Looking forward to 2012

At this time of the year, having finished all my vacation leaves, I’m practically alone in the office. It’s not a bad situation as I have the time to do some planning and to tidy up my mailbox and papers.
Reviewing the year in terms of triathlon, I was fortunate enough to have completed the following races: Subic International Triathlon, Ironman Philippines, and White Rock Triathlon.
Next year promises some new events and venues for me: Hongkong Marathon in February and Ironman Philippines, which will be held in Cebu next year, after being in Camsur for the last 3 years.
Registration for the HK marathon closed in one week, while IM Phils is fast filling up. You really need to plan ahead and register in advance for such races. I wasted no time in registering for both events.
Hopefully my increased running mileage, in preparing for my first marathon, will improve my runs and my triathlon times.
But first things first. I need to shed the holiday pounds gained in the last few days.
Part of my resolutions for next year is to blog more often and regularly. Perhaps doing it from my mobile phone, such as what I’m doing now, will help. Till then, enjoy the holidays and happy new year to every one!

Schools invade Makati

I received an invitation to attend a leadership class in FEU. I was prepared to go to Morayta, but pleasantly realized that it was going to be held in the new FEU building in Makati, where the old Zuellig building was. Looking for parking space took time, as there was really nothing available. Going around the school, I learned that they offer MBA courses, culinary arts, and legal management.

The class I attended was organized by John Clements, part of their Executive MBA program that they have in partnership with FEU. The speaker was Dr. Steven DeKrey from HKUST, who gave us a day long seminar on Leadership Priorities in Asia. There was a lively discussion as most of the participants were seasoned executives as well as professors in the MBA faculty. I had a great time listening to the insights shared by my classmates.

The FEU school in Makati is the latest academic institution to add a Makati presence. Offhand I can think of Mapua along Buendia, Lyceum somewhere in Salcedo, of course Dela Salle and Ateneo have always been there, CEU I think also has a presence. This makes sense as it makes them closer to the corporate world, making their students and faculty more or less attuned to the industry

Understanding Filipino time

DOST is launching Philippine Standard Time as a way to change Filipino time from being known as always late to being on time.

Filipino time is actually what Philip Zimbardo calls event time. According to him (he of the famous Stanford prison experiment), historically, there are two types of reckoning time practiced by people in the world: clock time and event time.

Clock time, which is to follow the clock on the dot, is followed by people in temperate countries, in which the seasons are clearly marked. Time is followed as something external to them.

On the other hand, event time is followed by people in countries near the equator, in which there are no seasons, and everyday throughout the year seems the same. In this case, events are started when people “feel” like it, not so much the external indication of a clock. That’s why the additional function of a host is to determine when to start, say 15 minutes after, or when there are enough people.

Filipino time is kind of tricky because we are in a kind of dichotomy where we live in a environment of both clock time and event time. Clock time for business meetings, and event time for social gatherings. In between, we have to get clues as to the actual start, watching out for messages such as “We will start on time”, or “Please come 5 minutes before the time”.

Why don’t we just say what clock to follow: event time or clock time. Clock time means we will start on time. Event time means come when you please!

Trying out Toodledo

I’ve been trying out a new To Do tool called Toodledo. I got a recommendation for this from Google+, from one of the comments of a post by Robert Scoble. Scoble was actually recommending another to-do application, but a reader mentioned Toodledo as being better and simpler, so I gave it a try.

I like Toodledo because it’s web-based and can synch with an Iphone app. In this way, I can add my to-do list, whether I’m in the office or on the go. The web site is free to use, but you have to pay one dollar for the app, which is not that bad.

It has the usual fields like due date and priority. What’s new are fields for Context (this refers to places like Office, House, Shopping, so you can filter your list depending where you are) and Goals.

I usually go through phases in using To do applications, ranging from Notepad to the Iphone calendar notes. Toodledo, which I have been using for about a month, seems promising, although occassionally I revert to Notepad and plain old paper.

