I haven’t been able to post lately as family, work, and social obligations have made it a very busy last few days. Despite not feeling fantastic last Thursday, I managed to run 6 miles with a 3 mile tempo run sandwiched in between. My mile splits for the tempo were 8:09, 7:57, and 7:40. I was able to cruise through another frantic day at the office as well without coming down with anything. When I got home, I spent some time with the wifey and kids and at 9:00 it was time to go to bed. Not! It’s that time of the year again when you can throw out rationality and common sense…It’s UAAP basketball season once more. Since I had missed a game between my alma mater and Adamson University in the afternoon, I planned to catch the replay at 10:00 p.m.. Yes that’s right, 10:00 p.m. which means I will get to sleep at 12:00 m.n. and if I really want to catch something run at 4:30 next morning. I thought it was too much risk and so I skipped an easy run.

I ran my schedule through my head and I knew I would not be able to run Friday afternoon after work as there was a children’s birthday party the family was attending at the Peninsula that night. The next day I would have to wake up early to bring my semi-retired running son to Ateneo for his basketball session at 8:30 a.m.. I calculated the time we would be at the party, the time for sleep and the time I would need to rush to Ateneo and I decided that if I woke up early enough I would run. My body of course is used to waking up early and at 5:43 a.m. I was off. I completed 7 miles at 1:10:28 for an average pace of 10:02 per mile and an average heart rate of 129 bpm.

I was hoping to get some early shut eye that night but a dinner with my father kept us up until 11:00 p.m. so I was quite worried that my long run would be affected. Lo and behold! By the 20th mile I even managed to up my pace! I finished another 20 miles at 3:17:48 for an average pace of 9:53 per mile and an average heart rate of 144 bpm. I could not believe how fast my body adapted over the past few weeks! I did not feel hungry. I did not feel pain in my legs. It was great!

Like last Sunday, I attended another basketball game against University of the East in the afternoon. However, unlike the previous game with La Salle where I was standing all through out on my tired legs, I was able to get some seats to this one which we won handily. So am I going to watch the replay of the game tonight?