mileage training would see impressive improvements for 5K and 10K races, but I’m hoping to do well in my next 21K and Marathon races. If I were to successfully totally avoid the wall, I’m expecting 5 to 10minute improvement in my marathon times.

Right now, I have to admit 69miles in a week is exhausting. I will probably do a setback week next week, cutting my long run back to 20miles. After 6weeks, when my body has finally settled into this higher mileage level, then I will start to add hill training and speedwork. Hopefully, I could avoid injuries, and release new higher levels of running in me.

“Failure is an Event, Never a Person”. These are the most encouraging words I’ve received today from my Milo Marathon idol, Vener Roldan, after my heartbreaking failure to qualify in the Milo Eliminations yesterday that had a cutoff of 3:45 for my young age group. I finished in a little under 3:49, I still have to see the official chip results, since I wasn’t able to press the time immediately after crossing the finish line.

The course that seemed to be flat and fast in facebook turned out to be a grueling tough marathon course with 10 flyover hills that seems to get steeper and steeper every time I cross them.

Preparation
I was able to sleep well for 2 days before the event, I believe they were about 10hours per day, which really recharged my brain and body. Beth cooked spaghetti for me and my dad, but I don’t think I ate as much as I could, which seemed to punish me later on. About a week before, anticipating a really hot and humid marathon, I purchased the thinnest Nike Dri-Fit singlet I could find. Now I realize this was a smart move. Like baldrunner, I believe in minimalist running, but I could still see fast runners dressing up like they were going to run a hot ultramarathon race. Because of my experience last year, I knew it was unnecessary to bring hydration belts and caps. Lastly, experimenting with what Patrick Concepcion texted me, I took 2 tablets of Alaxan (500mg each) 2hours before the race.

Conservative Start
I never believe in jack-rabbit starting (nor in very slow running) and I felt a little discomfort in my left calf that made me nervous of running fast in the beginning. Anticipating the 2 consecutive flyovers at Buendia and then at EDSA, I never picked up the pace till I reached the flatter Macapagal Ave., where I tried running at 8:10/mi (5:06/km). After about 6 or 10miles, my average pace was at 8:30/mi (5:18/km), until I reached the Giganotosaur Alfred .

Gosh... I'm 12inches shorter than Alfred.

Endorphin Addict
At that time, I was high on endorphins or what they call “second wind”, and our pace were getting faster, my average pace were 8:25/mi(5:15/km), I had lots of energy at that point that I shouted and greeted at fellow runners and takbo.ph support (which is probably a wrong move, should have been conserving energy). I felt I could run even faster, but I thought I should remain conservative, just qualify and maybe be more ambitious in the finals. At 16miles, Alfred seems to be exhausted, slowed down, so we said goodbye to each other till we met again in the finish line.

Freak Minor Injury
At mile18, there was this elite looking woman marathoner who asked me if her competitor was far behind us. I looked back to my right, but my right foot landed badly and I seem to have twisted my right knee, it felt like a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) the pain was in the inner side of my right knee. I was shocked so I stopped, tried to gently massage the pain. I jogged, the pain was still there, but then later I found a stride that seemed to mask the pain. Then mile after mile, the knee pain disappeared. WHEW!!! Thank you Patrick Concepcion for the ALAXAN advice!!!!

Hitting the wall
I have to really admire the Milo Marathon organizers this time. They provided me with 3 packets of Carbohydrate Gels. 1 gel should provide extra energy of 1 mile of running. So that extra 3 gels should provide 3 extra miles of running. It seemed to work, I hit the wall exactly in the 23rd mile, at the turn-around point below the EDSA flyover, right after climbing it, I needed to turn-around and climb back up again. I wasn’t in pain like I was last year, so I told myself this “WALL” isn’t so bad anymore, I can do it. I was so wrong. When I reached the flat portion of Roxas Boulevard, I had no more energy left in me, and when I looked at my average pace in garmin, I was already at my dangerous 8:35/mi (5:21/km) limit that would predict a 3:45 finish. Worst of all, felt hungry and my stomach was grumbling, and there were no food in sight. With gas so low, I was forced to do lots of walk breaks. I did the jog/walk routine.

