Running and Getting Older (Day 19)

Run - 8.7km,  52 minutes

So after a week of sluggishness it was back to running and feeling much happier. My last run, when I was sickening, was a struggle but this felt steady.  Good. It means I can keep on keeping on and have not fallen off a fitness cliff.

perhaps II felt better today because I had had a bit of a rest. As I get older recovery is something that takes more time and needs attention and is the reason I never thought of running everyday for Janathon. After a few consecutive days instead of feeling enlivened I would be ground down - and that is not a good thing. I run for satisfaction, to make me more at one with my surroundings, and lift the spirits  but if you are tired it becomes a chore and stops working.

It is important to be realistic about age and manage your expectations. You have to accept that you are not as elastic as you once were (actually I was never that elastic) and the same amount of effort now yields less speed. You to accept and adapt and be a bit smarter in targeting each session. For instance today I wanted to run at least 40 minutes at a steady pace, later in the week I will run  longer but at a lower heart rate, and my third session will be higher paced intervals. I have a plan, whereas before I would have run more but not be at all disciplined.

Until a couple of years ago I just used to try to ignore the fact that I was getting older but it is now nearer the forefront of my mind. I was interested in reading a question posed in the New York Times: is there any scientific evidence to substantiate the claim that older runners (over 45) should limit the amount of high impact exercise, like jogging. The answer did a good job of citing evidence that suggested the reverse (that running and walking tend to help not only general health, whilst not causing arthritis or other damage to the joints). Good. 

But I was interested in the fears that underlie the question and the way fears can stop us doing things even when benefits outweigh the risks by a large margin . Every single activity has some risk: you can trip taking a gentle stroll and seriously hurt yourself, you can do some easy stretches and pull a muscle or strain a tendon, and always there are stories of people being damaged doing something innocuous.  However the question we have to ask is: what are the chances? How many people out of how many come to harm? You cannot be timid just because you can imagine a dangerous scenario, you have to know if it is likely or not. There is always an element of uncertainty but one thing twe are sure of is that one of the most dangerous thing you ca do is ... nothing. Sitting on a sofa will take years off your life.

Janathon 2012 Day 11: Circumspection

Janathon 2012 Day 11: Walk - 3 miles, Time 55min, Weather - clear and mild for time of year

I must make some sort of correction, or rather a reservation, to something I posted a couple of days ago.

I saw an illustrated talk on the benefits of exercise, which had been going round the internet, thought “that’s neat’ and posted it up. OK, up to a point - it is neat - but it is not the full story. I should have thought about it a bit more. 

I posted it because I am a believer in the benefits of exercise and it is a good demonstration but it is not the whole story. The story line is too strong and it seems the evidence is more equivocal than is claimed. 

This posting on the BMJ site is very good about the way we should look at such claims and  treat them with circumspection even if they support our own side - no make that especially when they support our own side.

The thing is that having posted the video clip I feel a sense of responsibility to delve a little deeper and find out what evidence there is about the link between exercise and health.

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 145/365: Near Miss

2011 Streak: Day 145/365: Cycle - 13.10. Time - 57min, Weather - blue skies, white clouds, pleasantly warm

Although this is not an action photo it nevertheless shows a near miss.

Last week I cycled along this single track country lane and saw a burnt out car in the entrance to a woods. A metal skeleton brown and black. I don't know why the car there or why it was torched but in this isolated spot somebody had been up to no good.

This week it has all been cleared-up - the council has done its job but there are still traces. This tree is one of them as you can see where it has been singed. On seeing this I suddenly realised how dangerous the fire had been. The past two months have been dry and if one tree had caught fire then the likelihood is it would have spread.

It was a near miss. I wonder how many near misses of all types there are every day - occasions when the fates could have aligned events differently to create an unintended disaster, but didn't.

It is something I don't like to think about when cycling - otherwise I would become too nervous and unable to move. Will passing cars be careful? On single track roads will oncoming be travelling slow enough? On a fast downhill will the road surface remain true? Will it be clear of debris and obstacles? Will cars see you at junctions and roundabouts?

There are all sorts of things that can happen but mostly don't because there is a 99% chance that everybody is behaving within predictable boundaries.

The way I cope is to put the 1% to the back of mind and concentrate on what I can control and keep alert.

That is all anyone can do.