7-Eleven Run a perfect kick off for Olympian Tabal

Mary Joy Tabal won the 21-kilometer title of the 7-Eleven Run 2019. CDN Digital photo | Mars G. Alison

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The 7-Eleven Run Series was a perfect 2019 kickoff for Cebu Olympian Mary Joy Tabal, who will not only be looking to defend her gold in the 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) but also hope to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics this year.

According to her long time coach John Philip Dueñas, their target for the 7-Eleven Run, which was Tabal’s first official race for 2019, was to get back to her target race weight, which is below 45 kilograms.

“I am happy that despite wala nakafocus sa speed but sa timbang, naka perform gihapon si Joy even without interval workout so it was a perfect start of the year,” said Dueñas.

(I am happy that despite bot focusing on speed but on the weight, Joy was still able to perform even without interval workout so it was a perfect start of the year.)

Tabal once again took the 21-kilometer title of the 7-Eleven Run Series with a time of one hour, 24 minutes and 39 seconds (1:24:39). 

Though quite far from her best time of 1:16, both Dueñas and Tabal said time was not the target for the 7-Eleven Run. 

“Actually ang gihatag na target ni coach Philip kay wa ra ko gipagoal ug time since kickoff sa year karon, sort of evaluation how far ko naka recover since Milo, and after break sa December,” said Tabal, adding that “wala pa jud totally mi nakastart sa proper training kay wala pa mi kabaw unsa ang dako na race sa first quarter.” 

(Actually the target that coach Philip was not the time since this is my kickoff race for this year, so this is sort of an evaluation of how far I have recovered since the Milo race and after the December break. We haven’t really started our proper training  because we still do not know what the big races are in the first quarter.)

According to Tabal, for January, their workout focused on shaping, easy run and slowly building endurance and did not involved any speed workout endurance and speed running.

Now that Tabal is back to her ideal race weight, Dueñas said that for February, they will now be doing short intervals and more on fast turnover of her feet.

“It is important that you first build your athlete’s structure, go back to the basics and get the race weight first before you let your athlete do high intensity training so you can focus on your long term goal which in Joy’s case is December,” said Dueñas. 

Dueñas explained that the training program for Tabal had four phases—first is getting the race weight, body structure and building endurance, second is focusing on speed, third is finding a new intensity level and finally race preparation.

As for Tabal, she hopes she can race in at least one marathon before the SEA Games to build her confidence.

“I need race exposure kay makuyawan naman hinoon ko ba nga kanang usa ra ako marathon,” said Tabal.

(I need race exposure because I get nervous with the thought that I will only get to race in one marathon.)  

Tabal said she might be leaving for Japan by the last week of February. Before that, she will compete in the SM2SM Run on February 17.

From Japan, Tabal said she will be training in Clark so she can familiarize herself with the SEAG venue. /bjo