SmarterFitter Blog Less diet, more brain

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Just a quick note, I’ve been walking and running and swimming. Doing some push ups and even and few pull ups of late. That’s really good and all but not very interesting in and of itself.

It’s just that my ankle started to get really sore with all the walking and running.

And because I’ve started blending lots of different exercises something interesting did happen, I’m still able to keep on with this process of getting hard. I can still swim and push up and pull up, and that’s really neat.

Previously, I’d have probably just stopped walking and running and been stuck without an alternative.

Diversify your exercise like you’d diversify your financial portfolio to weather the storm. There, a mix of metaphors or similes or something.

You might be interested in this from Peta Bee at The Guardian:

“We evolved from hunters - we had to run and chase animals on the hot African plains. We didn’t have time to pause for a drink,” he says. “Physiologists developed an unproven hypothesis that to become even the slightest bit dehydrated during exercise would kill you. The sports drinks industry then used this bad science to market their products.” Runners have died from hyponatraemia, but Noakes says he “has yet to find a death from dehydration in the history of competitive running”.

The article talks about different rates of dehydration for different people and a bit about how to predict how much water you should drink based on your weight difference before and after running.

Link to full article

Whenever I go to Clissold Park for a walk or a run, I always mentally prepare myself for the distance. It really helps, but also limits me at the same time. For example, say I tell myself “Monica, get out of bed and go do a lap around the park!” By the end of that first lap, I usually feel like I can’t go any further. And yet, I know I can!

Last Monday I was finally feeling well enough to go for a run. I decided to do three laps, walking the first, then run/walking the second two. I knew I could do it and I did. It felt incredible! And once again, I marveled at the power of mental preparation (and a good podcast).

Consequently, my friend, Stu, was also at the park that day on his run. He later wrote a wonderful post about motivation that I want to share with you now. He talks about his first run at Clissold Park and his struggle to make it around once.

The hardest thing wasn’t the physical challenge. I was pretty sure I could do it, but I had a real mental block and in that first lap I really did think ‘I can’t do this’ and lo, at the end of one lap had to walk. But summoning up the courage I did go a bit further, slowly and at my own pace. I felt OK and did manage to keep going. And at first that’s all you have to do.

All you have to do is keep going. Get over that first hurdle and keep at it.

I hope Stu doesn’t mind me sharing so much of his post, but his closing words really struck a chord for me. Maybe they will for you too.

Fundamentally, if you’re reading this and thinking you’re interested in running but ‘there’s no way I could do that’ then all I can say is I was once like you, not that long ago and I managed it. The guy who likes to stay out late, enjoy more than the odd beer and who until 5 years ago didn’t look after themselves properly physically or eat the right food. It doesn’t take much to change your habits to get started and give it a good crack. You’ll be surprised. But definitely, I understand its a mental challenge, but stick to it. The rewards are great and you don’t have to push yourself too hard to get up to a good level of fitness or be able to enter competitions where you don’t disgrace yourself.

Getting Motivated by Stu

This last year I’ve been swimming regularly and cycling every day. More recently, I began running. I’ve thought about doing a triathlon, but I’m a little worried. I should feel great from all this exercise, but often I feel sluggish and stiff. Am I not stretching enough? Sleeping enough? Eating enough? (Wouldn’t that be a wonderful problem to have?!) Sometimes I’ll have a great swim one day, and a lethargic run the next. Yesterday I took a brisk one-hour walk with Tim after swimming the day before - the walk totally conked me out. How embarrassing. I should be perfectly capable of walking!

It turns out that multi-sport training in tough, and it’s basically impossible to excel in more than one sport at a time. The New York Times explains that the body responds to different sports in different ways. Changes that help you be a kick-ass runner may screw your swimming. And if you think about musculature, it makes sense:

Swimmers need large muscles in their backs and shoulders. Runners and cyclists want small, light upper bodies. Cyclists need large quadriceps muscles. Runners don’t, and in fact they don’t want any extra muscle weight on their legs.

It’s just as well that I don’t hope to win any races; I just wanna have fun and be fit. In fact, training for a triathlon should be good for a recreational athlete like myself. Or so says the physiologists:

Cross training — cycling one day and swimming the next, for example — lets you maintain your energy and enthusiasm and avoid injuries that come from doing the same activity day after day. That’s also part of the appeal of being a triathlete, [triathlon coach Joe Friel] said.

“It’s fun to train,” said Kelly Couch, a 30-year-old triathlete from San Mateo, Calif. “Just being a runner, just being a cyclist, can get a little stagnant.”

Agreed: doing multiple sports is appealing, if only for the variety. But what about my energy? Are there any triathletes out there who’ve experienced this? I’m not even training for real, yet, and need a little reassurance that a triathlon won’t totally wear me out for all the other good things in life, like strolling in the park and throwing frisbees and playing pool.

For Peak Performance, 3 Is Not Better Than 1 [New York Times]

“Grrrrrrr… half the price.”

