Eclectic Views

    
Why think of warming up and stretching as an either/or proposition?
I start out with a small amount of exercise to warm up and then do
stretches of any muscles that are still tight from the last exercise
session.  My left knee doesn't work unless I do this.
  

    
From my researches, most people seem to suggest stretching after a bit of a
warm-up rather than when completely cold.
  

    
This is straight from my website, but I kind of enjoyed writing this so
thought people might like to read it here:

Exer-what?
----------

For some time I've been peering at my slowly-growing midriff and thinking
that I should really do something about that. Sometime. When there's nothing
else of interest happening. When the stars are right. When I've managed to
acquire a pair of shoes suitable for exercising in.

Eventually I ran out of excuses. But what sort of exercise could I do? Not
having a car makes it difficult to head off to the mountains for the weekend
as I did when I was younger. Most gyms are full of scary machinery and keen
young types clutching bottles of Evian who would look with mocking disdain
at my love-handles and think I was just some sad nerd who was there to ogle
their firm, pert, toned bodies. Team sports take far too much organisation
and anyway, I was the geeky kid at school who always got picked last for
soccer. What I can do, though (back to not having a car again) is walk. I
can walk and walk until my feet fall off. So, I reasoned, I could walk, only
faster. I know! Let's call it "running!"

And so it came to pass that I made the decision to Take Up Running. I could
have said I was taking up jogging instead, but Taking Up Running sounds a
lot more serious. It seemed like the difference between erotica and porn.
"I'm going out for a run" implies "Look! I am fit and healthy, gazelle-like
in my sprightly step! I am going to run 25 miles in half an hour!". "I'm
going for a jog", however, signifies exactly what I would be doing - puffing
breathlessly and desperately around the streets of Surbiton. Running,
therefore, it had to be.

At that moment I became - tada! A Runner. An Athlete. A Sportsman. And much
better I felt already. I could feel the excess pounds falling away, my
calves tightening and toning and returning to the days in my early twenties
when random women on trains would stop me and say "Excuse me, but you've got
fantastic legs". I learned about VO2max and training plans, about glycogen
and lactic acid concentrations, about mitochondria and pronation and carbo-
loading. After no time at all I felt fitter than I had in ages. Being a
runner was great!

After a few weeks of this I suddenly realised that something a runner had to
do was actually go for a run every so often, which came as a shock. I have
to admit I'd been wondering why my heart-rate monitor hadn't been showing
that I was getting into the 80%-of-max-effort zone and why my middle seemed
to be growing slightly rather than shrinking. The latter definitely didn't
look like it was due to extra muscle being laid down either, so I guessed
that there wasn't anything else for it. Off I went to the shops to buy a
pair of running shoes, and bang went my plan to "be careful not to overtrain
at the beginning".

Running shoes are important things. Normal trainers just aren't suitable for
the continual pounding the feet take when running, especially on tarmac, and
what are broadly called "sports shops" in Britain are generally outlets for
selling trainers and replica football strips. Running in normal trainers is,
it is said with finger-wagging seriousness, a recipe for injury and the
right shoes can make the difference between enjoying running and not. If you
want running shoes, the cognoscenti say, the only place to go is a proper
running shop. There wasn't one of those in Surbiton, though. There wasn't
one in Kingston either, so I did what I usually do under these circumstances
and went to John Lewis - they sold everything else, so why not running
shoes? A couple of staff in the sports section were runners, and one of them
gave me some helpful advice and sold me a pair of Asics 1090 shoes. I felt
like rather a fraud buying running shoes having not run properly since
school and somewhat inferior buying them surrounded by the healthy, trendy
young things of Kingston, especially when jogging up and down the shop to
see how well the shiny white shoes suited me. I left the shop with them
wrapped in discreet packaging and guiltily snuck them home, fearful that
people fitter than me would see the box and publicly mock me for presuming
to think that I, of all people, could take exercise. Exercise, after all,
was only for fit people.

After getting them home I shamelessly put my new shorts and my new shoes on,
slung my flat keys around my neck so I wouldn't lose them, stuffed my asthma
inhaler in a pocket and nervously stepped out of the front door fully
prepared to make a fool of myself in public.

