Running in Zam (Week 34)

There's probably a great comparison between the deployed life, and running on a treadmill. It's monotonous; the scenery doesn't change, and you find yourself either zoning out to pass the time, or giving the death stare to the clock just waiting for it to all be over. Still to put this all in a positive spin, much like running on a treadmill, you can use your deployed time to make improvements in your life. Learn a hobby, take college level classes, and communicate more with people than you probably did before you deployed. Still the most popular thing for deployed people seems to be "workout and get fit." The treadmill is great for that. With some music playing to break up the monotony of running in place, you can really use a treadmill to get faster and lose weight. Unlike running on the road when you set a pace on a treadmill, you are forced to go that pace. Now you can change the speed on a treadmill with relative ease, but if you push yourself to go a little faster or a little further than before, you'll start to see big improvements.

I still love running at my own pace with a constant change of scenery, but during my first week at Zam (Zamboanga is too hard to pronounce, and too long a word) I did all my running on the treadmill. As a result, I had some of my fastest paces in my entire year of running.

My totals for Week 34 (21-28 August) are:
Total Runs Logged: 6
Total Miles: 33.6
Total Time Spent Running: 4 hours, 3 minutes, 31 seconds
Average Pace: 7:15 (min/mile)

My new "as of" totals are:
Total Runs Logged: 41
Total Miles: 212.3
Total Time Spent Running: 27 hours, 35 minutes, 14 seconds
Average Pace: 7:47 (min/mile)

My new total mileage for the year is: 960.6

Now fours of running a week is good, but it doesn't occupy all my time. Additionally, besides sleeping, working, and eating, there isn't much else to do on the camp. What else do I do with my time? Well, as mentioned previously, the food is pretty good, and there is plenty of it. Now there are no "Surf and Turf Wednesdays" or "Mongolian BBQ Saturdays" like we had when I was deployed to Balad, but there are cookies, soft serve, and short-order grill cooks that can make you just about anything you want to include Double Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Croissant Sandwiches (YUM!). There are plenty of smart and healthy choices, but 4 hours of running might not keep the pounds off. I also realize that while I've spent a lot of time focused on running, I haven't spent that much time working on my strength. With that in mind, I have started working out twice a day. My plan is to run in the morning before work and do a strength training workout (focusing on upper body, body weight exercises like pull-ups, dips, and push ups) in the evening. This should not only help pass the time, but also improve my overall fitness level. I starte on Wednesday, so it hasn't even been a week yet, but I'm optimistic I can keep it up for the duration of my deployment.

My Great (?) Filipino (Running) Adventure

I considered putting my blog to private around this time; however the current "position" (not official) of the U.S. Military is to encourage service members to talk about their military experiences. This helps the public see the good we are doing, and also provides a positive public image. Considering also that I have a very small "public" viewing, and knowing with Facebook that I couldn't hide the fact that I was deployed, I decided to leave my blog public.
On Wednesday, August 10th I said "Aloha" to Hawaii and flew into the Philippines. My first stop was to Manila. I spent a couple of days here with my predecessor (Jon) learning about some of the things I will be responsible for on this deployment. This is the view from my hotel room (The Peninsula...VERY NICE)We got to stop by the U.S. Embassy for a little big, and of course we had to take a picture. Interestingly enough, as soon as we took the picture, as soon as we took this picture, we found out from security that photography is not allowed in front of the Embassy. Still they were nice enough to let us keep the picture.
After a few days in Manila, we flew to the former Clark Air Base (in Angeles City) for some more orientation and transition. The mountain in the picture is NOT Mount Pinatubo (famous for its 1991 eruption), but because it is the most significant feature of the landscape, we like to pretend that it is. We arrived in Angeles City on Monday, and I decided to start running after a brief hiatus due to travelling. There was a treadmill in the hotel's "gym". Really, it was more like a sweat-box. There was no A/C and the heat from the sun was easily trapped in the small room. Running was TOUGH. Just as hard, was that the treadmill used metric units, so I had to convert my kilometers into miles (after all this isn't "1930.8 in 2011"). During the two days we were there, I managed to get two runs in on the treadmill. By far, that was some of the hottest temperatures I've ever run in.
From Clark we made the Short Drive to Subic Bay, which is both a popular sea port and tourist destination. We stayed in a villa...incredibleThe last stop was to my "Home away from Home" for the next 6 months, Zamboanga City on the island of Mindanao. To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure if this picture was taken as we were leaving Subic Bay or landing in Zamboanga, but I thought it was a good picture. After one trip to the Dining Facility, I knew I couldn't slack off on my running or else I was going to get fat, so I wasted no time getting back on the treadmill. Our camp is too small to run in (plus the air quality is poor from burning trash), but there are a few treadmills, so between when we landed on Wednesday, and for the remainder of Week 33 I squeezed in 4 more runs.

