Pinoy Running Blogs I Recommend

Aside from my blog (hehe), here's a list of Philippine Running Blogs that I read on my spare time (which can be found on the "Other Blogs" tab on the left side of this page).

Note that this list is in no particular order:


The Bull Runner

Jaymie Pizzaro has been in the running (and tri) scene for quite a number of years now, having established The Bull Runner Dream Marathon to guide newbies into completing their first (of hopefully, many) full marathon. Her posts range from running tips, running event announcements, and her personal account of the races she's participated in. I like it when she posts her race experiences when another participant tries to overtake or draft behind her ---which she leaves in the dust very often. Jaymie is quite fast based on the races that I was able to join that she participated in as well.

Bald Runner

Jovy Narcise is another long time running blogger who's the brain behind the Tagaytay-to-Nasugbu (T2N) and Bataan Death March (BDM) Ultramarathons, to name a few. Coming from the military, his posts are of no nonsense writing of his race adventures which are mostly from the marathon and ultramarathon category. His race reports are very detailed (time upon reaching a certain km mark, for example) such that race organizers will be very wary of him if he joins one of their races. Scrutiny of every detail in the race org manner will definitely come up in his post if it needs the organizing committee's attention for improvement. And, btw, this retired military general is very fast for his age so I take serious note of whatever tips he posts in his blog. I particularly liked that post he wrote years back on his discovery of the Maffetone method which I learned to adapt too.

Kikay Runner

Noelle De Guzman is very active in her blog posting, probably almost once or twice a week. Based on her posts early this year to mid (A day in the life series), her being competitive in the tri season took a back seat to get her body to recover. She has recently returned to active training (a new series called Return to Endurance) which could mean that she'll be back racing triathlons very soon. Her posts are well written, making you realize that training for races is not all there is in this world and that there are more important stuff out there that needs looking into. But when she trains and races, she looks to be very competitive based on her posts. Aside from race experiences, she also posts running event announcements, and other means to get fit (cross training, nutrition, etc.).

Running Shield

When it comes to short and sweet, nothing comes close in terms of Philippine running blogs as that of Patrick Concepcion's. Mostly posting his race experiences, he recounts his overall feeling before, during, and after the race ---with a touch that makes you feel that this guy really loves his running. With race photos be it during the race or post group pics with friends, it is all there in his post. Yes, Patrick is one FAST runner too!

Running Fatboy

Dennis Quepe is also another runner that has been active for several years. His posts are mostly experiences from races he's joined and he is one tough runner. He is a regular at the 21k and 42k race calendar (although he hasn't posted quite a while since July 2017 Milo season). He gives quite a good recap of his races which makes the reader want to cheer for him as one reads along. Determination at its best.

By Sheer Will

Rico Villanueva probably represents most of us who struggle with the daily grind of life, work, and how to fit in our training/fitness goals. Rico has also been around the running/tri scene for quite a while now and his posts on how he is able to achieve and complete his races has always been admirable to read. By sheer will, indeed. He hasn't posted in 4 months so I hope he gets to upload one soon to help get me motivated as well.

Well, that's quite it for now. I may be able to add some more soon. Do you have other Pinoy running/tri blogs to recommend? Do share with them via the comments section below.

:-)

Saucony Type A4 Review

I have been using the Saucony Type A4 shoe for over a year now, particularly for my interval and tempo workouts, and also for my races (duathlons, mostly). I changed the laces to lock laces for a quicker T2.

To be straight about it, this is a great fast shoe for your intervals, tempo runs, and races. It solicits quick leg turnover due to its (almost feather) lightness and with just the right amount of cushioning for a low-profile race shoe.

I highly recommend this shoe if you're looking for a pair for your fast days.....

....however....

Saucony needs to improve the strength of the Flexifilm technology that wraps the upper of this shoe. As the pictures of my pair show below, the Flexifilm wrap has torn out of regular wear in the areas that frequently folded in my running gait. Further, it has caused the inner layer to tear as well.

 

This causes the shoe to lose a little grip on the front part of my feet, which could cause some discomfort (slight slip?) upon ground contact. This is apart, of course, from the obvious degraded look of the shoe.

It is unfortunate that the greatness of this shoe has been undermined by the low strength/durability of the Flexifilm.

And that is why, unless Saucony improves on this, I will have to look at other brands once the Flexifilm (and inner layer) finally gives away.

Up Next, A Half Mary

With my A-race done for the year, it's time to tick off whatever I can do in these BER-months race wise.

One of which is to run a half marathon (or two? hehe).

As I shied away from the RunRio Trilogy series since it was too expensive in my opinion, along comes the Nutrilite Health Run 2017 with a P850.00 21k reg fee ---52% cheaper than the Trilogy series. Best of all, it's also by Runrio. ;-)

Of course, I gave in. :D

I won't forego my bike workouts but I'll have to prioritize my runs over rides should there be conflict with family/work priorities.

So I have started my crash training a couple of weeks back and I'm sloooowly building my long runs. The weekday runs (I try to run twice on the weekdays) seem to be lacking in structure so today I went to the Garmin Connect website which offered free training plans. I took the Tues, Thurs, and Sunday run sked for weeks 11-16 from one of the plans (since I've only 6 weeks left 'til race day) and plotted them onto my Trainingpeaks calendar.

Yup, it should work (I think).

Hopefully this'll help me finish the race on Oct 15 and maybe, just maybe, finish inside 2:30. ;-)