The WALL

Giving Up
When I reached the last hill of Buendia Flyover, I simply gave-up and walked up the hill. My average pace had exceeded the 3:45 predicted pace already. At the summit of the hill, I forced myself to run downhill. Baldrunner greeted me but I had no more energy to greet him back, I feel humiliated and a complete failure at that point. Reaching the bottom of the hill, my mind was in dilemma. I could force myself to run as fast as possible in the last 3K, possibly to qualify but be injured and be marathonless for the next 6months. On the other hand, I could jog/walk slowly until the finishline and stay healthy and probably run more marathons for the remaining 6months of the year. With my bad experience of ITBS injury last year, I chose the latter. I gave up. I lost the qualifying time, but at least I’ve preserved the health of my legs.

Idol Marathoner
Then 2kms to go, I found myself running with my idol 3:37 marathoner Jay Nacino. His inspiring story of first failing to qualify the Milo Marathon and then making an awesome comeback the next year gave somehow comforted me that it was OK not to qualify, but I needed to train better and try again next year. Jay gave me encouraging words and tips and told me to slow down. He gave me 2 cups of water, and I really appreciated it. With 100 or 200meters to go, he told me to go for it, and while he kept yelling, I kept accelerating till I reached my top speed.

Sprint to Finish

I finished in 3:48:XX, but it took me a few seconds before I pressed the stopped button of my Garmin. I am disappointed, why the heck is the qualifying time now a 3:45? If the qualifying time was still 4hours, I would probably be enjoying my triumph of 3:48 marathon, bragging it to my friends… But no, I did not qualify. Now I am humbled, and have an even more growing hunger to run more, train more, increase my mileage more, run my intervals faster. I want more! More! More! I believe my fellow marathoners who missed the qualifying time share my feelings at this moment. My heart now aches more than my legs. I can’t wait for tomorrow so I could begin training again. But for now, I need to go back to the drawing board and see what worked and didn’t.

What worked:
Treadmill Running – This helped me run comfortably indoors for my five 20miler long runs in the hottest summer on record.

What didn’t
20milers – are for beginners. I began my marathon training last year with 20milers running at race pace. Now that I run strong for the first 20miles of the marathon and still hit the wall twice after that, I now realize this training philosophy is flawed.

FIX for the next Marathon Training
When I began running 5K and 10K races, I was running my long runs for 16kms at easy paces. When I ran my first 21K race, I already did a sub2hour 21K in training. So logic should naturally apply to the Marathon. I simply need to gradually build-up my long runs to eventually 26.2miles in training, but in a very slow pace. Maybe even 30miles. If I could do it several times, I should be able to avoid the wall in my next PR marathon target. Also, I remember Wayne and Jay suggesting 60miles (100kms) as the weekly mileage for a 3:30 marathon target. And that includes speedwork.

For now, I will remember this marathon failure event every time I feel tired in my long runs.

3:48 disappointing marathon

Papa finished 42K in 5:59, Beth finished 10K in 1:03. Me, well forget my time...

How am I going to do this? Global warming seems to be the real world problem for Marathon Runners. Then there was this one time in facebook or daily mile, there was this girl runner (from takbo.ph) who goes to the gym regularly, and then complained that it was too hot to for her to complete her 5K outside. I kid her and told her she should run on the treadmill in her gym. She never replied and probably ignored me, since she kept on complaining of the extreme heat and humidity for weeks to come. I on the other hand, saw the beauty of running on the treadmill.

