Don't Worry, Drink Tea: How to Run a Long and Happy Life

10km - 60.58 - a pleasant sunny cool day.

I've long admired that man, Fauja Singh, who in 2003 became the world marathon running champion at the age of 91. His winning time for men over 90 was 5 hours and 40 minutes (Toronto marathon).

He had lived in Punjab, India, until his late eighties. When his wife and son died, his family in England decided to have him with them. He felt lonely and relatives encouraged Fauja to take up running, something he had loved ever since he was a boy. He has been running 10 miles a day since.

Now Fauja Singh established a new record becoming the oldest man to run a marathon – at 100. (Read the Daily Telegraph story). When asked about his 'secret', Singh said:

"The secret to a long and healthy life is to be stress-free. If there's something you can't change then why worry about it? Be grateful for everything you have, stay away from people who are negative, stay smiling and keep running."

Women and Fitness: Battling the Body or Feeling Great

 9.5 km - 57.33 min - 9986 steps - 5ºC, cold, light rain.

'Feeling Free',  by Alexander Deineka

What women really want?

I live deep in the sticks, there aren't many runners on the road, but two women neighbours run regularly with their dogs. One with a fox-terrier and the other with a golden retriever. I've always thought they run to stay fit or to keep those pounds off, but apparently it's not what's on women's minds when they run.

I was pleasantly surprised, amazed in fact, when I read the wonderful rant in the Guardian by Homa Khaleeli accusing the fitness industry of sexism in how they present exercise to women.  Here are a few excerpts from the article, which I think is one of the most insightful pieces I've ever read on running, and exercise in general:

'Women's Fitness this month will help you to "Lose half a stone now!" and get a "Flat tummy fast!" Zest insists you "Get the body you want", which is of course: "A flat tum for life, drop 10 inches fast, be 7lb lighter."

'The message to women is clear; what matters is not your health or enjoyment, but your weighing scales.

'But for most women who exercise regularly this is a side issue. Instead they rhapsodise about how exercise makes them happier and proud of what their bodies can achieve. One sporty friend tells me: "I feel more energetic, it gives me a clearer head. There is nothing like a lunchtime run for forgetting how annoying your colleagues have been all morning, and getting the day's deadlines in perspective. And I am a genuinely nicer person when I have cycled to work." My colleague Rachel Dixon, who regularly writes about fitness, agrees: "It's the buzz that you get from it that makes it addictive. No one is going to be committed enough to go just to lose weight."

'The "get thin" tack hasn't even worked on the 80 persent of the UK women who are not doing enough exercise to maintain their health, according to Sue Tibballs from campaign group the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation. "It feels like all the negative energy we put into trying to control our bodies with diets, corsetry and surgery is driven by not liking ourselves – we are really undoing ourselves at the moment by battling our bodies."

'Yet when women exercise regularly she says, they become evangelical instead, because their focus has changed from what their body looks like to what they can do.

'Men are typically expected to enjoy sport and exercise – from kickabouts to cycling, but for women the idea that exercise is a chore done to improve our looks is omnipresent. When online feminist magazine Jezebel posted an article on how exercise changed the way women thought about their bodies, it was inundated with responses. One poster wrote: "There is an indescribable feeling of power – like a secret I have with myself – knowing that under my clothes there is a strong body, one that can jump, punch, kick, lift, climb, swim, and run really fast."

That's exactly what I've been writing all these years about running with dogs – enjoy, don't suffer. Thanks, Homa, I've found a soul-mate!

Follow the link in the text to read the article in full.
The picture by Alexander Deineka (oil on canvas, 1944) is from deineka.ru.

Why The Road Is Blue

9.4 km - 59.56 min. Cool and sunny, quiet.

Was running and thinking today. Because it was mostly thinking I was looking down at the road surface, mostly, not around. Suddenly noticed: the asphalt is blue, not grey. At first I couldn't understand why the colour changed, but then realized that it's because the sky is so bright blue today. So the road reflects the blue of the sky - and everything else does.

Everybody knows that the sea can be blue or it can be grey, but so does the road.

Photo by ©Ruth Dennis.

Cabernet for a beautiful runner

53.45 min - 6 miles - Wonderful sunny September day. Light pleasant breeze from the East, still very warm and I try not to push the dogs too hard.

Even though they get hotter than I do, I envy them - they get all the smiles from passersby,  especially from young blond women, why, I honestly don't know.  The smiles are definitely for the dogs, not for me. Only occasionally I  get smiles from shaggy old farmers trundling in their tractors.

Well, I suppose smiling at dogs rubs off on me, a bit.

Sometimes cyclists pass us. On weekends we see runners and walkers too, a few women among them.