Starting the cult for Yakult

I got a bad stomach two months ago. It started with indigestion, feeling bloated, having cold sweat, nausea. I’m not really sure how I got it – could be running on a full stomach or bad water. I just slept on it on the first day. On the second day, I had diarrhea that lasted for 48 hours. Imodium didn’t cure it. As prescribed by the doctor, I took antibiotics, but no improvement. On the 3rd day, I was ready to have myself admitted to the hospital. And then I suddenly remembered a friend’s advise of taking Yakult. I took it and within two hours, I could feel the improvement.

Last weekend, the same symptoms happened. Again it could have been running again on a full stomach, or bad water. Almost by instinct, I remembered to take Yakult. What could have been another 48 hours of diarrhea was prevented. So that’s why I’m now a regular Yakult drinker.

By coincidence, an article about probiotics appeared in Wall Street Journal, talking about the benefits of taking Yogurt and other probiotic food. It says that having good balance in our digestive system actually reduces stresses. In other words, stomach problems cause stress and anxiety, not the other way around!

So here’s to the good bacteria in our stomachs. I am now a Yakult and Yogurt fan. Ok ba tyan?

Back to Blogging

It’s been a while since my last blog post. In between I was caught up with Facebook and Twitter, favoring short updates rather than long blog paragraphs.
I’m back to blogging since I think blogs have their own merits.
In starting anew this blog, I will have to broaden it from mostly triathlon topics. I’m still into triathlons, so will definitely continue writing about it. But not restricting it to triathlons is liberating, because then I can blog about anything that comes to mind.
I hope to have improved my writing style, having had some feedback on it and read some books. Will definitely blog about these in the near future.
For now, the only thing new is the WordPress Theme on this site. I still decided to retain the Groundhog Dude title, since it has grown on me, and it’s always a groundhog day anyway.

The Heat is On

It’s a few weeks to go before Subic triathlon, the first major triathlon event of the year. From all indications,  2010 is going to be the breakout year of triathlon in the Philippines, especially after the publicity generated by Camsur Ironman last year. Camsur inspired a lot of people to pick up triathlon, not least some of my friends and acquaintances, who figured out if I can do it, then anyone else can do it! Which is exactly what triathlon is all about

In any case, summer arrived too early this year: hot blazing sun, cloudless days, dripping perspiration, sunburnt skin. Had to dig out my fuel belt flasks and look for some sunblock.

A great discovery I had last year was a pool just next door to my office – the Army pool in Fort Bonficacio. For me, it’s more convenient than MASA: it opens earlier, closes later, has fewer people (at least on weekday mornings, and hopefully not a lot more when this gets published!), and is just as clean as MASA. You can view the map here. Fee is 75 pesos.

There’s even a 1-kilometer track across the street, which goes around the Army parade ground. You just need to cross a bridge to the other side. Perfect for a swim-run. Don’t forget the Coppertone, it’s an open track with hardly any tree cover. That’s right, it’s a breakout year, not only for triathlon, but also for Coppertone!

See you guys in Subic !

Emerging from the Burrow

It’s been a while since my last post. As you can see, the last entry I had was soon after Camsur Ironman last year and had no entries up to now. I literally went on hibernation, and just like Punxsutawni Phil, I emerged from my shadow last Sunday for the Condura Run 21K. Unfortunately, my emergence seemed to forecast more winter as I promptly got sick after the run, forcing me to cancel all training for the week.

In any case, I wasn’t entirely inactive during my months-long break. I was working on several things: trying to incorporate mid-foot strike running (I have my wornout soles to prove it), improving my swimming glide (or rather, adding a glide to my swim that didn’t seem to have one), and otherwise having fun going biking up the steep hills of Sierra Madre.

In the process I have learned new things and met new people. This is what makes triathlon so exciting; there is always room for improvement and growth, and this triathlon season promises to be as eventful as the previous one. I hope to write more things in the coming days and weeks, and so my to my faithful three readers, stay tuned