In the June 2010 issue of Runnersworld Philippines, they had a nice article there about treadmill running. However, the article seems to have been copy-pasted from the US edition that I also read (forgot the month). The article recommends treadmill running as a substitute to running outside on unfriendly weathers like extreme snow or rain. However, the article (both editions) failed to recommend its most practical real-world application in Metro Manila’s extremely hot weather during summer especially in the midst of Global Warming. Our summers will just get hotter and hotter. The edition was June, but as of this writing June is almost over and it still feels like summer. Strange, but the Philippine edition also doesn’t seem to realize that most Filipino runners welcome the coolness of the rain (Just not too much rain that it floods the roads and we could no longer run).

Most Filipino Hardcore runners would probably look at treadmill running as taboo, since it doesn’t entirely simulate the hot weather running conditions in the air-conditioned gym, but I find that cooler air temparature enables me to complete really good quality 20mi (32K) long runs at 8mins/mile pace (5mins/km) and at times even faster! So rather than running very slow 10min/mi (6:15/km) at uncomfortably hot conditions, I chose the comfort of the air-conditioned gym and hammered already five (5) twenty milers over the past 2 or 3months in quality paces. However, I suspect I could be cheating myself and not be actually running at those speeds displayed on the treadmill, so I hammered those long runs the best as I could. Later I realized the treadmill must have been right all along since I would be in DOMS agony for 2 to 3days to come.

The real downside to treadmill running is extreme boredom. I can use ipod, watch TV, have a running partner, but it’s still really boring compared with road running. The first 10Kms is extremely boring. Then I get a runner’s high up to 20Kms. Then I try to hold on until 30Kms. Then I try to run as fast as I could for the last 2Kms. For this reason, I find it really hard to run beyond 32Kms or 20miles on the treadmill.

I still have some some insecurities with treadmill running, although my good friend Raffy Castaneda aka “Alaska Runner” (3:30 Boston marathoner) assures me treadmill running is effective, the only way for me to prove its effectiveness is to qualify in the Milo 3:45 marathon. If I qualify, I will believe in treadmill running…

An then, maybe take the treadmill outside for a run:

On the other hand, I see a lot of older runners quite happy with age-grading of Milo, thinking it will be easier for them to qualify than the previous year’s sub 4hour requirement. Of course they’re right, but I wondered if Milo did a proper job of age-grading. Looking at the table below, it can be observed that the qualifying time starts at 3:45, then after age 34, for every 5year increase in age, Milo relaxes the qualifying time by 5minutes until 70years where it remains at 5:30.

This is a linear graph, but I believe decline in running performance due to aging is exponential. The increment in age is almost exactly similar to Boston Marathon Qualifying matrix. I can’t help but compare the two on the graphs below:

At ages 18 to 34, the Milo Qualifying time of 3:45 seems to be a lot easier than Boston’s 3:10. Way lot easier. Looking closer at the graph, they intersect at 65 to 69, where the qualifying time for both races is 4:20. So is Milo making it harder for older people while easier for younger men like me? Meanwhile, if you have seen the movie “Spirit of the Marathon”, the younger Boston Qualifier wannabe’s complain that older people have easier times. Or do they really?

I believe the best age-grading tool is that of Jack Daniel’s, the best coach according to Runnersworld. He has gathered a lot of data from runners all over, for decades, and then crunched it in a NASA-like computer to predict performances, suggest training paces, and age-grade performances. So far, this is the most reliable tool. The tool can be downloaded here: http://www.electricblues.com/html/runpro.html

In order to compare Milo and Boston, I have used their 2 fastest qualifying times of 3:45 and 3:10, and took the midpoint of the ranges of ages. For example, for ages 35 to 39, I took 37. Then I entered it into Jack Daniel’s table to get an age-graded times of 3:50 and 3:15 for Milo and Boston respectively. I also entered the succeeding ages to form the table and below:

Then using simple excel, I plotted the data of Milo Qualifying times Vs Jack Daniel’s Age-Grading recommendations:

So it can be seen from the table above, Jack Daniel’s plot show an exponential curve, typical of age-related decline in performance. Milo, on the other hand, is linear. Now for Boston Graph:

Surprise, surprise! The Boston Graph neatly traces the Jack Daniels’ Curve! Over the years, they must have gathered data, analyzed them and used them for their qualifying standards.