What is it that makes women runners so attractive? Can it be just the act of running? I've yet to see a woman who runs regularly, but is unattractive. I know, I am a runner and, ergo, attracted to other runners, ergo, to women who run, ergo, er-r, especially if they run with dogs...

But the magic works on men who don't run, too. Elise Blackwell, a fellow writer from South Carolina, tells me she was given a bottle of fine Cabernet by a neighbour as she ran past, with her dog. The neighbour, a 'wine evangelist', had just received a delivery of wine, a crate, and was sitting on the porch admiring the world and all the beautiful things in it, apparently. And it so happened that a beautiful woman ran into that picture. If I were on that porch I'd definitely do the same.

Except, isn't it a weird sight: runner with a bottle of wine in hand?

Here's to running, Cabernet and women who run.

P.S. There are lots of gadgets for runners. But not one among them to help carry bottles of wine. Does anyone have any ideas?

Dogs photo by ©Rein Tammik

Deceptive heat

6 miles - 55:07 min, 23ºC

They talk about global warming making Britain hotter by 4 degrees. There is concern, but there is also a bit of glee - so, we will have more sun, less rain? Great!

Not really, not for me, not for my runs, I think, as I finish today's 6-miler.

The heat is deceptive - there is a cool light breeze from the Atlantic. At moments it stops - and then the heat of the Sun is absolutely scorching. Dogs pant and I sweat, we slow down to a jog and clock a really low time. Strelka and Leroy immediately walk off to lie on a soft patch of clover in a shadowed corner of the garden and I drink two or three glasses of lemon water before starting the stretches.

picture by Vincent Van Gogh, 1889

Naked Running: stay cool

6 miles - 52.05 min - a bit windy, cool. Still, I could feel the blistering sun on my skin when clouds parted at times. I did put sun lotion on my nose and cheekbones, they are the first to catch sun, but it was more to protect against wind.
(Picture: Boys running out of water by Alexander Deyneka)

Yes, it is Summer and I strip layer after layer to stay cool. Runner's World has published an article 'Should I run naked?' by Amby Burfoot.

If you ask me, the ancient Olympians were a lot cleverer than we are, she says. They had the good sense to run, jump and throw in the nude. When you put anything between your skin and the environment, such as shorts and a singlet, you only decrease your body's cooling efficiency (even if you're more comfortable in certain areas). The so-called “modern” Olympians of 1896 were cleverer than us, too. They did their running, jumping and throwing in April. Some athletes complained about the chilly, damp weather, but Spiridon Louis gave thanks to Zeus all the way to his (clothed) marathon victory in 2:58:50.

The article is more about the hydration and heat challenges facing summer marathon runners, than nudity, but the idea is there. Some advice and caution from the article:

Too Much
Perhaps no runner has thought more about heat training and racing than Alberto Salazar. Before the 1984 Olympic Marathon he got tested in a heat chamber (where sweat production is measured) and learned to chug two litres of fluid before every workout. But then he crashed. He now believes he did too many hard 20-milers in the heat. "I was exhausted from the first step of the marathon," he says. He finished 15th in 2:14:19.

Hydration
:

Everyone knows drinking fluids is supposed to help you run faster. But you have to slow down to grab your drinks. America's Steve Spence worked on this dilemma when he was training for the hot, humid World Championships Marathon in Tokyo in 1991. Spence set up a water table on his local track, and then practised drinking while running intervals at faster-than-marathon pace. "I figured if I got good at taking my drinks at this pace, it would come easy in the marathon," he says. Spence claimed the bronze medal.

And of course, Cool Clothing:



You already know that a white shirt will absorb less heat than a black one. <...> In 2000, Nike produced a shirt that several runners wore in the Sydney Olympics. This white shirt sat off the skin on small bumps (allowing air to circulate), was constructed of a large fishnet weave (more air circulation), didn't absorb sweat (leaving it on the skin to cool you via evaporation), and was made of recycled plastic bottles. Too bad Nike called the shirt the Stand-Off Distance Singlet (because of the way it stood off your skin), which sounded too much like a shirt with a body-odour problem. They then went on to produce something called the Nike Sphere Cool Marathon Singlet, with aerodynamic seam placement, mesh construction, and 'Zoned Venting' technology. But give me a Stand-Off Distance Singlet, and I'll show you a really great hot-weather running shirt.

And now we're coming back to what was promised in the title:

Here's my advice <...>: cut your racing singlet as short as you can. Research by exercise physiologist Timothy Gavin has shown that 'the chimney effect' can improve body cooling. This refers to air moving up the bottom of your untucked shirt and out the top.

Or just run naked. You'll be reconnecting with your Olympic forebears, increasing your chances of a medal, and giving a big boost to the BBC's TV ratings.

It looks like Nike got wind of the advice. Here's their video on naked running:

How to get rid of a cold?

