Tag: marathon

Sleepytrigirl is back

I don’t recall suffering from jet lag as much as I am now. Its been more than a week  since I got back from Ethiopia and my body clock is still off. Last Sunday, I ran the Greenfield 10k race on 1 hour sleep.  That night, I slept soundly and after 7 hours of sleep,  was able to train at 7 am. The next day however, I could not get out of bed! I skipped training all together.

But jet lagged or not, I’m suppose to be back in training. It’s triathlon season for me. And I do miss doing triathlons. The last six months I did three marathons – Amsterdam in October, New York in November and just  this March, Tokyo. The week we got back to Manila, my training partner and I  swam and biked and he said “Partner, we’re triathletes again!”

I laughed and said, “yes we are.” Truth is, we never  stopped being  triathletes. Though my last three  major races were all marathons, we actually did our fair share of triathlons in 2008.

Last July,  Joey and I planned a trip to NY  and looked for a race to join in the area. His sister lived in New Jersey. So did my cousins. Best of all, m my brother Lino was living in New York. We ended up doing  the Rhode Island inaugural 70.3.

Joey, me and his bike in times square
Joey, me and his bike in times square

 

 

 

Rhode Island 70.3 ironman
Rhode Island 70.3 ironman

 

 

The next week, I did NY tri with Lino.  A few weeks later, Joey represented HSBC Philippines in the HSBC triathlon in London. Then he did the 03 triathlon in Subic. I did the Olympic distance.

 

NY Tri with Lino
NY Tri with Lino

 

 

Finally, in September, I did the Singapore 70.3 and he did a full ironman distance at my  event “12 hours in Memory of Gabriel.”

 

Singapore 70.3 ironman
Singapore 70.3 ironman

 

 

 

Joey finishing his ironman in the rain
Joey finishing his ironman in the rain

 

Ani de Leon, who completes our trio had her share of triathlons that year too. She did Ironman Langkawi in February where she qualified for a slot in Kona, the world championships. To prepare for Kona  she also did the Singapore 70.3 and the 03 in Subic. Then she was off to Kona to fulfill her dream.

Ani doing her dream race Ironman Kona
Ani doing her dream race Ironman Kona

 

Although I love doing tris, it definitely takes a lot of time  to train for one.  I have to plan my training schedule very carefully.. I need to plot and work  in 3-4 sessions of running, biking and swimming, plus at least 1 yoga and 1 boxing session (boxing is our easy day/cross-training work-out).

 My training partner and I need to juggle work, parenting and other commitments throughout the week.  And in my case, I need to be protective of the amount of back-to-back runs my legs can handle to avoid injuries.. And yes, I need my sleep.

So every week, we start out with a training plan. But every night, my training partner texts me and asks, “What’s ETT?” That’s estimated time of training. You see, even though we already have a plan for each day, he knows that it could change depending on:

       How my body feels/what’s on my mind

       how much sleep I will get

       changes in my schedule

 Although I always try to stick to the training plan, I sometimes alter the distance or intensity of the session, depending on the three factors above.  If I suddenly have an early day, then we will just do a quick run or box for 45 minutes.

What makes our ETT even more difficult to predict these days is the summer heat. I always fantasize about starting at day break..IF I could only get to bed early. But that rarely happens when you have a long day with lots on your mind, kids to take care of and work that you take home. 

So what’s a sleepytrigirl to do? Same thing, I’ve done the past few years. Kiss my kids goodnight and set my alarm; hit the snooze button a few times before I finally roll out of bed in the morning; text or reply to my partner that I’m awake or check that he is and down my oatmeal and vitamins before he walks in the door.

Rain or shine, sleepy or wide awake,  its time to train and be grateful for the gift of fitness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tokyo Marathon: "I Promise My Goal"

At the Tokyo Marathon Expo, the theme was “I Promise my Goal.” Not a perfect English translation, but we figured it meant set your goal and accomplish it. That sort of pressured me to do just that. Thing is, I didn’t really want the stress and the pain of attempting to break 4 hours again. The last time I tried five months ago, I missed it by 2 seconds! But even though I had less time to train for this one, the night before the race I decided I would to try again. I would run an under-4 hour pace for the first 21k and then see how it went from there.

At the Expo - visualizing my elusive goal
At the Expo - visualizing my elusive goal

With that decision, I had to stay up an hour later, scribbling my splits per km on my white medical tape which I taped to my wrist. Arggh!

my splits taped to my wrist
my splits taped to my wrist

I was actually out late the night before mingling with the other guests of the Tokyo Metropolitan Govt. Officials from other countries were there and I had a wonderful exchange with the women representatives from Singapore, Thailand and Japan, talking about women issues, like discrimination and empowerment. I was the only guest who was running the race. All the others were just there to observe.

