Mukhang Guilty’s BLOG

“He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man.”  

 Mao Zedong

With the most accessible section located in Badaling, roughly 2 hours away from Beijing, the Great Wall of China was our Day 02 destination.  Built by the first Emperor Chin to keep the northern invaders away from his unified empire, it spans across several provinces with an estimated length 6,400 kms.  

The Badaling section of the Great Wall recieves an average of  62,000 visitors a day, this makes it impossible for a runner to run the Great Wall without having to weave his way around visitors posing to have their pictures taken.  However, once a year, a portion of the Wall is closed for runners running The Great Wall Marathon.  Runners have the option to run 5k, 10k, 21k or the full marathon. Running the Great Wall is no joke, it’s quite challenging, but with proper training, one can finish the race.

I was there not as a Great Wall Marathon participant (hopefully someday I will run it with T2 ), but as a tourist to appreciate the Wall’s 2000 year history.

Runner’s perspective…. Little to no flats, mostly uphills and downhills

 45 Degree hill behind me

Hill Repeats anyone?

At the first watch tower…

At this point, we found it hard to take solo pics of ourselves… so we decided to have some fun and share our moments with random tourists…

It would be nice to run The Great Wall Marathon, but I don’t think I’m ready for that yet….

I took a few days off to travel with my family to Beijing for a brief R&R, the weather was a cool 24 degrees… ANG SARAP!!! 

First order of business was to visit the Bird’s Nest Stadium and the Water Cube.  Seeing it on TV is one thing, but getting to see the REAL thing was just awesome….

Entrance to the National Aquatics Center (Water Cube)

The Beijing Super Pool, where Phelps snagged 8 Olympic Gold Medals

With the National Stadium (Bird’s Nest) in the background.. Harvey, Me, Jennifer, Vanessa, Stepmom, Dad

The Oldest with the Youngest =)

SPEEDWORK anyone? =)

Brothers and sisters, Harris, Vanessa, Hubert, Me, Jennifer, Harvey… I should get them all to run para fun =P

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARDS!!!

A year has passed since I ran my first road race, the UP ICTUS CENTURY run on January 13, 2008.  I can’t find the race results anymore, but I remembered running a 1:07 10k.  I also remembered feeling that sense of acheivement because I never imagined that I could EVER in my lifetime, complete a 10K race. 

My love for running started after the UP ICTUS run, I discovered that the post run endorphin rush was the ULTIMATE CURE for that nagging nicotine habit that I find myself occasionally relapsing into.  Soon enough, 10K was peanuts, my running distances increased from 10 to 15 to 21, and ultimately to 42.  Nowadays, finishing a race just isn’t enough anymore, I wanted to run fast, I wanted to finish fast… nothing satisfies me more that seeing my name in the first few pages of the race results sheet.

After an extended break from serious running in December, I was eager to get back into racing mode, hopefully establish a PR or two within the year.  The Bull Run and the Happy Run were the first two races I signed up for in 2009, what’s significant about these two races was that the race routes were similar if not identical to the race routes that I ran in last year (Bull Run 2008 and Mizuno Infinity run), I could benchmark my finish times against last year’s finish times.

The race results from these two races show an improvement from my finish times last year. 

• 2008 BULL RUN = 1:02 VS 2009 BULL RUN = 47:02
• Mizuno Infinity Run = 1:21 VS The Happy Run = 1:13:28

Looking ahead, I’ll definitely be working on improving my finish times further this year, maybe this time around I’ll be able to finish ahead of my RUNNING CRUSH.

BULL RUN 2009 PICS

HAPPY’s FIRST RUN..

….with matching SHOES

Chuchay, Dingdong, Bards, Kathy, Happy, Me, Dindo

THE HAPPY RUN PICS

a 1:13 finish

 Chuchay’s winning form, she placed 8th 15k female category…

Happy and her GREEN ICON office mates: Anthony, Gerard, Abet, Rannie, Happy, Dayan

JR ran a 28 min 5K…. and he’s single and available.. FYI

Vicky and Mesh

Kathy and Chuchay

Happy, Me, Mesh, Vince, Kristine, Kathy, Chuchay, Bards, Vicky, Mark David

The runner’s shoe would probably be the most important investment a runner should make.  Choosing the right shoe could spell the difference between happy feet or painful feet… or sometimes ugly feet… dahil may patay na kuko.

Based on the literature i’ve read in Runner’s World, the results of the wet test determines your foot type, you either have a foot that has a high arch, normal arch, or flat arch.  People with high arch should wear shoes that provide cushioning.  Those with normal arches could wear just about any type of shoe, or shoes that offer some form of stability.  Flat footed people need to wear motion control shoes, as they provide maximum arch support.