Conclusion and Recommendation
These analysis are just for intellectual purposes and for the fun of it. The 34th Milo Marathon has made a great decision to copy a Boston-like qualifying standard patterns, though not in correct age-grading proportions. These qualifying standards will boost Milo’s prestige and reputation. And, like in Boston, I believe this would also inspire marathoners to train harder and target races like these. On the other hand, air temperature and humidity increases exponentially in Metro Manila Marathons, meaning slower runners will run even slower, so that Jack Daniel’s grading could also be inappropriate. I will gather more data after next week’s Milo Marathon to analyze this further, and maybe give suggestions to Milo for next year. For now, I am excited to target that 3:45 time.

Women’s Qualifying Graphs:
I know women readers will also demand for their qualifying data, so I have crunched the data and created graphs for them as well.

Last week my company, ON Semiconductor, held its first Fun Run. As a relatively veteran runner (of 2.5years) in the company, I was quite happy that the mini running boom has reached us down south in 2 of our plants in Carmona and Calamba, Laguna. I work in the relatively newer plant in Calamba, and very few employees there seem to be aware of this running boom. Most of them were very reluctant when I’ve invited them to run, they seem to have in their mind that running is a real serious sport for athletic people only, those kind that wins in races. As one of the Fun Run committee, I had a hard time promoting running to them. I had to convince them that running is a way of life, and joining a fun run/race is one of the great ways to get started. In the end, I was able to invite about 50 runners to the event, not bad for 1 man, I think. Meanwhile about 20Kms North, in Carmona, there seems to be more employees who are into running, some of them have gotten very serious about it already. In fact, one of them is Mike Oledan, has created a running blog already. He’s probably the fastest runner in Carmona, having a sub2hour 21K and 55minute 10K with less than 6months training. Talking to him about running, I can see that he’s a real runner who has a lot of passion in running.

Planning the race
When I went to their plant (for the first time), to talk about our first race, I could see how great it is to see runners really passionate about organizing this race. The overall race organizer was Zai Palmos, since this was going to be her first race to be organized, I predicted a lot of failures as can be seen even in big time race organizers. So I had low expectations for the race, but I’ve decided to join and support it, and promote it for the sake of running and of our company. Looking at the budget, the P200 registration fee was actually really small, and would not be enough for the company to profit from. (The company actually had to shell out money). I could therefore understand and appreciate that Coach RIO races that have P500 to P700 are actually of great value. In the plan, I could see some trouble with the complicated race map. Initially we didn’t have timer but we got great help from Jinoe Gavan in getting contact persons for the LED timer (it actually looked great). Another issue was the manual recording of race results. Looking at how difficult to organize the race (although I was only a small part of it), I now forgive those races that failed me in the past.

The Race
The race was held in SouthWoods, about 15kms south of Alabang. The route was beautiful and quite relaxing, but the race started at 6:20AM, so it was already hot for the 10K race. I had to say goodbye for my 45minute PR target. The race started with a 1K race aimed for kids, but a lot of adults actually joined it. I’m not sure they have a concept of how short it is to jog a 1Km distance. Then we had a 5K and 10K runners start at the same time. Not a good idea, but I can’t complain due to the tight schedule. Like most races, a lot of newbie runners started sprinting like rabbits, most fading away immediately in 200meters.

Then in front of me remained 2 rabbits… i mean 2 sprinters who were approximately 10 to 20meters ahead of me. Well, there’s a saying if you chase 2 rabbits, you lose them both. At the 1Km turn-around point, I could see they’re getting tired. Whenever they see and feel me catching them, they would speed up. When we reached the starting mark at 2Kms, they thought it was actually the finish line and they both sprinted for the win. They then cheered that they won, then I told them 10Kms is not over yet!!! Sorry to be blunt, but they have to be the 2 funniest and (dumbest 10K) rabbit runners I’ve ever seen.

