Just Another Runner

My race report on Run United 2/RunRio Leg 3 held on Nov. 20, 2010 at the Bonifacio Global City. The report has a similar format as my Perfect Race blog post. My goal was to finish under 1:20. My strategy is to do a run/walk/run with one-minute walk breaks at the water stations and run the run portions at around 7:45 min/km. It worked! The clock showed 1:19 when I crossed the finish line. According to my Garmin, I finished in 1:17:59 for a distance of 9.87 km with an average pace of 7:54 min/km. If I extrapolate that to 10 km, that will be 1:19:00. It could have been a bit better if I wasn't stopped twice at two intersections. Water Stations: Many and well stocked. Long tables. No need to bring your own hydration. There was enough Powerade and water. Water and Powerade were readily available at the finish line. Cheering: None Route: Ok. It was the same as the Nature Valley Run/RunRio Leg 2 10K. The route was big enough to accommodate the runners. Traffic management: The

Sometimes I can't help it but be amazed, amused and thankful for what I can do now. And it's simply because I decided to start running.

There's always been the adage run fast to race fast, which makes perfect sense. But I've had problems whenever I try to run fast - pain of the injured kind. When I came across Maffetone's and Mark Allen's training principles of running slow, specifically not running with a heart rate more than 180 less your age, I was definitely intrigued. They said that if you train exclusively at this heart rate for a length of time, you will eventually run fast. They said that at this heart rate, at the beginning, you'll run a lot slower than you are used to, so you need to be patient because it will take around 12 to 16 weeks for your aerobic system to get trained and for your pace to improve. A big bonus is that at this heart rate, you'll be burning calories more from fat than from carbohydrates. I tried it and immediately I felt ... Very Slow. Again, even people who were walking, pass me. My wife who tries to pace with me complains that I'm too slow an