I had my foot type evaluated in a Mizuno store sometime in October 2008.  The specialist said that I had normal to high arch.  Since people who have normal arch could pretty much wear any type of shoe, I decided to get myself a pair of new balance 903s, a neutral lightweight running shoe offering medial stablity

I generally don’t experience any pain when running short distances, with my 903s, but on distances over 30kms, my inner ankle starts to hurt.  The pain was at its worst when i ran a full marathon with it,  my ankles felt like they were jackhammered after the race.  The 903s may  not be the right shoe for me.

The day after the Singapore Marathon, i took a trip to the Running Lab.  The name RUNNING LAB itself elicits images of  athletes running on the treadmill like lab rats with oxygen masks strapped to their heads.  It turns out, that the Running Lab is just a regular sports store, the only difference is that it has a treadmill for runners to run on to get a ‘feel’ of their shoes while running. 

Taxi CAB with GPS enabled interactive TOUR GUIDE.. coolness!!

The specialist (who by the way ran a 3:52 marathon) evaluated my foot type, he said that my arch was normal in height.  He then asked me to run barefoot on the treadmill.  By running barefoot on the treadmill, he was able analyze my gait, he told me that both my feet have the tendency to overpronate, and that I would need shoes that provide for maximum stability.   He recommended two shoes, the Gel Kayano 14, and the Wave Elixir, I tried both shoes on and felt that the Kayano was stiffer in the ankle area, while the Wave Elixir was a softer, more cushioned shoe.  I ended up getting the Kayano.

Since then, I’ve been running with the Kayanos and they seem to work fine for my ankles and feet.  I think they will be ideal for my long runs.  I’ll use the New Balance 903s for short distance running.

In case you’re interested, the Running Lab is located at:

Shop unit#03-20, Funan Digitalife Mall
109 North Bridge Road
Singapore 179097.

To be honest, I did have serious doubts about doing well in this event.  A month and a half before the race, I read in Bald Runner’s blog that the recommended training mileage for a beginner marathoner should be around 64-80 kilometers per week.  I was only running between 49 to 55 kilometers per week, that’s way below the recommended running volume.  As I increased my long run mileage to 32km, I started feeling pain near my inner ankle.  The pain seemed to get worse as I increased my long run mileage to 35km, and would not go away.  To add to my worries, I took a week off my training early November to go to Palau for a diving trip (I wished I could have cancelled this trip, but this trip was already paid for, way before I decided to run the Singapore Marathon).  The five days worth of multiple dives left me with the flu, putting me out of commission for another three days.  It also didn’t help that I wasn’t able to complete my last 35Km run.

Feeling anxious as ever, Hubert, Happy and I flew to Singapore on Saturday.  We arrived at lunch time, checked into our hotel, had a quick lunch, and took a quick nap. 

When I woke up, I wrote down a list of what I wanted for breakfast and headed to the grocery.   I got myself some corn flakes, yoghurt, a banana, and a can of 100plus.  We had dinner at 6, prepared my running shoes, gu, singlet, short shorts, bib, fuel belt, and running computer ready. I went to bed at 10pm. 

SATURDAY 22:00 to SUNDAY 1:45 am

Being in bed and being able to fall asleep are two different things.  I was so nervous that I kept on tossing and turning in bed.  The more I checked the time, the more I panicked.  I think I might have fallen asleep at 1:45….

3:30 am

I don’t really have breakfast before any race, but because this a long distance race, I had to eat something.  I decided to have breakfast at 3:30am so as to give me ample time to take a dump before the race start.

4:02 am

I did my business… SUCCESS!

4:45 to 5:30 am

I went down to the lobby to meet Hubert, and we both started heading toward the start line.  But right before we got to the start line, I felt the need to poop again so I excused myself and ran to the nearest portalet to do my thing again.

5:30 am [RACE START]

There were so many people at the start line, it took me around 5 minutes before I was able to cross the start line, It was surreal, with the number of runners running the race, I kept telling myself… this is it.. this is what you’ve been training for, all the long runs, easy runs, and tempo runs you did were for this… NOW BETTER FINISH THIS RACE…

HEART RATE vs PACE graph as a function of distance

FULL MARATHON ACTUAL ROUTE

0-5km [TRAFFIC JAM]

As I crossed the start line, I hit the <start> button on my polar watch.  My polar was giving me weird pace readings as the GPS sensor was going crazy… too many tall buildings.  While I was busy trying to negotiate myself amongst the thousands of runners, I saw the elite pack running  past the KM 2 mark already… it was an amazing sight seeing them zoom by, you could hear the whole crowd cheering for them.  Somewhere before the first turn around, I passed Bards, I remembered asking her how her Garmin was and she told me that it was acting crazy as well.  I said goodbye, and I carried on…

6-15km [Steady Lang]

I suddenly felt the urge to pee again…  I saw a couple of portalets beside the third drinking station, but the line was just too long… so I kinda did a quickie behind the trees along the road.  At this point, my GPS sensor started working properly, I was maintaining my target pace of 6:00 per km, but as I hit km 7, a quick time check revealed that I was behind by 2 minutes, had to pick up my pace to 5:45 per km  

16-28km [Pain]

As I passed the 15km mark, the inner ankle pain that I felt during my training runs started to rear its ugly head.  Usually, I’d experience this pain somewhere around the 29 to 35 km mark but pain this early? I started worrying that it’s going to slow me down. 