Passing through the 2km mark, with the 2 rabbits dead tired, I find myself leading the race. Then about 50meters behind me, I saw Mike Oledan behind me. I remained at my constant planned pace of 4:30/km, until I had to stop in an intersection where there were no turn signs or race marshal. I had to wait for Mike, and he said go left. Then after 1km, the route didn’t look like what it was in Google Earth, so I had to turn around until I met Mike. He told me we were in the wrong direction, so we had to go back at the intersection. Then we met the 2 rabbits, and we all had to stop and figure out where to go next. The other direction also looked wrong. Then 2 of our colleagues who were riding bicycles who were my support group pointed us in the right direction. Finally. But I think we lost about 5 minutes of our time figuring out the direction. Adding to that I had to run an extra 2kms. Anyway, we continued to run, and the right route was beautiful. However, we were already running with the slowest of the pack, until Oh No, Beth was already kilometers ahead of me!!! Just bad news for me, good for her because she was at 1st place for women. After 5kms, I saw the 2 rabbits walking while Mike was still running strong. In the end, I ran a total of 12Kms, forget about the time.

Below is a video of me taken by my friend support crew Reymund Pantisma. On my left is also my friend support crew Rod Salmorin.

Honestly, it was the most frustrating race of my life, thinking I could have won, it could have been so special since it was the first of our Company. In the end, it turns out that the race marshals at the intersections were LATE and weren’t able to put the darn signs. The winner of the 10K ran the route in 59minutes.

I've tried so hard, and got so far. But in the end, it doesn't really matter.

Mike also tried to run a new 10K PR, but also ran 12Kms.

Hyponatrenia
Meanwhile, Beth won the 10K women’s division in 1hour4minutes.

But they said she vomited immediately after they took her race bib. She said that after stopping, she felt nauseous, and felt blood rush to her head.

Beth feeling nauseated, about to vomit...

She vomited only water, saying she seems to have been drinking a lot of water during the race. I researched a bit on this, and found that it can be dangerous to drink too much, if you drink more than you could sweat. This is especially dangerous to women who sweat less than men. The reasoning is that too much water can dilute the salt levels of the blood, and also forcing water into the cells. This swells muscle tissues and even the brain, thus creating the symptom of nausea and vomiting. The problem is that the symptom is similar to dehydration, so some runners who experience this actually drink even more, thinking they’re dehydrating when in fact they’re already over-hydrating. Wrong diagnosis of this has already led to several deaths in the US.

Summary
Overall, despite our bad luck with the late race marshals, the race was a huge success, a big congratulations to Zai Palmos! There were no complaints from the other runners, and most seem to have enjoyed the event. The race exceeded my expectations. Water was plenty, race marshals were there, although some were late in the beginning, and I think our singlet looked really nice. The race bib # was cheap but very durable.

More Pictures:








Future Plans
Our company is already excited to plan its second fun run, probably in August, our company’s 10year anniversary in the Philippines. I hope I could speed up my recovery after Milo 42K in July 4th, so I could join this race and race it well. Hopefully I won’t get lost this time and finally win the race. Our HR and ER also promoted running by showing our running pictures in HDTV in the cafeteria. Hopefully, we could double the number of participants in August.

1st ONSEMI Fun Run

From the graphs above, the temperatures are at their highest in the months of April and May. The good news is that next month, the temperature should be cooler and should enable us to run more consistent long runs and marathon trainings.

My pace has steadily slowed as temperature rises.

For the past few days, I really have no good solution other than multiple hydration pit stops and pouring ice-cold water all over my body. My dad, on the other hand, was able to run 20miles last Sunday despite of the incredible heat and only drinking water every 9Kms. He finished his 20miler at 11AM when the sun is almost all the way up. My dad’s a real geek because he checks his body temperature with a thermometer at every water stops. He said his temperature remained at a fairly cool 37′C. Heatstrokes are at 40′C to 42′C.