Race Day:

The holding area was filled with runners, not a surprise since there were 35,000 participants. I was hoping that they would release the runners in waves so it would not be as crowded when we started running. But as I had feared, it was still very congested at the start and we were forced to run at a much slower pace for the first two kms until the runners spread out more.

As the run progressed, there didn’t turn out to be much to see. There was just building after building and then more buildings. But what was interesting were the people who ran in costumes. I was passed by a slimmer version of Winnie the Pooh, a clown and lots of runners in funny hats. I also spotted a gay fairy and most memorable of all was a girl who passed me in angel wings. I remember thinking, buti pa siya may pakpak.

To my utter horror my garmin malfunctioned and was showing wild numbers for my pace. Grrr! Oh well, the race went on. After about four hours of running, what will forever be etched in my mind is the finish line. The last three kilometers we ran thru the howling winds and the pouring rain. I had to hold on to my cap and shades because it already got blown off early in the race. It was never sunny enough to put on my shades.

Into the last 3kms, I already knew that we would not break 4 hours. We might have if I had been able to maintain a 5:30min/k pace at 35kph. But at km 39, we had about 14 minutes left and I had slowed down a bit. I told Joey he could do it, but being the gentleman that he is, he said we would finish together.

So we pushed thru the wind, climbing one of the very few bridges, where to our delight the theme song of Rocky was blaring (Joey and I are Rocky fans because we box as part of our cross training). The Japanese spectators enthusiastically cheering us on, sadly in a language that was totally foreign to me.

At the 1km mark, the crowd got thicker, the cheering got louder and the rain poured harder. I loved it!

By then I started looking out towards the bleachers, because my kids and Che were suppose to be there. When we turned the last bend, I finally saw the finish line! I felt like I was running in slow motion because I can remember carefully scanning the faces in the crowd trying to find my children.

I was suddenly knocked out of my slow-mo mode when this female runner in blue tried to run pass me just a hundred meters to the finish. I outsprinted her and Joey and I crossed the finish line in 4:04 but still no children in sight.

Then right after I crossed, to my right I saw them, my two girls smiling, clapping standing in the rain in raincoats! I had requested that our host the Tokyo Metropolitan Government arrange to have my kids at the finish line, but I expected them somewhere up in the bleachers. I was blown away. I was so so happy to see them. This was my birthday gift good health and my family.

my girls in raincoats at the finish
Joey Torres, me and my girls in raincoats at the finish

My kids were with Che (who did her first 10k, woohoo!) Usec Cesar Lacuna of MMDA who gave me beautiful pink flowers!!!!…and the people from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in their suits (reminding me of Men in Black) .. all of them standing in the rain in raincoats cheering for us.

Finish line with my kids and the rest
Finish line with my kids and our super supporters

After I hugged them, we lined up to get our goodies and then Joey and I did what we always do after a race. We ran again. Just 1km.. to celebrate life.

Oh and what does “I promise my goal” mean? Well, the Japanese refer to the finish line as the “goal.” So, I promise my goal, means to finish.. I guess we can say that we accomplished that. Meanwhile, I still have my under 4 hour marathon to work on. Maybe next birthday run.

My strawberry cream surprise birthday cake!
My strawberry cream surprise birthday cake awaiting me at the hotel!

n.b. I will write another article about the race course, race conditions and other details runners may want to know.

Remember Possibilities…Phooey with Limitations

My eight year old daughter came home last week with a major decision
to make – whether to run for student council Assistant Treasurer or
not. Why was this decision so major? Well, she is currently class
president and the rule in their school is, if you run and win a
position in the student council you have to resign as a class
official.

So, I asked her, which position, do you think you will do better at
and enjoy doing? She says, “I dunno.” So, I said, “okay, let’s look at
each position carefully, so you can decide.”

me: What does a class president do?
Nadine: Helps the teacher and tells the class to be quiet.
me: ok, do you like doing that?
nadine: yes.
me: how about student council assistant treasurer, what does that person do?
nadine: helps the treasurer (oo nga naman).
me: What do you think of that position?
nadine: Well, I have a bit of a problem with it mom…
me: what’s your problem, baby?
nadine: I dont think I count very well.
me: ah, well, hmmm, that might be a problem.
long pause…
me: Let’s do this, let’s pray about it and then see how you feel in
the morning, okay?
nadine: okay mom.

