Yes I’m still keeping count of the number of sessions, and we’re more than halfway through the entire Clinic program.  If you’re wondering why my posts skip a session it’s because I usually am not able to join the Friday sessions of the clinic at BHS (traffic going to Fort Bonifacio on Friday nights are always crazy).

To those who just recently joined the Clinic (about half of all the attendees last night were newcomers) I recommend that you join all sessions whenever you can, especially that the Clinic is more than halfway into the program.

Like in the past few sessions Ultra was again packed, mainly because during Tuesdays the Clinic shares the facility with Team Bald Runner.  Like Nike, both Clinics have seen fast growth in terms of attendance over these past few weeks probably attesting on how fast this sport is gaining popularity.

Last night was a recovery session.  It started with the usual warm-up.  I was supposed to do 7-laps but in order to be able to join the drills I had to cut it to 6.  The drills involved ankling, high knees, butt kick, Russian march, grapevine, skipping, and another new routine that I forgot the name.  This was followed by a lap of easy run on the oval, and immediately succeeded by the second round of drills in turbo mode.  Another lap was done afterwards, followed by core exercises, and a new and improved stretching session was introduced.

Our core exercises closely resemble what I usually do in the gym: crunches, leg raises, etc.  One minor difficulty was that we don’t have mats (attention would-be sponsors) so we had to lie on the floor, thankfully it was padded to ease the pressure on our knees and elbows.  And because of that my singlet looked like I used it to mop the tracks (lesson learned: wear dark singlets).

The new stretching session, a.k.a. spa session, required us to form a pair: one being stretched and the other assisting.  In a way it really was like a day at the spa.  If you’re mad at your partner you may take this opportunity to get back at them, but then again you’d swap places afterwards so it’s better to be nice.  It’s one thing to stretch but having someone to help you do it is much better, like having a personal chiropractor.

The stretching session took a while so we experienced another lights out—just when we were trading places with my stretching partner, Chris.  I felt a bit sorry for their batch because they didn’t enjoy the luxury of time; nonetheless I hope I did a good job in doing my part.

Garmins are becoming a norm in the Clinic as I saw more people wearing it, especially the Coaches.  It’s hardly a fashion statement nor a gadget-fix—it’s almost a need.  And it’s nice to have some people to talk to about our gadget.

To summarize here’s the breakdown of our recovery session routines:

• Warm-up: 6-laps (6x400M, 2.4K)
• Easy Runs: 2×1-lap (2x400M, 0.8K)
• Total Distance: 3.2K