Elasticity

I might have mentioned before that I have a lot of admiration for Windsurfin' Susie and the dedicated, rational approach she has to running. She not only studies the physiology of running, she puts theory into practice and then passes on what she has learnt to others. She, and those like her, are the backbone of the sport in this country.

Her latest post is a clear exposition of why running fast is not the best training if you are planning to run long. I'm sure she is right with the underlying message of keeping your goal in mind and being specific in your training. I read it soon after I had posted about my current regime, which involves fairly short bursts of faster running amid other exercises for general strength and flexibility - a completely different approach. So How can I hold onto this this contradiction, i.e. believing Susie is right, yet doing the opposite?

Well actually it is quite easy - because there is no contradiction. There is a wonderful variety of reasons for running and a whole range of aspirations. Susie is a serious athlete, with a target, which I am sure she will attain, of running a 3 hours 15 minute marathon. My current aim is more vague and subjective (and is probably totally unrealistic given my age) and so I have a different plan.

It became clear to me, as these things sometimes do, when looking at a woman. I was watching some sort of aerobic, kickboxing, dance, exercise class, which involved rather complicated moves to music. My attention was caught by someone who could not get the sequence quite right. There was a bounce and elasticity to her movement and she could do all the components of the routine with ease, but she messed up the timings and because of that she was laughing and exercising. Somehow she just seemed full of life.

I thought about my running and how I felt when I was doing it and realised that although it gave me a sense of contentment and sparked all sorts of thoughts and feelings, the actual movement felt a little limited - a bit ploddy, a bit like always going along a line. There was no sense of flexibility and elasticity. In other words, to try to regain that sense of aliveness, I had to try to put more snap into what I was doing and try to exercise the whole body.

So here I am, concentrating more on form than distance, trying to run with a higher cadence with more spring, working the core to improve posture and trying to stretch out some of those gnarled muscles. Part of me thinks I am being a little ridiculous because I will never recapture the elasticity of youth but as I am writing this I am sitting up straighter and in some small way that might show that something is working.