At the time, I couldn’t really understand how he maintained low body temperature while I suffered and DNF’ed my long runs. Then he showed me an article in the book, “Lore of Running”, about heatstrokes, it says that runners in shorter distances like 5K and 10K are actually more vulnerable to heatstrokes due to higher intensities than marathoners. In comparison, my dad’s long run was indeed slower than mine, so he was able to survive longer.

What happens during running in a hot summer weather?
It looks like the higher the intensity, the higher the rate of heat generation. Therefore heat dissipation need to be accelerated. The skin will try to compensate by generating more sweat, anticipating rapid evaporation to cool the surface area. Unfortunately in humid Metro Manila, evaporation rate of sweat is a lot slower. I notice that during my runs these hotter days, my sweat no longer evaporate, they just drip to the ground. Skin not being cooled enough will mean more sweat being produced, so an open-loop system could occur, maximum sweat rate will happen. This means more water or sports drinks need to be consumed as fast as possible.

Another problem I see is that because air naturally expands when it’s warm, therefore it is naturally thinner and runners will find it harder to breathe (though they may not notice it due to uncomfortable warm temperature already) in the heat. It will be like running in a higher altitude course.

So how do we deal with this hellish climate?
1)Take it easy/slow down – the thinner air should mean your are already running at a higher intensity than you think.
2)Take lots of fluids especially during speedwork, intervals, hills, tempo runs, Long Runs, Easy runs, and recovery runs.
3)Wear the least clothing you could possibly wear – this morning I took my singlet off during my medium 11mile run, and I was able to accelerate the pace way easier. More surface area of the skin exposed to the wind mean easier dissipation of heat, enabling higher intensity of running. No passive singlet could duplicate the cooling effect of exposed bare skin.

Just ask BR how cool it is to run half-naked.

4)Lose weight – Least amount of body weight per skin surface area means less heat retention. Skinniest people have large skin surface area that they could dissipate heat more efficiently.

The word “BLOG” reminds me of the kadiri 80’s movie “The BLOG”.

That was until I took some time to read some newbie blogs. Sometimes you will know how dedicated and serious a runner is when he or she has created a running blog. Often these bloggers have decent running times as a result of running regularly and passionately. A runner’s blog often reflects the personality of a runner; a blogger who posts race events and friends show passion in running, while a blogger who posts training journals show how serious that runner is in pursuing a PR goal. Finally, bloggers who have the greatest number of hits are the most influential.

So I now have to admit, although I’m in a blogging slump right now, but in some ways, these newbie blogs have inspired me to continue blogging. However, I have decided not to be pressured anymore (by someone, actually) to keep on blogging once a week, or every other week. Running is a lifetime commitment; something doesn’t have to happen all the time. Just because nothing new happened doesn’t necessarily mean we’ve stopped running. Just because we’ve decided not to race in a month or didn’t have a new PR doesn’t mean we’re not running 40miles/week. Just because a blogger blogs every week about a weekend race doesn’t mean we all have to copy it.

Reflecting on these I realize I am a combination of these in one way or the other. It does give me great satisfaction to hear other runners say I have helped them in coping with their injuries, improve their training, etc. I too, have been helped and have been influenced by blogs like Baldrunner, RunUnlimited, Prometheus Cometh, SFRunner, and RunningShield. These are the hall-of-famer bloggers I look up to.

I have created a blogroll page on top of this blogsite, took me months to figure it out. To newbie runner-bloggers not yet in the list, please comment in this post or email me at zixednatz@gmail.com and send me your link.

Once A Blogger, always A Blogger.