To be continued..
  

    
As most of my running so far's been in the late summer heat I thought I'd
see how things went with an evening run today. It also seemed a good
opportunity to extend my route a bit, so I had a look at the map and added a
section of about 1.4km at the end to bring the route up to 5km.

So I left the flat at about 2100 and decided to take things nice and gently
to cover the extra distance in whatever time it took - no hurry, gentle
pacing. The cool evening air is much, much nicer to run in and a nice long
back stretch along the Thames towpath was pleasantly quiet with four swans
bobbing in a row like buoys, their heads tucked under their wings.

I'm getting the hang of this pacing lark - the simple act of "slowing down 
when you're getting tired" is actually working, and I ran the whole route
in 0:29:39, which isn't too bad. More importantly, though, I'm finding I
actually enjoy it. 
  

    
The bit from your Web site is very funny.
  

    
This is so great, Mike! I'm glad you've come to the place where you're
enjoying the exercise.
  

    
After a couple of days off over the weekend, I went out for a 5km run last
night. Dunno whether it was the fact that I was feeling tired through lack
of sleep and it was pretty late (about 2130 when I left the flat) or what,
but it was hard to get through it - my asthma kicked in and made me short of
breath for most of the run, various bits of me started being painful and
stopped again, a woman stopped me on the Thames towpath to harangue me about
something I couldn't stand (it was something about running being spineless
activity for a spineless nation, or something - I really couldn't work it
out, so I did the sensible thing after a bit and, well, ran away), and I
had to run the last km or so with a stitch, lower back pain and asthma-
induced wheeziness. Oh, and there was a headwind for a lot of it as well.

Under the circumstances I'm quite pleased that I only finished 18 seconds
slower than last time, but *boy* did it knacker me.

I'm thinking about joining a running club for a bit of company and structure
to my exercise, but not sure I can bring myself to find the courage to go
along for the first time..

Still, I think that as a result of this exercise my bum is starting to get 
even firmer. Well, okay, less unfirm.
  

    
bum-watchers everywhere thank you!
  

    
Okay, so today (with a few moments of confusion as I ran the circuit the
other way round to normal and needed to figure out my course once or twice)
I did the same 5km in almost exactly the same time as last Friday - 0:27:32
as opposed to 0:27:41. It seems that 0:27:xx is where I'll be for the time
being, but that's okay - don't want to overdo it.

I have, however, noticed one thing. While when I started a couple of weeks
ago I'd stagger back in through the front door and either crash straight
onto my bed or head straight to the kitchen and drink about a litre of
water, the last few times I've walked back in and recovered much faster
without too much crappiness. Okay, I still find myself running with sweat
and as a result look like a refugee from the world's most pointless wet T-
shirt competition, but at least now it's a wholesome, healthy-looking wet T-
shirt competition rather than a bright red oh-my-god-I'm-going-to-die wet
T-shirt competition.
  

    
We'd like pictures, please.
  

    
Believe me, you wouldn't.
  

    
So yesterday I thought it would be a good idea to seek out some folk with
whom I could run in order to get a better idea of pacing (I tend to run too
fast and knacker myself too early). With this in mind I decided to attend
the Wednesday night club run of one of the London running clubs, which also
has a starter group for people like me who are just, er, starting. So I
trundled over there with my running kit in my bag, got off the Tube, walked
over to where the club meets and... uh, got no further.

The club meets at a leisure centre before going out running and I found all
the ultra-fit-and-healthy souls in club colours stomping in through the
front door somewhat worrying - you know, the kind of people who get off
bikes outside having just cycled in from, say, Moscow and who now look like
they're about to run an ultramarathon. I'm sure there were some beginners
*somewhere*, but everyone else looked so intimidatingly fit that try as I
might (and I walked past a couple of times) I couldn't bring myself to go
in and, no doubt, humiliate myself by being unfit and the kind of runner
whose legs and arms kind of flail wildly in a motion which results in a
small amount of forward velocity. 

So (and I'm not proud of this) I went home instead and later went for a 
couple of pints with my brother. It wasn't just the "new people" nerves
which I'm always afflicted with, it was the knowledge that there was a
bunch of people compared to whom I would be hideously unfit and would
probably humiliate myself utterly. And believe me, that felt totally *lousy*.

