MARY Joy Tabal endured a tough high-altitude training in Japan as part of her intense preparation for the 2019 Ottawa Marathon on May 26 in City of Ottawa, Canada.
Tabal of MotorAce Kawasaki Racing Team did a one-week altitude training in the highland of Nagano, Japan together with runners from the Nippon Sports Science University.
The 29-year-old long-distance runner has been in Japan since February to prepare for the Olympic qualifying race and the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
“We trained thrice a day in Nagano. We have to be disciplined on our time. I tried to really take a nap or get a quality rest in between our training,” said Tabal.
Tabal said for one week in Nagano Prefecture, all the focus was on training and they could hardly use cellphones.
“Our happiness during the high altitude training week was our dinner because it’s the time to reward ourselves after a long day,” she said.
The training was meant to test the athletes’ mental toughness and physical prowess.
“It tested our capabilities and how we deal with fatigue. We learned how to dig more than the usual and how to survive hard training. You get to improve your discipline from recovery jog, easy training, sleeping time, meals and nutrition,” she said.
Tabal will try to qualify again for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the Ottawa Marathon. She made it to the 2016 Rio Olympics thru the same race. (RSC)