Towards my 1st 10K -- part 1

When I made the decision to run in the NB Race at Clark, I was really apprehensive. I knew that I still had a long way to go before being really fit to run a 10K adequately. But, I wanted to set a more aggressive goal to fitness. While running 5K has been good for me, I need the push of longer runs to get me over my fitness plateau -- thus, 10K it is!!

Unfortunately, a week before the race, I had to attend our office planning conference up in Baguio. While the place would provide me a good place to train, I also knew that the demands of the conference would also prevent me from focusing on training. As such, I took advantage of every opportunity to be active and, hopefully, add to my training depth.

One of the great things to do in Baguio is golf -- and you don't just enjoy the game, you have to play the game -- physically!!! At the Baguio Country Club, while it's a short course, it is a physically demanding course --- you get to play the hills, up and down, without the benefit of a golf cart!!! As such, if you're not in relatively good condition, fitness-wise, you'll have a difficult time playing and enjoying the game.

On the Saturday we were there (Nov. 8), we actually played 36 holes!!! (18 holes is one regular round -- that means we played 2 rounds that day!). My boss wanted a different format for our golf game so I conjured up a tournament format similar to the Ryder Cup of Golf. We had three teams of 3somes and played 3 rounds. So 2 rounds were played at BCC on Saturday and another round was played at Camp John Hay on Sunday. The first round was a scramble format, the 2nd round was a best-ball format while the third round was match play.

This was the first time in my life that I played 54 holes in 2 days!!! The total walking was probably close to 20 kilometers in 2 days over hilly terrain. We had fun playing and it was a good warm up to my training run the Tuesday afterwards.

The Baguio Country Club golf course is beautiful -- you play amid sprawling pine tree forests and a hilly terrain -- but the hills are extremely demanding physically!!!

On the same team and flight with buddies Philbert Berba and Mario Santos

I gave my legs a rest on Monday but Tuesday morning, I decided to conquer the hilly terrain of Baguio. My route took me right after the Baguio Country Club gate and up towards a short-cut route through the Baguio Townhouse complex to just before Mines View Park. I didn't attempt the steep road towards Mines View -- instead, I took the downhill run to Mansion House and Wright Park (where the horses were) before heading back to Baguio Country Club. The first part of the run was tough as it was uphill all the way until 1/3 the way where it became a downhill run. The total run was about 40 minutes.

I also accompanied my friend Philbert on a walk on Wednesday morning. This time we took the Camp John Hay route which is also a challenging walk through steep hills surrounding the golf course. It was another good 40 minutes work out through tough terrain. I did this route in my previous weekend at Baguio but it was still a tough walk -- but it served as a good recovery walk from the previous day.

However, somehow, I strained my left knee through these mountanous treks -- I'm not sure if the massage I had on Sunday evening added to the aggravation -- the masseuse attempt to stretch my left knee but it was more forceful that usual and I felt some pain. This added to my worry for Sunday's run. As such, I decided to take it easy from Thursday forward.

At least I was able to get down physically activity in during this week. And the miraculously part was that I was able to control my eating as well -- very difficult given the usual overflowing good food during these events. I guess this was the best I could do to prepare for Sunday -- so, Clark, here I come!