11 May 2009
6 miles - 51.19 min

How to beat a cold? Nothing is more depressing for a runner than having to stop, because of light fever, cough and runny nose.

They say it takes 7 days to recover from common cold - with or without drugs. I had a cold this week - with a nasty cough. I do my usual: go slow, more sleep, lots of tea with honey and an occasional aspirin.

On the 5th day (roughly) I feel better - and I go for an easy slow run because I have proved to myself time and again that it is the best way to get rid of the cold and clear my system. Honest, it works. And it has worked again - I feel refreshed, the throat clears, I can breathe through the nose and there is a general feeling of wellness about myself.

Why running?

16 March 6 miles - 50:30 min Warm, sunny, very quiet - not a whiff of wind. Just the kind of day to contemplate...

Why running? Why do I run? What for?

You can never run away from yourself, your worries and things you have to do, but running as a physical activity is probably the closest you can get to it. Put on shoes, hit the road and as the blood starts pumping through your body you get that incredible feeling of lightness which is often described as ‘runner’s high’.

It’s a perfect me-time, when you run alone, or a wonderful social and family occasion, when you run with friends or when children join you. If you are not a runner you may not believe it, but if you are, you would know how much chatting and socialising goes on during a run.

Don’t forget your dogs - they love running and it’s good for their well-being too. There is even a recognised sport now - cani-cross, with clubs and federations in France and the UK. And if you are trying to cut your heating bill, remember that half an hour running will keep you feeling warm for the whole day.

Running is a vital activity to us humans. It started when a first hunter-gatherer had to escape a sabre-toothed tiger, but as a mass pastime running-jogging really took off in the 70-s, when physical work had become a rarity and heart disease made us into endangered species.

You don’t need to be Paula Radcliff or Usain Bolt. Just get a pair of well-cushioned trainers with good grip - and start at your own pace. If you do football or tennis, you have to win or lose. If you run, you don’t. Running is for pleasure and fitness. But as you stop noticing your breathing (after about two-three weeks of regular runs) and when your muscles tone you’d be tempted to take part in a formal race. In France you will need a certificat medical from your GP to be allowed to run in a race. It makes good sense to join a local running club. Good for networking, improving your French and clubs often offer discounts on race entry fees and employ professional trainers. I run with USM Athletisme Vire, but check your local list of associations to find a club nearest to you.

How much can you achieve by undressing

13 March 09
6 miles - 51:40 min - 16ºC (60ºF)

...well, apparently there is a limit to how much you can achieve by undressing.
It's a warm sunny day today, real Spring, primroses, crocuses and daffodils are suddenly blooming everywhere.
So, instead of leggings I put on shorts.
The other day I took off sweater and improved my time nearly by two minutes running with just a t-shirt on. Today I took off leggings, but the time didn't change much.

I note this to myself with amusement, not concern.

When you run regularly and time your runs for whatever reason - out of habit, to monitor training progress, to try to hit a certain target, to make use of an expensive birthday present - it's easy to become a performance freak. You make yourself work harder than you want, you get upset over a split second lost over yesterday's run, you start worrying about every little ache in your body, you get tired and you don't relax - and in the end you lose what you started running for - enjoyment, the pleasure of physical and mental release running gives humans (and dogs) like very few other sports. Usain Bolt, the Beijing Olympics champion from Jamaica, wouldn't be such a star if people didn't see clearly how much he enjoyed running.

Photo by Richard Giles

Women's Tricks and What to Do About Them

26 October 2006
Thursday, 26 October 2006

6 miles - 49.27 min.

It's important not to overstretch yourself. Had two days rest, and today managed to run inside 50 minutes. Good sleep, lots of water in small glasses or sips at regular intervals, good food - easily burnable calories, warming-up and stretching, especially after the run.

These are the principal components of enjoyable running, no matter what how old you are.

Light drizzle today and strange easy wind that seems to blow from no particular direction. Pleasant cool October day.

Tried a new trick on Nala, the female retriever, today. She keeps stalling and dragging us back at the 'bad house'. Real pain. No cajoling or threatening, encouraging or pulling helps. I think men just can't be straight with women, it never works.

So I tried ignoring her and talking to Strelka, the male dog, instead. He likes being talked to, looks up, smiles and pulls up. I keep encouraging him, tell him to go ahead.

So, what happens is Strelka pulls Nala with me. We make a V-shaped formation with Nala struggling at the bottom. This helps, and it also makes Nala jealous, as it does when at home I stroke one dog and another immediatley comes and nudges in to get stroked too. So at moments Nala forgets her tricks and tries to keep up with us too.

Men, generally, can't outwit women. Women have too many tricks up their sleeves. But sometimes our tricks work too.