Well, it did slow me down, and I also started feeling tightness on right thigh muscles.  The pain that I felt were early telltale signs that I was about to hit the wall.  I had to slow down significantly hoping that my ankle pain would not worsen and that my thigh muscles would not cramp up.

Around kilometer 22, Mesh passed me and was running slightly ahead of me, I picked up my pace, caught up to her and asked her what her target pace was.  She told me that was running at 6:30 per km, she could see that I was struggling so she offered me words of encouragement and asked me to run alongside her.  As much I wanted to keep up with her, I really couldn’t… slowly my gap to her started to widen, and soon enough, she disappeared.

Between KMs 23 to 29, my pace was hovering around 6:45 to 7:50 per km, the pain was getting worse, I decided to avail myself of some sports cream the medics were offering.  I stopped, rubbed half a handful of cream on my thighs, and I put some on my inner ankle as well.  I briefly massaged my inner ankle and it felt painfully good.

29-40km [Hitting the Wall]

The sports cream did provide temporary relief.  I was able to run for another 4 to 5 kilometers.  But as the effect of the cream went away, the pain returned, and it became worse, my thighs started to cramp.  I really couldn’t run anymore, so as I passed the 29^th kilometer, I stopped, and walked.  In all road races that I’ve ever participated in, I have never ever walked a single race, the fact that I did in the most important race of my life (to date) just broke my spirit, I had to come to grips with reality that I wasn’t going to finish within 4 hrs and 30, I had to change my race strategy, instead of a race to a strong finish, the strategy became a race for self preservation, I needed to make sure that I my thighs would cooperate so they could carry me to the finish line… crawling would be the least preferred option.

41-42km [HULING HIRIT]

As I went past the 41^st km mark, I gathered all my remaining strength for the final push, I started running but it felt really awkward, but then again… who cares about form?  What’s important is that I finish… at this time, my brain was able to block out all the pain that I was experiencing from the waist down.  The run along St Andrews Road felt really LONG, I could see the finish line, and I could see the 100 and 50 meter markers, but getting to it seemed like forever.  I crossed the finish line at 5:07, it was way over 4:30, but I finished. 

I finished 3445th out of 12,335 full marathon runners.

The 2008 Singapore Marathon has left me quite disappointed… I was unable to finish within my target time of 4:30.  I however, refuse to accept defeat… there will be other marathons next year, and there’s plenty of time to redeem myself. 

Lastly, prior to ending this post, I’d like to say THANK YOU and I LOVE YOU to Happy for being my number 1 fan, and my official personal photographer for the race, thank you for understanding, and putting up with my kakulitan especially on days leading up to the marathon. 

The time has come to run a Full Marathon… BRING IT ON!

Two weeks after the men’s health all terrain race… I fell off my bike…. sliding sideways, with my cleats still clipped on to my bike, along the highway on my way to Bugarin…

To my left, i could see a clear road ahead of me… to my right, i could see the under chassis and the two front tyres of the delivery truck that was oh so closely behind me… scary thought isn’t it?

Ride safe… road kills are for 4 legged creatures only

First there was running, then came cycling, then the Animo Sprint, BUT WAIT… what about SWIMMING???  Would I be able to swim for 950 meters?  It’s easy to run or bike 950 meters, but swimming may prove to be a tough challenge for someone who’s NEVER really tried swimming before.  I gave myself till September 9 to cram for swimming and see if i could survive 950 meters.

I first attempted to complete 950 meters one week before the event.  I sort of went into panic mode when i couldn’t complete 50 meters without grabbing on to the line to catch my breath.  With the FEAR of drowning at the back of my mind, I decided to sign up for the MINI SPRINT.

PRE RACE:

Got to Narra Park @ 6am, I was surprised that the whole check in / transition set up process was simple.  You just have to setup your bike, helmet, skull cap, running shoes, and make a mental note of where you placed everything so you get to transition smoothly.

