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The Long and Winding Road - or what I have learned from 40 years of running.
Why I started running
My particular long and winding road started in June 1982. The local independent radio station, started advertising for the Mersey Marathon. 1981 had seen the start of mass participation long distance running in England with the first London Marathon in March and The Great North Run in June. Now fundraisers for the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital saw a road race as a means to raise funds and so organised the first Mersey Marathon to be run on 24 September 1982.
When I heard the advert I said to a colleague in work that I would like to run in it. He said that I would never be able to do it. That made me determined that I would do it. There are many good reasons to start running but pride is not one of them.
Health Benefits
A lot of people start running to loose weight. Running can help you loose weight as long as you don’t give in to temptation to eat snacks. When you finish a run, particularly a long run, you may not feel hungry. This is because your brain is diverting the blood from your digestive tract to the muscles that you use for running. As your heart rate drops, the blood returns to your digestive tract and you feel hungry. This is the time that you are more likely to eat snacks and replace the energy that you have just used up. While you are running, your body breaks down fat to give energy to your muscles. Eating healthily will cause the body to continue to break down the fat.
Running has been shown to have more health benefits than just loosing weight. Running reduces stress and produces endorphins improving the way that you feel. It lowers blood pressure and reduces the risk of heart attack. As we get older, muscles naturally get shorter causing stooping and bones can get thinner making them more prone to break. Running can help reduced this.
Although running has health benefits, if you have underlying health conditions it is recommended that you consult a doctor.
What I have learned about running
It is now over 40 years since I started running. I wish I knew then what I know now so I have decided to put in writing what I have learned so that others can benefit from my experience.
I am going to go through the things that I have learned in the order that I learned them, as far as I can remember, with the exception of this first one because it is so important.
- When you are running, train yourself to make your foot land underneath your knee. For many years I believed that the longer my stride, the quicker I would run. The truth is, if your foot lands in front of your knee your heel will strike the ground first. This will send shockwaves up your leg and will act like a break. It can also lead to damage to cartilage and tendons. Studies suggest that shortening your stride not only helps you to run quicker but helps you maintain your speed for longer.
- When you first start running, it is highly likely that you will get a stitch in your side. There are various theories as to why we get a stitch but nobody really knows why. All that I know is that after a few months it suddenly stopped. It’s not pleasant but, if you can, continue running at a slower rate and take deeper breaths.
- Get a good pair of running shoes. Running shoes are the only expense in running. I recommend as you do not scrimp on this essential item. When I first started running I just put on my Reebok classics and started running. I was training for a marathon so I bought marathon running magazines. They all said that I needed proper road running shoes. There are different types of running shoe, all with their particular purpose. Obviously if you want to run on track you need spiked shoes but road shoes are build differently than trail shoes and ordinary trainers are different again. When I bought those first road running shoes the difference was immediately obvious. They were much lighter and very cushioned, it felt like I was bouncing. It is recommended that runners have two pairs of running shoes. By alternating between them it is believed that it reduces the chance of injury. I don’t know if this is true or not but I usually have two pair of shoes. One pair I am breaking in and the other I am wearing out. The shoes that I usually buy are ASICS Cumulus and Adidas Energy Boost.
- Warmup and cool down. This can be as simple as walking and jogging quite slowly but you can warm up your muscles by massaging them. It is important that stretching should be part of the cool down, never part of the warmup.
- Start easy and flat then progress to more difficult terrains. Don’t start on terrains that are going to put you off. I was fortunate, when I first started running I lived by the coast and it was all flat.
- Have recovery days. When you first decide to get fit, you want to go out every day and run as far as you can. This is the wrong tactic. Your body needs time to recover. If you have a long hard run, the following day you should either not to run at all or run a shorter distance at a slower pace. It is normal to have good days and bad days, but if you are having too many consecutive bad days it suggests that you’re over training. If you overtrain you are likely to get injured.
- Should you run for a specific distance or a specific time? There is some disagreement over this. When I first started running I would always run for a specific distance. I started off running for two miles and then extending it to three and then four. Now that I am older I prefer to run for specific time. Psychologically, extending my time by five minutes seems easier than extending it by quarter of a mile. I suggest you try both and do what seems best to you.
- It is best to have something to aim for. When I first started running, my goal was to complete a marathon. This is not something that I would recommend. If you are just starting running I suggest you try the plan known as “from couch to 5K”. With this your aim is to increase your fitness so that you can run 5 km. As well as having an aim, it is also good to have a plan. But you must keep to the plan if you are to accomplish the goal. When you complete the couch to 5K, set another goal and device another plan.
- Take water with you when you run. When I started running, it was only a for a few miles and having a drink before and after I ran was enough. One day I was running for about 7 miles on a warm day and I started to get light headed. I was getting dehydrated. I managed to walk the 1/2 mile to home and decided that I would always carry water with me. Many different types of bottle are available including thermal bottles but you only need a cheap plastic bottle, nothing too expensive. Rather than carrying the bottle, I prefer to use a running belt.
- Make sure you go to the toilet before running. Enough said.
- The biggest battle you will have is in your mind. If you tell yourself that you can’t do it then you won’t be able to. Keep going. You need to stretch your limits.
- At some point you will decide that you want a fitness tracker to track your progress. When I first started running I bought a watch that was also a stopwatch. This was all that was available at the time. Nowadays fitness trackers can do so much more than see how long you have been running. As well as measuring time taken they measure the distance you have run. They can also measure your pace, calories used, your heart rate and even your sleep patterns. I personally use a Fitbit but there are many other good fitness trackers.
- Make you arms swing forward and backward, not across your chest. Backward and forward movement helps you propel yourself forward. Moving your arms across your chest moves your hips in the wrong direction which caused loss of power.
Running is a great pastime. Use it to take time out as well as for the exercise. If you do, you will want to continue for ever. When I started running it was just going to be for the one race. I have been running for over 40 years and I don’t intend to give up soon.
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