This is a trailer for a film that looks like it could be good. It follows six people, ranging from top athlete Deena Kastor to a 70 year old running with his daughter, as they tackle the Chicago Marathon.
The clip opens with a Joe Henderson saying "I think we were made to run, we have these long legs for a reason". Damn, and here am I with short legs.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Transmitting an Enthusiasm
The best teaching works by passing on an enthusiasm for the subject - showing that it is alive. That's why I like Beanz's latest post.
I was listening to a radio programme on fanzines where there was a nice example of how this can happen in an informal way. Dave Haslam described how he produced a small fanzine called 'Debris', which he used to sell to people queuing to get into gigs. In the mid Eighties Raymond Carver made his first visit to the UK where there was so little interest he was only interviewed by three people: someone from the Daily Telegraph, the Times and Dave Haslam (hard though this is to believe). When he was selling the issue of Debris with the Carver interview (which can be read here) someone asked him what he meant by including an article about a writer. "Read it and see what you think" was the reply. The next time he was selling the magazine the same person made a point of coming up to say how good the article was and show him the T-shirt he was wearing, which had a picture of Raymond Carver's on it. In other words Carver was his new passion. Dave Haslam thinks this is one of his finest achievements.
With running, if we can pass on our enthusiasm in the same way then we have similarly done something good. In my family my wife runs as does my sister and brother-in-law. I take no direct credit for this but my evident enjoyment of the feeling you get from running might have helped.
For Beanz, and all the other good teachers out there I will pass on this quote from John Ruskin:
Unto This Last essay IV, paragraph 77 (1860)
I was listening to a radio programme on fanzines where there was a nice example of how this can happen in an informal way. Dave Haslam described how he produced a small fanzine called 'Debris', which he used to sell to people queuing to get into gigs. In the mid Eighties Raymond Carver made his first visit to the UK where there was so little interest he was only interviewed by three people: someone from the Daily Telegraph, the Times and Dave Haslam (hard though this is to believe). When he was selling the issue of Debris with the Carver interview (which can be read here) someone asked him what he meant by including an article about a writer. "Read it and see what you think" was the reply. The next time he was selling the magazine the same person made a point of coming up to say how good the article was and show him the T-shirt he was wearing, which had a picture of Raymond Carver's on it. In other words Carver was his new passion. Dave Haslam thinks this is one of his finest achievements.
With running, if we can pass on our enthusiasm in the same way then we have similarly done something good. In my family my wife runs as does my sister and brother-in-law. I take no direct credit for this but my evident enjoyment of the feeling you get from running might have helped.
For Beanz, and all the other good teachers out there I will pass on this quote from John Ruskin:
There is no wealth but life. Life, including all its powers of love, of joy, and of admiration. That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest numbers of noble and happy human beings; that man is richest, who, having perfected the functions of his own life to the utmost, has also the widest helpful influence, both personal, and by means of his possessions, over the lives of others.
Unto This Last essay IV, paragraph 77 (1860)
Base Camp
By accident rather than design my current training plan might have some sort of basis in theory, as it seems to have some similarity to 'reverse periodisation'. Amazing - it only goes to show that there is a concept and name for everything and that most things have been tried at sometime. For me concentrating on gym work, trying to build up strength and leg speed is not just a soft way of keeping out of the of grey, cold, wet, windy weather - oh no it is an bona fide training technique!
I typed the phrase into Google and most of the reference came from triathlon. Quite a nice post is this from The Triathlon Book. I also found out that it is common in cycling and neither Greg Lamond or Lance Armstrong believed in bashing out the long miles in winter (probably the only thing they do agree on). However, for me, that is purely coincidental; my plan is based on observing my running and the need to try something different.
I am convinced that a large part of running is mental i.e. based on an internal sense of what you can and cannot do. There is an in-built sense of self-preservation linked to a voice wanting you to ease back, keep comfortable, keep something in reserve. This means there is an internal feel for a comfortable pace dictated both by the body's capacity and an idea of the body's capacity. The purpose of training is not only to develop muscle, sinew, heart and lungs but also extending the internal model of what you can do. For me that has half worked. I have confidence in the ability to keep going but my pattern of mostly running easy miles has reinforced my comfort zone rather than stretching it. My internal rhythm running rhythm is now calibrated at a fairly slow leg turnover.
