As Xentra gears up to sponsor the highly anticipated Barasoain Run 2024, the company is placing a strong emphasis on health and fitness training for its employees. Beyond the sponsorship, Xentra is actively preparing its employees to be in top form for the marathon, thanks to the guidance of Coach Dax, a seasoned fitness expert and personal coach to Xentra’s chairman, Maner Puyawan.
Tapping the Expert
In the lead-up to the event, Xentra organized a Zoom meeting on September 5 to provide participating employees with expert insights on how to best prepare for the race. The session featured Coach Dax, who shared his wealth of knowledge in fitness training and long-distance running.
Coach Dax is an Ironman Certified Coach, Chef, EQF Level 5 Nutritionist, and a life coach. He embraces the mantra “go slow to go fast,” in crafting plans that empower athletes and reduce injuries. He wants to enhance the physical and mental well-being of his athletes to transform them into motivated, engaged, and empowered individuals.
Coach Dax has been instrumental in helping individuals like Maner transition to healthier lifestyles, and now he’s ready to do the same for Xentra’s workforce.
Straight to the Point
During the meeting, Coach Dax laid out a simple yet effective training plan that Xentra employees could follow in the weeks leading up to the marathon. His approach, which revolves around his Zone 2 coaching system, is designed to accommodate beginners while still challenging experienced runners, ensuring that everyone is physically ready come race day.
The Zone 2 plan, represented by the #zone2yourjourney, includes a very simple hack to get an individual’s heart rate zone. The heart rate zone indicates how hard a person’s heart is working to pump blood and keep up with the demands of what the person is doing. In this case, running. The higher the heart rate while running, the higher the heart rate zone and the harder the body is working to keep up.
Using this as a basis, Coach Dax advised Xentra employees to train while on the safe side, when their heart rate is within their heart rate zone. He said that the Zone 2 is,
“…very imperative to the things that you’re about to subject yourself.”
Before starting all of this, however, Coach Dax wants all participants to be mentally committed to the training and the run itself. According to him, and although it’s all intimidating, participants should not be scared because he believes that
“…this is only hard because it’s new.”
Aside from his training plan, Coach Dax encouraged employees to reach out to him directly with any questions or concerns, emphasizing his open-door policy. He sees this as not just a one-time training session but the beginning of a healthier journey for Xentra employees.
This is Only the Beginning
The collaboration between Xentra and Coach Dax also opens doors for future company-wide training programs. Given his expertise, Coach Dax could potentially offer regular fitness coaching sessions for Xentra employees, reinforcing a culture of health and wellness within the company.
With Xentra Chairman Maner Puyawan leading by example, having transformed his own health through fitness, and with Coach Dax’s expert guidance, Xentra employees are well on their way to making a strong showing at the Barasoain Run 2024. This marathon isn’t just a race—it’s the start of a collective journey toward healthier living, supported by both the company and fitness professionals like Coach Dax.