After thousands of kilometres of service, the faithful soldier has finally decided to surrender its sole to the ravages of war. In case you are curious .. I finished last year’s Sydney marathon even if I was undertrained. I joined this year’s edition as well … with a huge difference … I am now a lot more undertrained … oh well...

I know we are all great in bed especially if it means SLEEPING ALL DAY! I have not trained for ages now, and my running life is basically nonexistent. So, here is a link I found for those who would want to try running for the first time, or for those who feel like it would be their first time to run after several lifetimes of sleeping, working, and the habitual overdose of unhealthy meals! Here it is at Cool Running. Better yet, you can install an app to your smart phone if you follow this link: http://www.active.com/mobile/c25k.  ...

According to Wikipedia, “Interval training is a type of discontinuous physical training that involves a series of low- to high-intensity exercise workouts interspersed with rest or relief periods. The high-intensity periods are typically at or close to anaerobic exercise, while the recovery periods may involve either complete rest or activity of lower intensity. Interval training can refer to organization of any cardiovascular workout (e.g. cycling, running, rowing, etc.), and is prominent in many sports’ training. It is a technique particularly employed by runners, but athletes from several backgrounds have been known to use this type of training.” Last Sunday, I was able to attain my fastest training 10k pace.  You see, when I train, I don’t usually do tempo runs because I believe that the only time you should exert maximum effort is on race day.         I used to believe that the ideal training pace should be relaxed and effortless – that was until I was forced to train seriously last March for a corporate running event. Interval training isn’t easy, and in fact I dreaded it .. my friend Isko (who acted as the team coach) would push us to our limits. There should be no excuses, well maybe if you are close to having a heart attack – so it is imperative that you should have yourself checked first by a doctor because this type of training is not meant for people with health problems. It would even reach the point when me and my team mates would secretly curse him – not in his face tho coz he was way bigger than us and could easily beat the living daylights out of us, hehehe As they say – no pain , no gain – it paid off....

  According to Wikipedia, “Long slow distance (LSD) is a form of aerobic endurance training in running and cycling. Physiological adaptations to LSD training include improved cardiovascular function, improved thermoregulatory function, improved mitochondrial energy production, increased oxidative capacity of skeletal muscle, and increased utilization of fat for fuel. Ernst van Aaken, a German physician and coach, is generally recognized as the founder of the long slow distance method of endurance training.” The same article also mentions that “a typical 5k runner might consider 8 to 10 miles of LSD, while a marathoner might run 20 or more miles. LSD runs are typically done at an easy pace, 1–3 minutes per mile slower than a runner’s 10k pace.” I chose this topic because I have been running for a while now but haven’t actually realized how long should a run must be for it to be considered an LSD. I remembered last year when having breakfast with ultra runner friends (I mean running friends who are way stronger than me) when comments were made about some people bragging in social media that they just did a long 15k run. They said that they just don’t get it , because 15k isn’t really that long. In their opinion a long run should at least have a minimum distance of around 26 to 30km. I would like to think that distance is relative to one’s fitness level – some may consider 15k long , some people may consider it short. Whatever the distance maybe, as long as you are reasonably tired after it , then that maybe long enough for you.    We call this our “easy” loop – not because the terrain is easy (actually the terrain is more difficult) but because it is easier for...

Been awhile since I was able to run. This blog had been on and off with posts, but we try to update it from time to time. Started at the university and practicum in another city, there is almost no time to do anything. But running, and training…that is something one needs to make time for. Even if Bolt had taken quite a lengthy pause in training, he bought this Garmin gadget right here to use for running!       Above is the new Garmin Forerunner 310XT GPS Sports Watch. I guess he is  back on track! More posts to come in soon about his runs with this gadget...