So, we prayed, she slept, I slept… and in the morning, she gets in
bed with me and I ask her how she feels and whether she wants to talk
about it some more. She says yes, so we talk.. I finally realize that
she seems to be excited about the whole idea of the campaign – making
posters, talking to people, campaigning with her partymates…
So, I said, “Nadine I think, what you are excited about is the campaign but
not the position you are running for..Why dont you be the campaign
manager. That way, you dont have to run and give up being class
president but you can help your party and enjoy being part of the
campaign!” I thought it was a brillant idea, she seemed to think it
was okay too. So, we prayed again before she left for school and she
said she would think about it.

That afternoon, she came home and I asked her, how did it go. She said
she asked if she could be campaign manager, but was told she was too
young…

Awwww…

With that, Nadine decided, and never waivered in her decision to stay on as class president and not to run for student council, despite
the persistence of the party. She said
she’ll think about running for student council next year.

Seems like such a simple story. But not really. I went through almost
the same nightmare/walk-through-the-unknown during the days I did not
know whether I would be a candidate for the senate or not, whether I
wanted to be such a public figure … No, I did not for once, worry
that I could not do the legislative work. Like Nadine, I had thought
about my skills and knew what the job involved. Being a lawyer, having
worked on radio on my dad’s legal talk show “Companero y Companera”
and actively doing advocacy work, gave me the experience I felt was
necessary. My problem was taking on a new life style/role as a public
official, something new to me, something I was not too familiar with.

But like Nadine, i prayed about it, I asked myself if I could do a
good job and if so, what was stopping me. I realized what was stopping
me was fear…

-fear that I would cry when I gave my speech and remembered my dad ( I
did that and survived),
-fear that I would lose a bit of my privacy (I did and still
survived), but I also met and continue to meet a lot of inspiring
wonderful people,
– fear that I had to do things I did not want to do ( I do, but who
says life would be easy)
– fear that I might lose ( I did not, I actually came in 6th).

I was not rating well in the beginning (though my standing did improve
with every survey)..I was so scared of losing…But in the last few
days of the campaign, I knew in my heart, that I had given it
everything I had,

and if I did lose, that was God’s choice and I was a
better person for what I had gone through. After casting my vote that
day, over 3 years ago, I went home, ate and went to sleep. I woke up
in the late afternoon, looked at my celphone and saw numerous texts
from friends congratulating me for being in the top in the first few
hours of counting…the rest is history.

What’s the point of this entry? It started out with a simple story
about my little girl, and at this point is about my campaign story.
But this is not about my running or Nadine’s decision not to run. It’s
about setting aside your fears and believing. I’m reading this book
“Life’s Missing Instruction Manual” and I was totally struck by the
following lines quoted by the author Joe Vitale (www.mrfire.com):

“There never was anything to be afraid of. The opportunities I passed
up, the people I never approached, the rock star I never became. All
sacrificed at the altar of fear–fear that never really existed.”
-Dr Paul Hartunian (www.Hartunian.com/ezine).

“I wish I had learned that I can do anything I really believe I can
do. It may sound simple, but it’s the basis of any and all
achievements (or lack thereof) in anyone’s life…If you want to
change your life for the better, change your belief about what’s
possible for you..and what you can accomplish, if you simply put your
mind to it.”
-Jim Edwards, author of 5 Steps to Getting Anything you want (www.HowToGetAnythingYou.Want.com)

It’s true. I grew up not thinking there were any limitations – not
because I was a girl, not because I was young, not because I wasn’t
smart enough or talented enough (even though all around me there were
smarter and more talented people). No one ever told me, I couldnt do
that.

With that background, I entered college at 15, joined the UP
volleyball varsity (although I thought I was going to die on the first
day of training), eventually became its team captain and the youngest
member of the Philippine team while getting my degree in Economics and
graduating cum laude at the age of 18. I went on to become a lawyer,
practice law, set up a retail business (Maxibear, Maxitoylab and
Maxiworks), write parenting books, give talks on parenting, became a
radio host, an advocate for breastfeeding and children with
disabilities, oh resumed my passion as an athlete – this time as a
runner/marthoner, cyclist, duathlete and triathlete..and yes, my
current job, I am a senator with a few more advocacies- health care
reforms, the environment, education and women’ s and children’s
rights.

I mention all this, only because I want to emphasize the point that
you can really do anything you put your mind to.

So, whether your dream is to change the world, to be a doctor or a
rock star, an olympian or the next President, set your sight on that
dream, do what it takes and conquer your dream.

Oh, one last story…Right after I put down the book I mentioned
above, I looked up and saw my other daughter Maxine, 12,

in front of
our mac, blogging. I went up to her and looked at her home page,
which she is constantly changing/redesigning… it read “Remember
possibilities… phooey with limitations.”

What can I say? My daughters… I’m a happy mom (big smile).