I have been a delinquent runner this past week. Let me give you an update based on the running plan I made for this week:

• November 23, 2009, Monday – Cross-training by biking for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on how I fare. The ultimate goal is to do moderate biking for an hour.

What happened: I borrowed Ramil’s bike and tried several rounds around our subdivision. Living in Antipolo can be very daunting for beginner runners or bikers like me. The original plan to ride the bike for 30 to 40 minutes was reduced to a quick 15-minute-ride. I felt like such a loser after realizing that I simply have to settle for those 15 minutes. There’s no street in our subdivision that does not have a significant amount of inclination and a few rounds had my thighs screaming for rest. It made me realize that I like running better than biking.

• November 24, 2009, Tuesday – Run 5k: 1k running, 1k brisk walking, 1k running, 1k brisk walking, 0.5k running, 0.5k brisk walking.

What happened: We had deliberations in school in the afternoon and since the school is just in the next subdivision I decided to just run going to school and back home. Again, the hilly streets of Antipolo proved to be my undoing. I planned to do run the whole way going there but my body could only muster a run-walk-run strategy. I took me around 18 minutes each way which means I had a total of 30-40 minutes of run. Considering that most of it was uphill running/walking, I was satisfied with it.

• November 25, 2009, Wednesday – Rest day

What happened: After my challenging past two days, I savored my rest day!

• November 26, 2009, Thursday – Run 5k: 1k running, 1k brisk walking, 1k running, 1k brisk walking, 0.5k running, 0.5k brisk walking.

What happened: Ramil and I were able to run around our subdivision. We ran 4k in around 17 minutes.

• November 27, 2009, Friday – Another attempt at a tempo run.

What happened: We had to do grocery shopping and we got home pretty late which means I didn’t get to run.

• November 26, 2009, Saturday – Easy run

What happened: I did many chores the whole day and ended up not running at all. I told myself that I was pretty much tired from the household chores anyway.

• November 27, 2009, Sunday – Rest day

What happened: We had plans to go to several places and again, we got home late. Third consecutive rest day

I dragged myself last Monday even if it was just to run inside the house for 20 minutes then I took another rest day last Tuesday. Yesterday, I ran again for 20 minutes inside the house. I plan to run again today for 20 minutes.

The now-cold weather here in Antipolo is making it difficult for me to run outside. I’ve noticed that I’m having more difficulty breathing when I’m running outside. I hope to remedy that in the next few days but for the mean time, I’ll have to be content with running inside our house.