Today’s thoughts while running in UP
Sometimes, races can be a distraction from training.
Medyo ironic, because for many of us runners, races are the reason we train. They give us something to look forward to, a date on the calendar, and that extra motivation to wake up early when the bed is still very convincing.
But when you already have an “A” race you’re seriously preparing for, joining too many races along the way can sometimes pull you away from the bigger plan.
A few weeks ago, I joined two weekend races back-to-back. On paper, they were supposed to be my long Sunday runs. The plan was simple: run easy, stay mostly in Zone 2 to low Zone 3, build endurance, and just use the race environment as support.
Sounds practical, right?
I’ve actually done this for years. Sign up for a race, use it as a long run, enjoy the hydration stations, see familiar faces, and still get the mileage in. Parang sulit. Training run na, event pa.
But lately, I think as I mature more as a runner, I’m starting to see and feel why this can be counterintuitive.
Because the truth is, it is really hard to control your pace during a race.
No matter how disciplined you think you are, once you’re at the starting line, surrounded by the crowd, the music, the energy, the runners passing you, and the excitement of race day, something changes. Your easy run suddenly does not feel so easy anymore.
You tell yourself, “Relax lang today.”
Then someone passes you.
Then the pace feels good.
Then you think, “Okay lang siguro konting push.”
Then suddenly your planned Zone 2 long run becomes a moderate-to-hard effort disguised as discipline.
And here in the Philippines, there’s another factor we don’t always talk about enough: sleep.
Most half marathons here start around 3AM. That means if you’re joining a race, you probably have to wake up around 1AM or even earlier just to prepare, eat, travel, park, warm up, and make it to the starting line on time.
So even before the race starts, puyat ka na agad.
That alone already affects the quality of the workout. Sleep is where recovery happens. It is when the body repairs muscle damage, restores energy, balances hormones, and prepares you for the next training load. So if your “long run” starts with only a few hours of sleep, the body is already paying a cost before you even reach the first kilometer.
And if that race was supposed to be an easy long run, the cost becomes higher than expected. You are not just adding mileage. You are also adding lack of sleep, early call time stress, travel, race-day adrenaline, crowd energy, and usually a harder effort than planned.
That combination can quietly affect recovery, especially when you are already in the middle of a heavy training block.
A long run has a purpose. It is not just about completing the distance. For most training plans, especially when you are building toward a bigger race, long runs are meant to develop aerobic endurance, improve your ability to run efficiently for a longer time, strengthen your legs gradually, and build confidence without creating too much damage.
That is why many long runs are intentionally done at an easier effort. The goal is not to prove your fitness every Sunday. The goal is to build it.
But races have a different energy. Even when you say you will treat it as training, the environment encourages you to perform. You get pulled by the pace of other runners. You get excited when you feel strong. You push on climbs. You surge when there are photographers. Aminin, may konting extra pace pag may camera. Tradition na ‘yan. 😅
And while that extra effort might feel good in the moment, the drawback often appears days later.
Recovery becomes harder.
That is what I felt after doing those back-to-back weekend races. By the third week of heavy mileage, I could feel my body trying to catch up. It wasn’t just normal tiredness. It felt like my system was asking for more recovery than I had planned to give it.
I had to force myself to rest more, sleep earlier, and do all the small recovery habits we usually ignore until we need them — stretching, hydration, easy walks, better food, massage, and simply giving the body time to absorb the work.
And that’s the important part: training only works when your body can recover from it.
Fitness is not built during the workout alone. The workout gives the stimulus, but the improvement happens when you recover. When we keep adding intensity, races, mileage, puyat, and excitement without enough rest, we don’t always get stronger. Sometimes, we just get tired.
This is where many runners, myself included, need to be reminded:
Not every race needs to be raced.
And not every exciting event needs to be joined.
Especially when you have a bigger goal.
If you are training for an A race, everything should support that race. Your long runs, workouts, easy runs, strength training, sleep, nutrition, and even the races you choose to join should all point toward that bigger goal.
That does not mean you can no longer join races during training. Races can still be useful. They can be great tune-up runs, fitness checks, or controlled efforts. They can also help you practice race-day routines — waking up early, fueling, gear testing, hydration, and running with other people around.
But the key word is controlled.
If the plan says easy, run easy.
If the plan says Zone 2, stay in Zone 2.
If the race is not the goal, don’t let it steal energy from the goal.
Because sometimes, what looks like “just a long run inside a race” is not really just a long run.
It comes with an early wake-up call, less sleep, travel, race-day nerves, crowd energy, and the temptation to push harder than planned.
Sometimes, the most disciplined decision is not pushing harder.
And sometimes, the best training move is skipping that exciting race so you can stay consistent for the bigger one you’ve been preparing for.
This morning, while doing my long run in UP, that was what kept coming back to me.
Running has a funny way of teaching us lessons we already know but only understand when we finally feel them in our body.
Years ago, I probably would have said, “Sayang naman, registered na, takbo na.”
Now, I’m starting to understand that maturity in running is knowing when to show up, when to push, when to rest, and when to protect the bigger plan.
Because at the end of the day, the goal is not to collect every race weekend.
The goal is to arrive at your A race healthy, prepared, recovered, and confident.
Sometimes, that means choosing the boring training run over the exciting event.
And honestly, that might be the real test of discipline.