My total mileage for Week 33 was:
Total Runs Logged: 6
Total Miles:31.6
Total Time Spent Running: 3 hours, 52 minutes, and 21 seconds
Average Pace:7:21 (min/mile)

I attribute the speed directly to running on a treadmill. I don't cheat on the treadmill either by grabbing onto the sides, but by forcing myself to run at a pace slightly out of my comfort zone, I'll get faster.

Since Week 26, my totals are:
Total Runs Logged: 35
Total Miles: 178.7
Total Time Spent Running: 23 hours, 31 minutes, 33 seconds
Average Pace: 7:53 (min/mile)
That means my new total mileage through Week 33 is 927.

Stick around for Week 34 (another 100% treadmill week) coming very soon. I'll also talk about about my "deployed life" in the Philippines

Running in Hawaii (and relaxing, and hiking, and eating)

As previously promised, here is my blog entry about my very brief (but very nice stay in Hawaii). I got there on Friday evening, and didn't have any plans until Monday, so I decided to make the most of the weekend and do some of the "must sees". TripAdvisor.com has Diamond Head listed as the #1 thing to do, so that was my first stop.

It actually took me awhile to find the place b/c I didn't realize the full name was "Diamond Head Crater" (directly behind me), but once I realized that just about every car was headed in the same direction, it was easy to find, and an easy climb. The view was great, but it was just the beginning.

On to the "challenging hikes", I decided to do KoKo head crater, partly because it was highly recommended on Trip Advisor, partly because all the comments talked about how challenging it was, and lastly because again the view was supposed to be amazing. All three of those statements turned out to be 100% correct.

This was the view that greeted me from the bottom of KoKo Head. The "stairs" are actually railroad ties from when the U.S. Army had a radio station at the top. The total elevation change was about 1200 feet, though the horizontal distance was less than 1/2 mile. In other words it was VERY STEEP.

Still, once I finally made it to the top (soaked in sweat), the view was totally worth it. The climb down was also challenging, but again, it was an incredible hike (and a great workout).

My last hiking adventure was to Manoa Falls, a far easier hike than KoKo Head. The trail ends at the base of a 100 foot waterfall.

Not quite as "breath taking" as KoKo Head (both figuratively and literally), but still a great hike.

Oh yeah, I also managed to do some running while in Hawaii. Of course, I didn't have my GPS and there were no marked courses, so I had to estimate my distance. Still I felt really good, and kept a good pace, so I think the distances are fairly accurate. I only managed two runs for the week, but with the hikes, I'd say it was a good week.

My totals for Week 32 (8-14 Aug) were:
Total Miles: 12.2 (estimated distance)
Total Runs Logged: 2
Total Time Spent Running: 1 hour, 31 minutes, 43 seconds
Average Pace: 7:31 (min/mile)

With the addition of Week 32, my new "as of" totals are:
Total Miles: 147.1
Total Runs Logged: 29
Total Time Spent Running:19 hours, 39 minutes, 12 seconds
Average Pace: 8:00 (min/mile)

That brings mile total mileage of the year to 895.4

Hawaii is a beautiful state, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. The weather was perfect, the food was AMAZING, and the views were incredible. If I ever find myself there again, I would consider myself very fortunate. I snapped this last pic as I was leaving Waikiki after a very delicious dinner on the beach.

Week 31 (1-7 Aug)

My last runs on Guam (for awhile).
I am currently sitting in Hawaii, and have been here since the 5th. Now what I'm doing here and where I'm going next are for another blog entry (I took some great pictures), but before I get to that I need to talk about my running last week. It was rather uneventful, but very productive, and I was able to log 30 miles in 4 days. I didn't do any running on the weekend (6-7 August), but I did do some hikes to Diamond Head Crater, Koko Head Mountain, and Manoa Falls. I'll talk more about them later, but in the meantime here are some photos from the hikes.

As for Week 31, I was able to reach my goal early in the week.
Total Miles: 30
Total Runs Logged: 4
Total Time Spent Running: 4 hours, 2 minutes, 36 seconds
Average Pace: 8:05 (min/mile)
Again, without my GPS, the distances are approximations, but I would say I ran at LEAST the distance logged.

That brings my total mileage to 883.2 (not bad for just over 7 months of running)
Since I restarted my running log my totals are:
Total Miles: 27
Total Runs Logged: 134.9
Total Time Spent Running: 18 hours, 7 minutes, 29 seconds
Average Pace: 8:03 (min/mile)

More coming soon, but in the meantime I've got to run.