GARMIN 405’s not waterproof, so the POLAR RS200SD would be the preferred choice for doing triathlons

SWIM:

I anxiously waited for our turn to do the swim leg.  Due to my inability to swim freestyle continuously, I planned to complete the course doing a free – breast combination.  Freestyle up to exhaustion, the Breast Stroke to recover, then Freestyle again till I complete 350m

In deep thought…..

I swam according to plan, I was able to swim freestyle continuously for 100 meters, then it was the free – breast combo all the way to the finish.  During the swim, I was numb to my environment.. I was unaware of how fast I was going relative to everyone else, my mind was just focused on reminding myself to push myself when swimming freestyle and to relax/recover when swimming breast stroke.  As long as I swam without stopping, I figured I would not finish dead last.

SWIM TIME: 16:28

BIKE:

The transition from swim to bike was something that I have never practiced prior to race day.  After having done it for the first time, it’s not THAT difficult compared to the bike run transition.. all you had to do was to catch your breath

As I climbed out of the pool, I noticed that D was a couple of steps behind me, and when i got to the transition area, I was surprised to see that I was ahead of K as well.  I think i did quite well in the swim bike transition as I was able to leave ahead of a couple of guys who got there ahead of me… tip.. DON’T WEAR SOCKS NA… IT JUST TAKES TOO MUCH TIME TO PUT ON

Off to do the OTSO OTSO… maintain a speed of 30 to 35 km/h and not let anyone overtake you. 

I started out the bike leg 100 meters behind another person (lets just call him person X), and I used him as a benchmark to pace myself.  I tried to maintain my gap from person X to a manageable distance as he seems to be a seasoned athlete (naka trisuit, naka aero position lagi and time trial helmet kasi eh).  But as I crossed Madrigal ave from University to Country Club Drive, the road started going uphill, and slowly, I was catching up to person X.  I finally overtook him half way between Taysan and Madrigal along Country Club Drive…. it was UPHILL, and i couldn’t understand why he was still in his aero position, I was already wrestling my bike with my handle bars…. I guess that’s why I was able to overtake him.

Moving on, I remembered passing a couple of people, but i didn’t know who they were… the only person I recognized was TBR, I passed her, said hi to her, then went on my way back to NARRA park.

BIKE TIME: 26:40

RUN

The transition from Bike to Run was something that I’ve practiced a couple of times.  I was familiar to the RUNNING WITH BRICKS sensation.  The key here is to initially run at a pace that allows your heart rate to recover before going full blast.

When I got to the transition area, I was surprised that K had arrived ahead of me.  The first thing I did was to look at HAPPY (who was busy taking pictures) and ask.. “K? Where is he? How far ahead is he?”  Happy told me that K had arrived a minute or two ahead of me and has just started his run.  She then went on to say  “Don’t worry baby, the gap is just a minute or so… I’m sure you could kick his ass in running”

The strategy of giving yourself time for your heart rate to recover kinda went straight out the window when I found myself having to ‘literally’ run after K.  I AM A RUNNER, I can forgive myself for finishing at the bottom half in swimming, or finishing in the middle of the pack in cycling… BUT I wasn’t gonna let anyone beat me in running. 

As I left the transition area, my heart rate was @ 178 bpm and my mind was telling me to keep pushing.  Running at a pace of 4:15/km, I finally caught up to K shortly after crossing Molave Drive.  As soon as I passed him, the first instinct was for me to lower my pace and recover a bit… but up head were a couple of runners as well…  if i could pass them, that would mean a few places up the standings.  i continued to push, but I noticed that a lot of them where close to walking so I slowed my pace down and gave my heart sometime to recover.  I remembered passing three guys and a girl.   As I crossed the finish line, Happy was waiting for me… I was so out of breath that I had to give myself two minutes to catch my breath before I could even say anything

RUNTIME: 13:49

POST RACE:

Post race comments..

• I was happy that HAPPY was there, she caught a glimpse of the things that I do while she’s still sleeping   She finally met TBR
• I finished SECOND (sub hour).  I think I can be good at this.
• No more mini sprint / sprint triathlons for me this year, because I am focused on training for THIS.. see you on December 7, if you’re going

Para madaling basahin… point form nalang:

• PERFECT ROUTE…  it had the right mix of HILLS and FLATS, enough to be a challenge, but not too much for it to be considered a CRAZY race. 
• It was WELL ORGANIZED.. which is a given since it’s managed by Coach Rio. 
• I don’t know how to drink water off a plastic bag
• IT’S FREE, and I love the FINISHER BRACELET (and the packaging that came with it). 
• I GOT CHICKED! (term used by the Bull Runner and DATC)… some girl whooped my ASS and overtook me 10 meters to the finish line.  (I think she placed third) 
• I SAID HI to the Bull Runner for the first time
• NO PR for me in this race, but I think that it’s one of the best 10K races that i’ve ever participated in.