Of Ferrets and Humans

Source of photo http://es.123rf.com/

It’s also a bit difficult to draw conclusions based on comparisons between people and ferrets. “Ferrets are weird,” 

I think this deserves a place in in my storehouse of absurdist quotes.

It comes from a NYT article based on some research, which wanted to test whether the production of endocannabinoids evolved as a reward in species (like our own) who ran for long distances. To do this it tested humans, dogs, and ferrets on a treadmill and found that dogs and humans produced endocannabinoids but ferrets didn't. Fine as far as it goes but unfortunately it only goes that far.

It does nothing to support a hypothesis that endocannabinoids are a reward that encourages humans and other cursorial species to run. It really doesn't. The idea that the ferret choose not to run because they didn't get any pleasure from it is vaguely cartoonish  " No" Mr Ferret said with a great big yawn "You fellows go along and play outside if you really want to but I just think I will settle down for a nice long sleep in my hole. I really don't see the attraction in sunlight and fresh air and all that activity."  And I don't think early humans, many thousands of years ago, had a strokey beard moment and say to themselves "You know what I think we should all run a long way to get our food. That is what we should do. Motion carried?"

Species found ways to survive. If what they did worked they continued to do it and prospered, if not they either evolved some other pattern or they became extinct. The more they did something the more they became adapted to that task and developed helpful mechanisms. My guess (and it is only a guess as I am no evolutionary biologist) is that the production of endocannabinoids helps you to keep going, in the same way that sweating, by maintaining an constant body temperature, allows humans to run for long distances. I don't think of sweating as a reward. 

I am sure that finding food was the necessity that outweighed any other. You didn't have to have a a pleasure reward to get you out there. The prospect of food was enough. But it is interesting that humans did change and develop another pattern of behaviour, even though the old way was still viable. We became farmers and city dwellers and having to forego some endocannabinoids did not seem to be much of a barrier to that change. So obviously their reward could not have been that big an inducement.

Bah! The article is silly. 

Food Rather Than Fuel

I would guess that bananas is one of the most common foods for runners.They are just so handy to eat at either the beginning or end of a run. At the beginning they are easy on the stomach don't cause the problems of some other foods and at the end they are just the most convenient way of replacing some carbs. 

I eat them a lot and don't really think about it. They are just there (today I might be down to the last one in the bowl but tomorrow that will change). I obviously don't eat them with enough attention: they are pleasant, I enjoy them, I probably eat them too quickly. That is all

Yesterday I went to see a production of Krapp's Last Tape, which opens with the old man (Krapp) rummaging around in a desk drawer and pulling out a banana. He then proceeds to unpeel and then eat it with obvious delight as if it is the most delicious thing in the world.  Through only his expressions the actor shows you the deep pleasure the man feels and it made me think about how I take the same fruit for granted. 

The play was written in 1958, when war, rationing, and the absence of any bananas was still fresh in the mind. The fruit still had a special place. Now it is the most popular fruit in the country and a key product for the supermarkets. Nevertheless I should still take care to savour them. I should not think of them as fuel, which is a danger for anything linked too closely to running.

I always avoid nutritional advice in the running press. I depresses me no end as it talks of things being a source of this or that nutrient, which is beneficial for this or that reason. It talks about fuel and refuelling. It incorporates a hell of a lot of pseudo science. It has nothing to do with pleasure and culture.

A proper running blog will tell you a banana is a good source of potassium and vitamin B6, that also contains fibre and is low in fat. This blog however prefers to remind you of the opening of Krapp's last Tape and how they can be eaten with deep pleasure.

Food is far too important to be put into the hands of nutritionists as it is about far more than keeping you alive (although that is obviously very important). It should be explored, appreciated and be allowed to stimulate the senses. If you do that and eat real food, mostly vegetables, then health and everything else will take care of itself. That is all I know and all I care to know.

P.S. One of my favourite banana stories comes from an article in the Observer:

"When transatlantic shipping re-commenced at the end of the war, the return of the banana was hailed as heralding an end to austerity and to the curse of the ration book. The Labour government even instigated a national banana day in 1946. Every child should have a banana that day, it was decreed - sometimes with unfortunate results, as the writer Auberon Waugh recalled. He and two of his sisters received their quota of three precious bananas, an exotic fruit whose deliciousness they had heard of but never experienced.'They were put on my father's plate, and before the anguished eyes of his children he poured on cream, which was almost unprocurable, and sugar, which was heavily rationed, and ate all three,' Waugh wrote. 'From that moment, I never treated anything he had to say on faith or morals very seriously.'"

The Uses of Technology

There was a letter in this week's Amateur Photographer from some old fogey bemoaning the fact that modern cameras do everything.Where's the skill? Where's the fun? he was asking. If the camera made all possible decisions what do you do?.

To an extent I can understand: he wants to feel he is the master of a craft and is practising a skill. If the camera makes all the decisions where is the credit?. However the letters editor had a perfectly reasonable response: if you don't want to use a feature then don't. There is nothing to stop you using manual focus or setting your own exposures.

When I look at running technology I sometimes feel like that man. Why do I need all that information or all the rigidity of different zones? But then the other, more intellectual open, side kicks in and tells me just to use what I need - and anyway aren't all these functions amazing? Who could have imagined, but a few short years ago, so much cool stuff would be available. In so many ways I am in love with the modern world.

But the grumpy old man still lurks and an alert about a Motorola fitness aid brought him out. I have no idea whether the device is any good or not but the blurb for the music player tipped me over the edge.

"Training is serious work. You need a soundtrack. MOTOACTV's smart music player learns what songs motivate you by tracking your performance against your music. It determines which songs help you perform better and then compiles them in a high-performance playlist."

Instead of thinking Wow! How great! I need that! I found it slightly creepy and sinister. The association with work made me think of all the monitoring in soulless call centres and the regimentation of production lines. The attempts to pen people in and systematise their effort. Science fiction has long warned of societies that suppressed all individuality and free speech with rigourous regulation and I thought of that rather than an aid that would help me achieve more.

Four simple words: "training is serious work" put me in the opposition camp. This is not what I think about when I think of running. For sure I am serious and treat it with respect but it is not work. Instead it offers the opportunity for freedom, play and the satisfaction that comes from effort. That is the heart of it and I don't want to be nudged into thinking of it in any other way.

An Absence Explained

It has been a very long time since I wrote anything - so I had better explain:

Holidays are bad for your health!

At the end of February I had a short break in Mallorca, to gather a few rays of sunshine and so lighten a dreary English winter. It worked perfectly: the sky was blue, the sea was clear and the mountains were beautiful. All was good. Unfortunately as soon as I came back I started coughing, my chest felt heavy and I felt as if I was breathing through a blanket. Not good. Even worse the infection dragged on and on for weeks. Even when the cough went I was left feeling week and feeble.

For two months I have not only not run I have not done anything apart from get through each day. The thought of writing about running felt like a cruel joke - so I didn't.

But now things are looking up. I have run for 30min (quite slowly it must be admitted) and think things will soon get back to normal - which, of course, includes blogging

P.S. The picture is of the studio of Joan Miro, who lived and worked in Mallorca in his later years. I have posted it, not only because I think it is rather fine, but because it was built at the same time (1955) as the New Town of Hemel Hempstead was being developed. None of our buildings from the period look anywhere near as stylish (we specialised in a rather earnest plainness) . I know, I know - the quality of the light makes an enormous difference and a one-off building designed by an architect for his friend is bound to be more distinctive than town development in Hertfordshire but even so ...