That was Tim’s response when I told him the lowest price on a pair of Mizuno Wave Alchemy Running Shoes according to ransacker.co.uk, “the running shoes comparison website that save you time, money and benefits charity.”

Ransacker’s lowest price was £39.99, half of what he spent in New Zealand in February at a running shop. True, did get his foot analyzed by a “pro”, but he didn’t get that nice warm feeling of knowing he got a good deal. In fact he emailed me later that he “felt sick” by the purchase. A happy consumer he was not!

If only he knew about Ransacker, recommended to us by Carl who runs the site. Racksacker makes runners happy by saving them money on shoes, but also makes the charities happy by donating 50% of its commission to the charity of the shoe-buyer’s choice. Tim and I both agree that this is very cool. We wish we thought of this idea! But we were too busy making chains and planning meetings. So thanks to Carl for building this site! I will use it when my current Salomon XA Pro trail running shoes lose their steam.

Do you have a website you’d like to recommend? Then click here to send us a link. If we like it, we’ll post it! And we usually do like it, so why not, eh?

ransacker.co.uk

Speaking of running, a belated congrats to our friend, Stu, who finished his first marathon last Sunday at the Flora London Marathon. He ran it in 4 hours, 11 minutes and 57 seconds, an awesome time, but not as awesome as the experience must have been. I can only imagine.

He wrote a great post about it on his blog, The Damp Cad.

It was without doubt, one of the best days of my life. Big emotions experienced from beginning to end. Pride, happiness, elation, and with so many people out supporting the runners in this city you know so well, humble too.

What you hear from other people about running 26 miles really is true. Yes it’s tiring, yes you get your doubts, but if you’ve prepared properly and you’re in the right frame of mind, you will do it and you will get a decent time.

Read the rest of Marathon Finish

Yesterday’s New York Times article about competitive middle-distance runner Sara Hall is packed with useful training tips for the recreational runner. For example, Sara’s coach, Terrence Mahon, explains that many runners make the mistake of running the same pace all the time, but the real way to get faster is through interval training, which stresses the body to get it to adapt to running faster.

So, wanna spice up your running routine and cut a few seconds off your 5k at the same time? Here’s what Mahon suggests:

First figure out what your ideal pace for the 5k is by going to a track and running a mile flat-out. Your ideal 5k pace is about 95% as fast per mile. Then do what Mahon calls “over-speed and under-speed training”:

In over-speed, you sprint through quarter-miles, 800 meters and other intervals at a speed faster than your 5K pace (close to your top mile time). Don’t run more than two fast miles.

For under-speed work, time your interval splits to be a little slower than your 5K pace, with shorter rest periods than those within the over-speed intervals. Total mileage can be four to six miles. Cool down with a gentle jog of about half your total interval distance.

The article also has some drills you can do to improve your form.

Read Changing Speeds to Go the Distance

An article in today’s NY Times discusses the various pros and cons of heart rate monitor training. In my experience, heart rate monitors only work if you know your own maximum and minimum heart rate. There’s a pretty good book that explains how to do this called (and you’ll forgive the title) Heart Rate Training for the Compleat (sic) Idiot.

Here’s something from the article that I didn’t know: swimmers have lower heart rates when they swim than when they run. Why?

The reason, Dr. O’Connor explained, is that during running, your heart has to push blood against gravity to bring it to your head. During swimming, your heart does not have to exert that extra force.

The Flutter Over Heart Rate

My fantastically talented girlfriend really hit one out of the park here.

Her first article published as a freelance writer is for largest broadsheet in the country, the Daily Telegraph!

Link to the article
Link to full size image.

Last Sunday, I went on my first run since the injection. I’m taking it slow: about 2.5 km and 20 minutes of running. My ankle was fine, my knees were mildly creaky, and my pride was only mildly offended by my absurdly slow pace. I wish I could say I was thrilled to be running again, but really I felt paranoid. “Am I hurting myself?” I wondered with every step. At the same time, I missed the care-free days of 5 milers down Town Lake on sunny Austin Sundays. But things change.

Today I went for run #2. This time, I alternated running with walking for 5km and about 40 minutes. The run-walk was, without a doubt, the way forward. I was able to cover more distance while keeping my heart rate up, plus it alleviated most of my paranoia around injury. I also felt great. Gone were the creaky legs and stiff joints of last weekend. I could almost recall what it feels like to run. If you’ve done much running, you know what I mean - it’s that feeling of lightness, where the run feels completely natural, the legs are fluid, and it’s easy to breath - to me, that’s running.

But for now, run-walking will do. Though he hesitates to admit it, Jeff Galloway agrees. From his Book on Running:

Our bodies weren’t designed to run continuously for long distances… Sure we can adapt, but there is a better way to increase endurance than by running continously. By alternating walking and running, from the start, there’s virtually no limit to the distance you can cover… Once we find the ideal ratio for a given distance, walk breaks allow us to feel strong to the end and recover fast, while building up the same levels of stamina and conditioning that we would have reached if we had run continuously.

Link to Jeff Galloway’s website
Link to Galloway’s Book on Running 2 Ed