Janathon 2012 Day 28: Nondescript running; encouraging article

Janathon 2012 Day 28:Run - 4.75 miles, Time - 54min, Weather - Oh it was grey again and the wind was cold

Sometimes there is little to say about a run: you completed your intended route as expected, the weather was dull,  not many people were out, and you didn’t see anything unusual. It is not that the run was unenjoyable - it is just that it was routine.

I gave myself no special brownie points for my efforts but when I got home I felt quite good and was definitely in a better mood than before started. This to me is one of the characteristics of running: a you almost invariably feel better afterwards. Your mind feels calmer, there is warmth in the body, and a contentment of mood.

To achieve this though you have to put in a certain amount of work. I don’t know the minimum level is but I find it hard to believe the minimum exercise recommendations (for health) are enough. 30 minutes walking is not a lot, especially as the recommendations allow for it to be broken up into ten minute chunks. 

I must admit to having made no progress in finding out how the current health recommendations were arrived at and whether there was any debate about them being enough (by that I mean of course that I haven’t looked) but the issues of thresholds is interesting. I will definitely have to look into it.

On the subject of the health benefits of exercise I have recently come across some more evidence: a very encouraging article in the New York Times on the possibility of exercise being able to delay or combat the onset of Alzheimer’s. There are all sorts of caveats of course: it is a single study with a smallish number of people; it needs to be tested and replicated; it is the beginning of an avenue of enquiry rather than an end point; etc, etc. But if it is true it could be tremendous news. However, as the article says, at the moment is just a study that is  “cautiously encouraging”

Janathon 2012 Day 5: Walking, yoga and the risks of exercise

Janathon 2012 Day 5: Walk - 3 miles, Time - 55min, Weather - blowing a gale, sometimes it rained, sometimes it didn't

According to my schedule I should have been running today but I just did not see the point. I still had a cold and so my heart rate was already elevated in addition It was horribly windy and any progress would be a struggle. I knew I would again spend all my time failing to keep my heart rate down. 

If I was going to be forced to walk all the time I might just as well dress in walking gear and be honest about it. On a bleak wintry day this seemed by far the best option as I could pull my chin down to my chest and hide it behind the collar of my anorak, hunch myself up defensively and tramp on.

Somedays are about more about endurance than enjoyment and this was one of them (not that there is much endurance in a three mile walk).

When I was out, not walking very far, not walking very fast I was thinking about the role of ego in sports. Today I had none - I was not trying to prove anything, I was just trying to keep going, but in other circumstances, no matter how much I might protest to the contrary, there is an element of me that says I should be able to keep-up, I should be able to do that, I should be better than them. I am not the world's most competitive person, yet I still have that in me. In fact I believe that almost everybody who takes up a sport, or active pastime has some of that in them. The higher the level, the greater the desire to excel and show yourself the best - the greater the ego

My thinking was sparked by an article on the dangers of yoga. Yes even yoga can be ego ridden and the desire to adopt extreme positions can cause of injury. This is entirely plausible: you only have to look at the fashions in different types of yoga. 

When it was introduced into the West the dominant type was Hatha Yoga and the underlying philosophy was that as Westerners sat on chairs and were not necessarily very active, they didn't have the basic fitness and flexibility of the Indian yogis who had sat crossed legged since childhood and led an outdoor life. The appropriate yoga was therefore more gentle.

But you can't keep the reasons for that approach secret and once it is known it does not sit well with the competitive Western mindset. It is part of our cultural upbringing to push further and prove ourselves as individuals and sometimes the more extreme the achievement the greater the validation. It is unsurprising that progressively more vigorous classes became fashionable. 

But the body has limits, you might be able to ease them out gradually over time, but you cannot easily fully reverse the consequences all that time spent in front of a computer screen. Our genetics and the what with our days set those limits and pretending you are someone else can be dangerous. 

No matter how many warnings about not overdoing things, working within your limits, and it is not a competition, there is still the ego driven desire to go further. That is fine as long as there is a good teacher to point out the problems and guide the progress. If there isn't then there are risks.

However, I wondered, is it more risky that the low level exercise I was doing. For sure my walking was very, very safe and there was minuscule risk of me injury myself but I did have to cross the road ...