Again, adidas is really creative in promoting their new miCoach product. The miCoach Pacer had an accelerometer that could be attached to the shoes to measure distance, speed and time run, while the miCoach Zone had a Heart Rate Monitor. Both products uses ANT+ wireless protocol (like in Garmin) for reliable and interference free communication of the gadgets. It then feeds the information to your earphones, like someone or like a coach telling you to run faster, or slower, or farther, or to stop running.

I drooled when I heard about this device so I joined the treadmill challenge, where we had to run for 10minutes on the treadmill. I was then pulled by the race assistants to go to the stage as the first to run on the treadmill. Just my luck, that means whatever distance I run, I will be at the most unfair disadvantage since everybody will know what distance I just ran, then all they have to do is chase it.

Anyhow, I decided to stop whining and run the best 10minutes I could on the treadmill. I felt really nervous when I walked up the stage unto the treadmill, seeing a lot of eyes looking back up at me. I thought to myself, what did I get myself into? But then after 5minutes of warm-up, I got used to it.

i2runner running 16 to 18Kph?!

I then set the treadmill to 16KPH for the first 8minutes. The treadmill felt awkward, it wasn’t like the high-end treadmills in fitness-first; there was a huge braking effect on the belt if you heel-strike, and there were no safety strings to turn it off in case you fall down, so I had to put one hand on the bar in case of emergency.

After 5minutes of running, I could feel myself sweating hard, and my mouth and throat was so dry, I realized I should have drunk a little water before running. For the last 2minutes, I tried setting the treadmill to 20KPH, but it could only go up to 18KPH. I was losing my running form and was breathing real hard and tried to take my mind of the time.

In the end, after 10minutes my distance was 2.7kms. The average pace was 3:42/km or 5:58/mile, for the 2.7km or 1.69mile distance. I could never run that fast in real life. This was faster than my 6:17 mile oval-track PR. I guess treadmill running is indeed easier than real road or track running. When I stepped out of the treadmill, I felt dizzy as expected in all treadmill running, the people around Bonifacio High Street who stopped walking/shopping just to watch me run for 10 boring minutes, clapped their hands for me. Now that was a really satisfying and priceless experience after an exhausting run

Below is the video of my 10minute run at 3:42/km or 5:58/mile pace. Thanks to Beth for the Video and Sam for cheering-asar.

What? Boring? Here’s a sample of Wilnar… I mean Haile Gebrselassie’s 4-minute mile (2:30/km) treadmill run. He’s just awesome to look at. We did have something in common – a yellow adidas singlet Also, he places his hands on the bars of the treadmill for balance.

But of course, Haile doesn’t need any miCoach device. We mortals need it to run ourselves better though. Unfortunately with my 2.7kms, I only placed 3rd and got an adidas backpack what seems to be for cycling. All I need to do now is to buy a bicycle. The second placer Mike Mamaril ran a total of 2.71kms and got a miCoach heart rate monitor, also a nice cool gadget for running. Wilnar Iglesia won the race with d=2.89kms and got the coveted miCoach pacer. By making us run race for this, adidas just made the miCoach pacer even more valuable, expensive, my precious….

Sam The Running Ninja ran 2.24kms and Argo ran a whopping 2.42kms, though both of them are tired just a weak from BDM102. Kikay Runner ran 2.4kms, she would have won the women’s category if it existed, but unfortunately it didn’t.

3rd Place, me, receiving the big bag from adidas

2nd placer Mike Mamaril, with d=2.71kms.

Winner Wilnar who ran 2.89kms for 10minutes. Darn. With his talent, does he really need the miCoach?

Argo, who placed 4th, ran 2.42kms even though he was still injured and recovering a week after BDM, still tried his best.

noelle (kikayrunner.com, and runnerspeak) ran 2.4kms, which places her 5th. If only there was a women's category, she would have won a miCoach.

Carina, Me, Beth, and Noelle

Wilnar Eating (Before the Race?)

