Fit and Run.Info

Whew! After much travel, the rains, a tendon pain and procrastination, I’m back!

Four kilometers in 26.5 minutes ain’t bad but I have to start somewhere and quite happy that it was one continuous run without my runner’s knee acting up. Wore my Reebok ZigNanos, stretched this time, (the first time I ran with these shoes, didn’t stretched much and got tendon pain) and just felt good, burning a total of 405 calories and 150 after a 2.6 kilometer walk.

I really have to discipline myself to do my training runs as I will be running the 10K distance in the Rexona Run this 24 July. Hmmm… I think its enough time and I really have to go back and recommit on why I ran in the first place: for fitness and losing weight. If I didn’t suffer runner’s knee October last year, I would’ve ran long, like the 21K in early this year’s Cebu City Marathon.

Long term, I do hope to do trail running, having been inspired by the runners covering the TNF100 in CamSur and, I think, being a mountaineeer during my college years, is a natural progression. Wish me luck!

I'm a proud owner of Titanium Runner's shirt

Finally, I got my Titanium Runner shirts from the ultramarathoner himself, Blas! In a text message this afternoon, he asked me if I was in Makati and that the shirts will be available in a few hours. That got me excited! I remember him mention a few months back about giving away his branded shirts and now, I’m one of the first few recipients, if not the first.

At the Krispy Kreme Trinoma branch, he handed me the items plus two for the Cebu based runners. We chatted about running, running magazines and shoes, too.

I got two different shirts and I just like the dark blue version (left). It’s a quick dry tee (like Nike’s Dri Fit), with Blas’s logo at the left breast part. His blog link is on the right sleeve and a quote behind the shirt. You can wear this for running or any active sport and/or casually because it has a collar.

Thanx Blas! Check out the other winners of the shirt at Titanium Runner.

Rovilson Fernandez, celebrity, used my photo of him as his profile pic in his personal profile page

I think, this is the closest thing that I can get to being endorsed, for free by a celebrity. Bwahahaha! He pointed this out to me in a private email but endorsed… phrase is just mine. He also liked another shot I took of him at the break of dawn. All images were taken during the CamSur Marathon 2010.

Thanx man!

At noon yesterday, I was at Runnr for one very important task: get my running gait analysis as they have a video gait analyzer and they do it for free. I’ve been advised by runner friends Max, Gifford and Marlon to go there and have it analyzed so that I will know what kind of pronator I am and correspondingly, what kind of shoes I should get.

Now some basics from the New Balance website:

What is the running gait?

The running gait is a unique set of actions and reactions that your foot performs while in motion to support, cushion, and balance your body.

What is pronation?

Pronation is simply a normal foot in motion, from foot-strike on the outside of the heel through the inward roll of the foot. Pronation occurs as the foot rolls from the outer edge to the inner edge. Everyone pronates, and the initial pronation is considered an important and healthy response to the intense amount of shock imposed upon the foot and is integral to propelling you forward. If the foot pronates too much or too little and does so frequently, several biomechanical problems may result that will cause a decrease in performance and increase the possibility of injury.

Having one’s running gait analyzed is important to reduce the possibility of injuries, which is important whether or not you have health insurance, as no one wants to get hurt, let alone while exercising. At Runnr, its a treadmill equipped with a video camera at the back, a laptop at the side which the operator handles and a monitor infront. With bare feet, I ran for a few seconds and later, the attendant looked at the results. In slow motion, he pointed out that my right foot overpronates a little bit than my left but both, mildly. From the same site:

Overpronators generally land in a pronated position and continue to roll significantly inward as they go from heel strike to toe off…

Because of this, I was advised to look for running shoes for stability. Even if you don’t go to Runnr, both at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig and Ayala Center in Cebu, you can actually check what kind of pronator you are. Just check the same New Balance website I’ve pointed out above. I did this and I can say that I do overpronate.

The advantage, however, of getting the high tech analysis is that the guesswork of being an overpronation (one needs a shoe for stability) and severe overpronation (one needs a shoe for motion control) or under pronate (one needs the shoe to be cushioned) or if one’s gate is normal (neutral) is eliminated.

Okay, I admit, despite the many plans of starting to run, I have to put it in the backburner as I got quite busy with travels and work right up to my neck. But it’s still there. Once I will finish some important tasks, I’ll hit the road.

For the meantime, there are great races coming up this month. Two of which, are the Condura Run 2010 – Run for the Dolphins, 7 February and the Century Superbods Run, 21 February. The latter is very much recommended by my runner friends because of the preparation as well as the only race that passes through the Skyway. The latter, is of course, have stellar attractions/celebrities that would make runners, both male and female want to run with.

Check the above links out and practice, practice and practice.