Something needs to be done to shake this up. My plan is thus to recalibrate my sense of cadence before gradually extend distance. This is combined with the idea of improving general strength, especially of the core and shoulders, which will help the maintenance of good running posture for longer. Also I read somewhere about the need for more resistance exercise as you get older to ameliorate the natural wasting of muscles - so that is what I am trying to do.
So far this month I have been to the gym 5 times a week, alternating cv and strength days. I have not run any long sessions on the treadmill (I don't know why but I find that mentally quite hard), it has been fairly short bursts at a pace that feels slightly uncomfortable. I have also used the bikes at a cadence of 90 to try to make that rhythm feel normal.
I do not know whether this is a good plan or not - if I run better than last year it is good, if I don't it is not. I just tend to think of it as base training - i.e. building a base of general strength and fitness.
I typed the phrase into Google and most of the reference came from triathlon. Quite a nice post is this from The Triathlon Book. I also found out that it is common in cycling and neither Greg Lamond or Lance Armstrong believed in bashing out the long miles in winter (probably the only thing they do agree on). However, for me, that is purely coincidental; my plan is based on observing my running and the need to try something different.
I am convinced that a large part of running is mental i.e. based on an internal sense of what you can and cannot do. There is an in-built sense of self-preservation linked to a voice wanting you to ease back, keep comfortable, keep something in reserve. This means there is an internal feel for a comfortable pace dictated both by the body's capacity and an idea of the body's capacity. The purpose of training is not only to develop muscle, sinew, heart and lungs but also extending the internal model of what you can do. For me that has half worked. I have confidence in the ability to keep going but my pattern of mostly running easy miles has reinforced my comfort zone rather than stretching it. My internal rhythm running rhythm is now calibrated at a fairly slow leg turnover.
Something needs to be done to shake this up. My plan is thus to recalibrate my sense of cadence before gradually extend distance. This is combined with the idea of improving general strength, especially of the core and shoulders, which will help the maintenance of good running posture for longer. Also I read somewhere about the need for more resistance exercise as you get older to ameliorate the natural wasting of muscles - so that is what I am trying to do.
So far this month I have been to the gym 5 times a week, alternating cv and strength days. I have not run any long sessions on the treadmill (I don't know why but I find that mentally quite hard), it has been fairly short bursts at a pace that feels slightly uncomfortable. I have also used the bikes at a cadence of 90 to try to make that rhythm feel normal.
I do not know whether this is a good plan or not - if I run better than last year it is good, if I don't it is not. I just tend to think of it as base training - i.e. building a base of general strength and fitness.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
The Begining of the Year
It is odd but I never think of the New Year beginning on the 1st of January; I’m more in tune with the 12 Days of Christmas. On Sunday the decorations were taken down and everything returned to what passes for normal.
So my resolutions have begun – well not exactly resolutions, more guidelines and plans. My wife and I had one of our normal coffee house meetings to work out what needed doing over the next year (basically all the stuff we thought of last year but did not get round to), and there was something reassuring about this beginning-of-the-year ritual as there are always things we didn’t do last year.
If I am honest there is only one resolution each year and it is always the same: to keep on going, keep on trying. Everything else is orientation.
The running/fitness plans (i.e. the subject of this blog) are divided into two parts: exercise and food. All I can say is that I am three days in and that so far so good.
For exercise I am keeping to my plan of trying top build up general strength and fitness, whilst running for short distances at a higher speed. We will just have to see how this works out as it is part of a long term plan.
The food part is very simple: eat only at meal times, have three meals a day and try to eat as little processed food as possible and eat more slowly and savour the flavours. That’s all there is: eat real food but restrict the quantity. (The Guardian managed two whole articles from a book that said just that here and here). I have always wondered how people manage to write so much about diet when it is mainly a matter of eating your greens.
There again you could say that about running - it is just one foot in front of another, endlessly. But I look at this blog and realise that somehow I have managed to witter on about it for three years – so perhaps it is possible to find ways to talk about a simple basic truth.
