A Week of Firsts

Actually, it's not really a regular week but about 7 days -- more or less.

Treadmill Stress Test -- Level 5 achieved

It started Tuesday last week. I was scheduled for my dreaded annual check-up. I've held off doing this for six years. I remember the last one I did -- I ended up feeling more sick after than when I came in!! Anyway, since it's been 6 years and since I had a friend who recently passed away because of a heart attack, I was scared into action -- add in the gentle nagging of my wife who insisted that we take the exam together.

Anyway, I'm still waiting for the results of all the exams. The one exam that I'm thankful I passed was the treadmill stress test. I've had a number of friends telling me horror stories about people they know who went in for a stress test and because of what they saw in the ECG, were kept in the hospital for angiograms, angioplasty or worse, a bypass!!! They weren't allowed to leave!!

I was supposed to have checked-in into our room before doing any exams but since there were no rooms available yet, we got scheduled into whatever exams we could complete that day. I actually went into the stress test with a lot of apprehension -- the reason why I started this fitness journey was that I was so sluggish in December. I wasn't sure whether I had devoted enough months to exercising to reverse the condition -- today would be a real benchmark!

As I started the exam, I was actually surprised at how steep the starting incline was, although, I don't actually know what the starting gradient was. For the first 3 settings, I was still doing okay but I was a bit uncomfortable with the gradient. When the 4th level started, the angle became steeper and the speed was increased but I was still at walking pace. It was when we reached level 5 that I needed to run but this time the gradient was much, much steeper. That was also when I reached my target heart rate. No choice -- tests over -- but, at least I reached level 5 which is one level higher than my previous exam 6 years ago.

Baguio Run -- Running the hills!!

Over the weekend, my family and I joined 3 other friends and their families for a short respite in the City of Pines, Baguio. Baguio is a familiar city for me -- we normally have our Management Conference there. But, I've never run in this city before -- primarily because the hills are daunting, even for a seasoned runner.

On the 2nd day of our stay, I forced myself out of bed to try running at Camp John Hay. I needed the training runs as I will be doing my first 10K at Clark in 2 weeks time. Since the Treadmill Stress test showed that running inclines are one of my weaknesses, I guess now was the perfect opportunity to get some hill run training in place.

I started in the back of the Camp John Hay Manor Hotel -- near the Honeymoon Suite. Immediately, I was presented with a steep hill. Since I was just starting, I used this as a warm-up -- I walked up the hill!!! And boy, was the walk tough -- by the time I reached the top, I was huffing and puffing!! I took advantage of the downhill to start running.

I ran down the main street towards the entrance of the hotel and towards the row of stores and restaurants. As I reached the end of this block, I was now near the golf course. Immediately after turning left at the corner, you are presented with another hill -- this time I ran up slowly. I saw other runners and they actually ran inside the golf course. I followed them up the cart path and ran around portions of the golf course until I went back up a hill into the hotel complex.

As I again reached the Honeymoon Suite, I stopped and walked up the steep hill again. There was a small parking area at the bottom of the hill -- I used it for a some speed laps before doing a cool down walk back to the hotel. All in all around 45 minutes worth of walking and running. It was tough but it felt good afterwards.

As I'm writing this piece, I'm also preparing to return to Baguio today for a whole week of business planning. I hope to do at least 2 more runs before heading to Clark for race day next Sunday. Hopefully, training in Baguio would do good for me at Clark.

First One (1) Hour Run

I know that signing up for a 10K run means I have to be able to tackle running at least an hour!!! And that hasn't been one of my accomplishments ever since I started running. So, last Tuesday, I was determined to make my first 1 hour run.

It was a good day to run -- it was cloudy and the temperature was not too warm. I used my New Manila route but added running up every side street to extend the distance. One of the disadvantages of my running route is that I have to run quite a number of rounds to accomplish my mileage. By taking more of the side streets, I am hoping to reduce potential boredom while still accomplishing my time target.

It was also the first time I used my fuel belt -- I bought one during my last trip to the US -- a 4-bottle belt. Since I know there are no water stops, this should come in handy to meet my hydration needs along the way.

The first 30 minutes went smoothly -- and quite fortunately, it was almost one complete round along my designated route. As I started my second round, I felt good although there were strong apprehensions about my ability to finish. The fuel belt helped -- keeping myself hydrated actually did wonders. But, I still wasn't sure that my legs could take it.

Quite frankly, there were many times along the 2nd lap that I felt like giving up but I pushed myself -- saying that I needed to do this to survive Clark. Amazingly, I got to the end of the 2nd round!! I still hadn't completed one hour (since the 2nd round was slight shorter than my first) -- so I continued to run until I completed my time target. I was exhausted after the run but I felt good with the achievement. I walked all the way back home to cool down -- but my spirits were up -- at least I did my first 1 hour run!! Clark, here I come!