Today was my first training day in ULTRA after being gone for two weeks. I sure miss the place, and of course the usual people I get to see. Instead of the usual morning training session at ULTRA, I had no choice but to go in the afternoon, because as expected… I DID NOT WAKE UP.

Taking it slow

I left the house around 3pm and headed straight to ULTRA. I tried calling up Coach Rio for my workout, but as usual… forever busy and preoccupied. So instead, I gave Coach John a call. He told me to take it easy since I was starting from scratch and since I was recovering. He said he’d meet up with me there at around 4pm. Since I was sure to get there earlier, I did the usual 2km warmup, stretching and a complete set of drills. Before I started with my drills, Coach John had showed up (thanks Coach, I appreciate you coming earlier than usual).

I was telling Coach John that I had been out for the past two weeks, and that I had alternately been doing weight training, with focus on doing squats to strengthen my quads and hamstrings and of course, did core exercises. I was telling him also that I had done 5k the night before at 26:32, describing how I was out of breath when it would normally be an easy run. He then told me to take it easy and not to push myself too much and that today, I’ll be doing fartlek… 10 laps or 4km… where I’d jog on the curves and run on the straight portions of the oval.

The Coaches Run Too

Coach was also telling me that his legs hurt and buttocks were sore, having run in Alabang last Saturday and doing a long run in Antipolo yesterday with Coach Rio and other runners. Well I told him, “nanalo ka naman ng first place sa Alabang eh” Yup, Coach John is a fast runner and as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, holds the Philippine Record for 800m.

Funny thing that the other Coaches at ULTRA were asking where I was and that they’ve been doing runs the past weekends. Coach Jo-Ar also mentioned that they did a long run in Antipolo. Too bad I would have joined, if not for my not feeling all that well yet and having an exam.

My Workout

Anyway, I did my 4.0km Fatlet with a total time of 26:32.59… Average lap (400m) was at 2:36 where I’d be jogging (recovering) in the turns and runnings/sprinting on the straight portions. I felt that I was really going at such a slow speed. Again, I had to remind myself that I was starting from scratch.

Hopefully, I’ll be back to “normal” again. And everyone is right… just enjoy running.