No Frills Olympic Tri #3 (19 Jun 2011)

The Day I completed my Blog Entry on my 2nd Olympic Triathlon, I had completed my third Olympic Distance Tri. For all future inquiries on triathlons on Guam, TriathlonGuam.com is the website of choice for all Guam Triathletes. Much like my first two Olympic Triathlons, this was a "dual distance" meaning racers had an option of doing either a Sprint Distance (750M Swim, 20K Bike, 5K Run) or an Olympic Distance (Double the Sprint Distance). There were about 10 of us doing the Olympic Distance, and 40 or so doing the Sprint Distance. Several of the "top finishers" from the previous week's Sprint Tri opted to do the Olympic Distance this time around, which was a serious "bump" to the competition field. That being said, competition can bring out the best in people, and that was certainly the case for this race.

1,500 meters of swimming isn't particularly difficult if you are confident in the water. That doesn't mean it's going to be a quick swim. It's a little bit of a downer on the last two laps of the swim because by that point all of the sprint distance triathletes are out of the water and it can be very lonely in the big blue ocean. To add to it, I had a serious goggle malfunction which caused one of the goggle eyes to fill up with water. Swimming with one eye shut is not fun, and the mental fatigue caused by it probably led to my slower time of 32 minute, 21 seconds.

Out of the water, and able to see with both eyes again, I was on my bike and off on my 40K ride. My goal on the bike is to go as fast as I can, stay as aerodynamic as possible, and try to pass a bunch of people. I do this knowing full well that I'll have to run a 10K after I'm done riding, but having done marathons and very long runs, I'm used to running tired. More than anything, I don't want to slack off and end up not doing my best. Completing the bike ride in 1 hour, 9 minutes, and 55 seconds, I would say that I was successful in achieving my goal.

Entering the final portion of the race my legs felt like a mix of Jell-o and cement. The thought in my head is to just keep my legs moving. As the run started I happened to be in 4th place which gave me several people to "chase" and helped me stay motivated to run my hardest. It definitely paid off. For the first of the two laps I stayed in 4th, then heading out for the second lap, I started to make my move. It took me nearly 2.5K, but I ended up passing the racers in 2nd and 3rd place. For the last 2.5K it was a matter of putting my head down and keep running. 45 minutes, 3 seconds later, I was done.

2 hours, 27 minutes, 19 seconds was good enough for second place, and more than 2 minutes faster than my time the week prior. I definitely attribute the improved time to the stiffer competition. It helped motivate me to keep going even when I was tired and just wanted to stop. In a race when there are no trophies or prizes for the winner, the best you can get from a race is a new personal record (PR). Considering that, I would certainly say this was a successful race.

No GPS, No Computer, Still Running Though

I just realized that it's been 6 weeks since I updated my blog. Shortly after my last entry, my GPS Watch (the GARMIN 205) which I've had since October 2009 pooped out on me. It wasn't a real big deal as I have several running paths and their distances memorized. It does however, limit my running to the paths I know (if I want to accurately track my distance). I recently ordered a new GPS (the GARMIN 405CX) which I should have shortly. It's several models "old" (the newest Garmin GPS running watch is the "610"), but the price was right, and I liked its features. Shortly after my GPS watch stopped working, my computer crashed. Again not a big deal except for the fact that my running log was tracked on my computer. No, of course I didn't save it anywhere else, so everything from January 1, 2011 to July 3, 2011 was lost. I did remember that as of July 3 (the end of Week 26) I had run a total of 748.3 miles. This was a bit shy of the 750 miles I had hoped to get, but overall pretty good for the first half of the year. In the following 4 weeks I've added an additional 104.9 miles.

That makes my new total 853.2 miles.

As for the past 4 weeks:

Total Miles: 104.9

Total Runs Logged: 23

Total Time Spent Running: 14 hours, 4 minutes, 53 seconds

Average Pace: 8:03 (min/mile)

Before my computer/GPS "meltdown" I had an ongoing running average of around 7:44-7:48 minutes/mile. In the past 4 weeks, my run time has slowed down by nearly 20 seconds. I think there are two main reasons for my slower pace. First, is that I'm probably underestimating my mileage by a little because I want to be sure that I'm getting all my miles. The other reason is that I don't have a GPS watch which can give me my pace at any moment which tells me when I need to run faster. Without the GPS telling me how fast I'm running, I run how I feel, and apparently I've been feeling slow. It will be interesting to see what happens to my pace once I start running with a GPS again. I PROMISE to blog about it!