So my resolutions have begun – well not exactly resolutions, more guidelines and plans. My wife and I had one of our normal coffee house meetings to work out what needed doing over the next year (basically all the stuff we thought of last year but did not get round to), and there was something reassuring about this beginning-of-the-year ritual as there are always things we didn’t do last year.
If I am honest there is only one resolution each year and it is always the same: to keep on going, keep on trying. Everything else is orientation.
The running/fitness plans (i.e. the subject of this blog) are divided into two parts: exercise and food. All I can say is that I am three days in and that so far so good.
For exercise I am keeping to my plan of trying top build up general strength and fitness, whilst running for short distances at a higher speed. We will just have to see how this works out as it is part of a long term plan.
The food part is very simple: eat only at meal times, have three meals a day and try to eat as little processed food as possible and eat more slowly and savour the flavours. That’s all there is: eat real food but restrict the quantity. (The Guardian managed two whole articles from a book that said just that here and here). I have always wondered how people manage to write so much about diet when it is mainly a matter of eating your greens.
There again you could say that about running - it is just one foot in front of another, endlessly. But I look at this blog and realise that somehow I have managed to witter on about it for three years – so perhaps it is possible to find ways to talk about a simple basic truth.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
The New year and Time for a Change
Now is the time to take stock and make plans for the coming year. I like sitting here on a grey winters afternoon, casting my mind forward, imagining the sun and longer days and things I want to achieve.
Following-on from my last post - time really is a gift.
I have been made redundant from work and I must admit that I am not at all unhappy. My lifestyle used to be stupidly wearying, as my typical day was to leave at 6.30 and come home at 7.30. It was grinding and dull and during the week there was time for little else. My whole being yearned for a break and now it has got one - so I will be taking a sabbatical for a few months. Who knows what will happen after that.
As for running, which is after all the purpose of this blog, it is all good and I can start to think long term and aim for a certain amount of consistency.
The last two months of 2007 were stressful and I managed to combine little exercise with eating too much, so my fitness level has taken a dive. No matter - even more it feels as if I am making a fresh start.
I am thus going back to base to build up my general strength and fitness. This is the reverse of base training, which involves lots and lots of easy miles. It is a matter of going to the gym - doing speed work on the treadmill and using the machines to build up my core muscles. A couple of months of this, plus a planned gradual weight loss, should put me in good shape to start building up the mileage for a marathon later in the year.
I have always had the attitude that there are no training runs, i.e. I run for the pleasure of each run, not as a means to an end. That remains, but there is nothing to stop me training for running and then following a schedule. I am quite excited by the idea of trying to improve.
To everyone who reads this I hope you are also excited by the prospect of the New Year and that your plans are fulfilled. May you all have good luck.
Following-on from my last post - time really is a gift.
I have been made redundant from work and I must admit that I am not at all unhappy. My lifestyle used to be stupidly wearying, as my typical day was to leave at 6.30 and come home at 7.30. It was grinding and dull and during the week there was time for little else. My whole being yearned for a break and now it has got one - so I will be taking a sabbatical for a few months. Who knows what will happen after that.
As for running, which is after all the purpose of this blog, it is all good and I can start to think long term and aim for a certain amount of consistency.
The last two months of 2007 were stressful and I managed to combine little exercise with eating too much, so my fitness level has taken a dive. No matter - even more it feels as if I am making a fresh start.
I am thus going back to base to build up my general strength and fitness. This is the reverse of base training, which involves lots and lots of easy miles. It is a matter of going to the gym - doing speed work on the treadmill and using the machines to build up my core muscles. A couple of months of this, plus a planned gradual weight loss, should put me in good shape to start building up the mileage for a marathon later in the year.
I have always had the attitude that there are no training runs, i.e. I run for the pleasure of each run, not as a means to an end. That remains, but there is nothing to stop me training for running and then following a schedule. I am quite excited by the idea of trying to improve.
To everyone who reads this I hope you are also excited by the prospect of the New Year and that your plans are fulfilled. May you all have good luck.
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