(However, late this afternoon I went out for a run - the usual 5k route in
0:26:59, which is the highest average speed I've managed so far despite a
number of long waits to cross roads. So it's not *all* bad.)
  

    
One easy way to set a sustainable pace is to talk to someone
(or to yourself).  If you don't have the breath to talk,
slow down.
  

    
Yes, I'm familiar with the talk test. Unfortunately, the problem with
talking to yourself is that the conversation (while naturally witty,
charming and enlightened) is a little predictable. So after a while I tend
to shut up.
  

    
Being scared of people fitter than yourself can't be gotten rid of by
getting fit. One just finds oneself being intimidated by more and more
frightening people. If one runs marathons, one can be intimidated by
people who run across deserts and the length of the crests of major
mountain ranges. There is no end to it, except to just stop worrying
about it. At any given time, there is an unimaginably large number less
fit than one and an unimaginably large number of people more fit than
one. Moving people from one set to the other doesn't change the
essential situation much.

Or so I tell myself. 
  

    
Maybe I'm just scared of everyone, then.
  

    
Mike, I don't want to come off like I'm throwing cold water on
anything, but I have to ask, do you really think running is a good way
to get fit?  At your age, I mean?  I'm no expert, but it seems to me
that if you take up running after some years of not doing it, you might
be doing as much harm as good in the long term.

My own fitness has waxed and waned over the years, but now that I'm
getting to be an old fart, some of the aches and pains I often feel in
my knees, ankles, and elsewhere make me wish I had done a little less
running and little more of some other kind of activity that's not so
hard on the joints.  Gravity is mean.
  

    
At my age? I'm 31! Aieee!

You're quite right that it's important to be careful - however, I find I
actually enjoy running quite a lot, which is more than I can say for most
sporting activities out there. Definitely needing to be careful with my
joints, for sure, but as I'm still basically fit (as in I walk everywhere..)
I'm fairly confident I'll be okay.

If I get persistent pains in the joints as opposed to just the DOMP which
results from just about any form of exercise you can be sure I'll be the 
first to worry - there's too much of that "no pain, no gain" macho shit
out there as it is, and I'd have little interest in aggravating any knee
injuries that come my way.
  

    
Good points, Mike.  Also, in my days as a runner, shoe technology was
fairly primitive compared to today's standards.  Now days running shoes
can offer much more shock absorbtion and support than was available in
olden times.
  

    
The good thing about running is that there is an absolute minimum of
obstacles between you and the exercise. You don't have to get to the
gym, you don't have to keep the bike running, and you don't have to
drag the exercise machine from out of the corner. You are out of the
house, so no one who wants to interfere with you can do so without
actually running after you. All you have to do is get the shoes tied
onto your feet and go. 

Good shoes are the way to go though. We are adapted to running on
dried and decaying vegetable matter over earth. A good running shoe's
sole has to duplicate this surface in a portable, durable form. 
  

    
Modern running shoes are quite incredible things. Mine are Asics 1090s, and
have dual-density gel-filled everything which makes quite an amazing
difference to my feet. My old boots (which I desperately need to get around
to replacing) feel all clunky and flat, but my running shoes are so
amazingly comfortable that I think if I had the energy I could keep going in
them forever.

It reminded me at first of the same sort of revelation I had the first time
I went mountaineering in Gore-Tex instead of a PU nylon cagoule.
  

    
Mike, you're doing 8:43 miles, which is more than adequate for
fitness!
  

    
(uh oh, did Mike fall over on the track?)
  

    
Nope, just took Monday off after a couple of 5.4km runs at the weekend -
first one was kind of hard going (first time I'd added the extra little bit
of distance to Kingston Bridge, which has always been sort of a
psychological target to reach) but the second one was easier.

The problem at this stage is that as you crank up the distances of
individual runs your weekly distance increases at a hell of a rate, and it's
important not to push too hard and run yourself into an injury.

(and anyway, my calf muscles still hurt yesterday!)
  

    
do you do post-run stretches?