2011 Streak Day 290 (Thursday Oct 20th): On minimalist shoes

2011 Streak Day 290 (Thursday Oct 20^th): Walk 3 miles  time 1 hr, Weather autumn is proving to be surprisingly nice

The reason for the picture is to show the way the shadows lengthen as the sun gets lower in the sky. It makes for some lovely patterns.

Otherwise the main event was the arrival of new running shoes (which I wrote about). The shoes in themselves are standard running shoes with a built-up heel and lots of cushioning. The type of shoe I mostly run in (not the particular model, it is only my second pair of Vomeros).

It used to be so simple. There were basically three types of shoe, neutral, support, and motion control and you looked for the ones that fitted you feet the best in the appropriate category. Now however there is growing interest in barefoot running and the shoe manufacturers have responded  with a range of minimalist and lightweight shoes, which adds a complication.

My problem is that I do not face the radical divide of heel strike and traditional trainers, or  minimalist trainers and a forefoot strike. I have always landed on my forefoot/midfoot but done so in normal trainers.  In fact I like having a degree of heel because after the initial strike my heel drops and I find it more comfortable if it is then supported by the shoe. 

Because of all fuss about barefoot running I felt obliged to try some minimalist shoes with zero heel drop but did not find them particularly comfortable and certainly there was no moment of revelation where I thought I had discovered the proper biomechanical way to run. So I gave up. However I do still have a problem in finding shoes with the right amount drop between heel and forefoot, i.e. something between nothing and normal.

There are possibilities: Newtons, which look interesting but have a price that puts me off, Nike Frees, which are shoes I should have probably tried before now, and Saucony and Brooks who are introducing shoes with less drop. There is scope for experimentation but it is an example of why we need running shops with a good range as I need to try them on before buying. Unfortunately my local running shop does not stock these sort of shoes so I probably need to travel further afield.

However it is not a big problem. Although I would like to find the perfect pair of shoes, I am happy to run in just about anything. My main problems have nothing to do with my trainers and everything to do with lack of condition, sticking to a proper training regime, and carrying too much weight. Fix those and everything falls into place.

This means I am remarkably feeble when people debate forefoot vs heelstrike. I really do not have a position. I tend to believe that everybody should run in the way that feels most natural and that most injuries come from training mistakes rather than failures of style. However if anybody does experiment by switching to minimal shoes and finds it enhances their pleasure and performance then I am happy for them. If however someone heelstrikes and feels pressure to change because of all the talk and books such as Born to Run I would advise caution, if there are no other reasons. In other words there is no reason to fix what isn’t broken.

This New York Times article on the fashion for minimalist shoes has some interesting comments.

2011 Streak Day 285 (Saturday Oct 15th): Mind body

2011 Streak Day 285 (Saturday Oct 15^th): Walk 1 mile Time 20min Weather beautifully sunny October day warm enough for T shirt

The role of the mind in running is is fascinating because it is not a neutral observer of the feedback from the body - it conditions those messages.

You can see this when you have good and bad days. There are times when you go for a run when you feel weary from the first step to the last, even though there is nothing physically wrong (i.e. you are not sickening or injured). Your mind is tired and so are your limbs. 

That is a fairly common example but fascinating nevertheless. 

What causes a bad day? I have never been able to isolate an answer but I keep on trying. I always start by looking for simple physical explanations: was my nutrition or hydration good, was I still tired from previous sessions? I rarely think about my mood or mental outlook. Perhaps I should. 

But if my outlook is wrong is there anything I can do about it?

Another simple example of the way the mind can affect you performance is the difference between running on your own and running in a group. With a group you are often stimulated to run faster or longer than you would normally because of the others. You adapt to the norms of the group and your expectations change.

When you are by yourself you often head the signs of distress earlier or you just fall into your normal comfortable pace. You more easily stay within fairly soft mental boundaries.

This leads to an interesting question. If your mental outlook is limiting how fast you go what can you do to change it. Would fooling yourself work?  This article from the New York Times suggests it might.

P.S. The practical response to a bad day is not to worry about it and try to find a cause. You should shrug your shoulders and carry on, knowing the general statistical rule of 'return to the mean' will apply. So if you have had a bad run the chances are your next one will be better but sadly if you have a good day it is likely the next will be worse.