Brothers in Running, Wilnar and Sam

Some of the miCoach treadmill contestants

more of the contestants

takbo.ph team in the adidas miCoach event

I would like to personally thank adidas, Green Bulb-PR, and RUNNR store inviting me to join their fun and creativel promotion of miCoach, it was a unique experience to run on the treadmill in front of the crowd. More information on the adidas miCoach Pacer and HRM shall be posted later.

The old runner was flat on his belly, head facing the floor, while a lying motorcycle was a few meters in front of him. The whole picture would tell a story like this man was running in the direction of motor traffic on the “right” side of the road, and was hit by a motorcycle from his behind. He probably didn’t see nor hear the motorcycle when it suddenly hit and killed him. Who’s fault it was remains a mystery. It’s so sad to think that an old man probably trying to live longer by running suddenly gets killed while doing it. I find it disturbing to think that if Beth was running a little slower on that day, it could have been her. I kept telling her that running with the traffic on the right side of the road is really dangerous, and the correct way is against the traffic, so you could see the vehicle and react to any sudden mistake the motorist could do.

Running against the traffic (left side of the road in Philippines, most countries except UK, Bahamas and Japan), is often the most frequent running safety advice we would hear, yet I see most runners even the Elites running with the traffic that they can’t see the vehicles behind them. In fact, the BDM102 pictures would show ultramarathoners doing the same bad habit, even though it’s not in the rule to do so.

However, even running against the traffic, on the left side, could still be dangerous. My Father witnessed an accident just 2 weeks ago by a motorcycle also hitting a runner on the opposite side of the road. The runner, also quite old, was running on the left side of the road while the motorcycle lost control and slid to the opposite side hitting the runner. The old runner survived with minor bruises. Moral lesson is to still keep aware of your surroundings and expect for the worst.

Now ask yourself this question, what advice would you give to your kids or loved ones who would like to start running? Run on the right or left side of the road?

Below are the “RULES OF THE ROAD” from Runnersworld magazine:

• Don’t assume a driver sees you. In fact, imagine that a driver can’t.

• Run against traffic so as to view (and react to) any mistake an advancing motorist may make.

• At a stop sign or light, wait for the driver to wave you through—then acknowledge the driver with your own wave.

• Allow at least three feet between you and a passing vehicle.

• Be prepared to jump onto the sidewalk or shoulder of the road.

• During group runs, go single file when cars need to pass.

• Use hand signals to show which way you plan to turn.

• Respect a driver’s right to the road.

• Run with proper ID, and carry a cell phone with emergency contacts taped to its back.

• Check with the police for local traffic rules.

• Make sure to look out for people pulling out of a driveway. They may not see you.

• At an intersection always wait and look for vehicles coming from multiple directions and lanes before attempting to cross.

• If you run with headphones, make sure you can still hear what is going on around you. Run with just one ear bud in at a time.

• In commercial areas, look out for high-traffic areas, such as the parking lots of grocery stores, restaurants, and bars.

• Watch for early-morning drivers who do not clear frost or morning dew off their windshields; they may not be able to see you.

• Wear bright and/or reflective clothing.

• Run only on roads with wide shoulders.

• Never cross against traffic lights.

Imagine there’s no Bull Runner, No running shoe reviews, No race reviews, No Garmin recommendations.

Imagine there’s no Bald Runner, No BDM102, No Running wisdom to guide us. No Sabal, No Tolentino.

Imagine there’s no Running Shield, No running in the Skyway,

Imagine there’s no Takbo.ph, No weekly race schedule information, No Forums, No Shoutbox, No LSD’s. No Jinoe & Queenie, No Gingerbread, No Ninja Runner, No i2runner. No Forefoot Runner, No Running Pinoy, No Running Safety Pin.

Imagine there are no Running Blogs, No Running Clinics, No Dailymile, No BHS. No RunnerSpeak, No RunRadio, No FrontRunner, No RUNNR, No SecondWind Store.

It’s easy if you try.

Imagine life without them; ask yourself if you’ll still to continue to run. Could you still be a runner?