tips all in one place

Over my time as a chi running coach (ex), yoga teacher, sports teacher (circa 1989) and movement nerd I have visited/ spoke/coached to a lot of folks (varied levels and experiences from UK ultra runners to recreational) about running and movement, here are some of my tips (no particular order) based on these conversations/observations and coaching experience over a few years. Oh one thing 'common things occur commonly' :) You can look elsewhere of course, but the bottom line if it feels good keep it. Also feel it don't overthink it. You should aim to enjoy the movement of running as a movement, not just as an exercise that does you 'good', we are hardwired to run/walk/balance and move, aim for an integrated approach to your movement practices.  

tip 1:- wash your mind in positive thoughts, Mantra means to protect the mind, we could spend a whole evening around a camp fire talking about mantra's and sport/yoga etc, a very good way to consider how the mind treats positive versus negative is lifted from a book called Buddha Brain by Rick Hanson (buy it is a well structured informative read), bottom line positive thoughts slip away like Teflon while negative thoughts and experiences hang around like Velcro. The ancient mind needed to keep bad experiences close to hand, useful learning tool but this primal mind also attaches itself to smaller less important negative experiences and amplifies them to the point where they can overcome our mind. Positive Mantra's drill in the plough and furrow of positive mindset but, just like the plough you need to work at tilling the mind in a positive way. There are many Mantra's they do work, been used for thousands of years in Yoga and other eastern practices.

tip 2:- pick a point in the mid distance as you are running, feel yourself being pulled towards it, feel a strong attraction 'let go and fall towards it'. We can internalise and have 'those conversations' in our heads that can really deflate our time outside. Using distractions or foci more precisely is a very eastern way to keep the mind from drifting away. You can also refine that pull; pull from the heart centre, or the naval and keep the eyes steady and strong fixed to the object. Now, of course uneven ground does not help but there have been times when even for a few minutes up in the fells this focus calms the mind and senses. It is a good one for sure.

tip 3:- lengthen that spine, feel the energy lifting through the crown of the head keep your chin level. Our relationship with our upper body and lower body is through the spine. You see runners and walkers bending at the waist, this creates a heavy foot strike, energy up, lifts the entire body. Big point but this bipedal position that we evolved is a very subtle and sensitive position in relation to gravity of course. Our lives are spent hunched, therefore practice 'energy up' walking. standing, sitting and of course, running.

tip 4:- feel a long bunge cord connected to your sternum pulling up diagonally into the clouds :) just like a ski lift, Chin level, feel that pull up and along. This connects well to tip 2. The key point is that this line gives you the athletic lean position, falling forward but not compromising with the overall structure of your body. It is also a strong position, I watch runners after I have coached them and holding this position does take 'core strength'. You will feel like you are collapsing and tip 3 takes over!

tip 5:) the biggie, run without looking at your Garmin/watch for one run a week. I am not against data, but the externalisation of your movement, the rationalisation and value we give to measures can mean we lose the feel and sense of inner value to ask why we do what we do. The best quote I have come across 'do you value what you measure or measure what you value'. Yes, mileage matters, speed can matter, but I have met good runners and I do mean quick (sub 17 min 5K) who are not happy or more precisely not content with their running. They are turning up to club sessions, doing it and then moving in. Mojo has been lost. Hence 1 run a week, run with a pal, dog, nature trail, take pictures, find a new route, you get the idea! Be present in the moment, sense and enjoy the movement that running can bring.

tip 6, become aware of your breath, ( i know we are entering the breathing zone) this is a hugely entangled and connected area but the bottom line is a short and ragged breath is physiologically not good nor efficient and also links emotionally to the flight/fright response. You are not running in a relaxed and efficient way. Sources such as 'Oxygen advantage' and 'Breath'/Maffetone method compare to the eastern sources such as a Pranayama practice. You can practice your breathing everywhere:). I would suggest find a class to help here but you can visit Youtube and away you go. Once you get your breath under control, aim for a smooth easy breath, when running real easy. For the Yoga students reading this similar to a gentle asana practice, keep the breath under control, but it takes time and too much effort in trying to control your breath can have a negative impact.

An observation worth sharing is that I have met folks who breathe completely fine away from running but as soon as they begin run, I do mean as soon as, the breath becomes ragged and short. That is a learnt behaviour and a very strong habit to break for sure.

tip 7:- rhythm the Kenyans have a great expression 'run with your hips and elbows' try running without using your arms either above your head or locked by your side....urrgh very tricky and difficult. Take your focus to the points of your elbows and tap tap, (arms at around 90 degrees (ish) ) rhythm, tap tap and elbow points:)

tip 8:- hot ground, don't think time ON the ground think timing OFF the ground. We can be too obsessed with striking the ground, you can't hear good runners:)

tip 9:- quality time on feet, if you are training for a distance never attempted before, be really miserly with the extra distance/week. Danny Dreyer said 'if you finish your long run for the week and you feel 'god that was awful, keep that distance or go back a little' if you finish and say 'I feel good, lots of energy left' time to upgrade but only the usual advice of 10% extra. never be worried about pegging back, following plans is good but we are subtle animals! take your time, patience shifu!

tip 10:- basic but..... I once asked a dancer about preparation before a show, they said 'hydrate' the day before and also an hour or so before they went out on stage. If I go long and I mean 2 hours or 2hours 30minute so not ultra training/marathon at all I hydrate the evening before, then 1 litre of macha tea (mission tea) about 90 minutes before so I am pretty much 'sponged up', unless it is super hot (and I run right next to the sea with toilets and drinking fountains) I won't take anything with me, zero, big difference for sure, basic yes but....important!

tip 11:- go off road, once a week, find a nature trail, own it:) love it, notice everything about it, the change in seasons, wildlife, plants, the nature of the trail, the small changes in your stride. Maybe add some jumps for fun, it might have some inclines/ramps viewing points but this change in terrain and texture of ground is so good for our joints. Stop, enjoy the view, walk if you have to! The main reason I run on sand/dunes is because of joint health NOT because of 'intensity or effort'. I love the wildlife and sea views so close to the main path but I have yet to see a runner running over the dunes!

tip 12:- practice mind is zen mind is beginners mind is shoshin, every day you go out, it is a brand new experience, not the same old same old, nothing remains the same, 'no one steps into the same

river twice, for it is not the same river, and they are not the same person'. Ask a musician/artists/professional creative/mathematician etc. If you approached a task with an attitude of 'same old same old' the creative, exploratory nature would never happen. Artists and musicians in particular play the same piece of music over and over again BUT the sense of beginner's mind means the practice is always approached in a fresh and energetic way. You will always having something to learn. Tip 12 is mighty big:)

tip 13!! another yes, 'right size a 'bad run' ' you ran, well done... Buddhists (I am not a buddhist) talk about the two arrows of suffering the first is the act, something bad happens, and bad things happen, however the second is our response to the bad thing. You can definitely practice your mind set with your running, bad run, give yourself a pat on the back, well done you went out, no need to beat yourself up anymore, no-one was watching anyway:) all the best folks, two tips today

 tip 14:-REST he says in bold and capitals:) these tips are in no order, but a great quote from a top end runner who trained with the Kenyans 'if there was a gold medal for sleeping, the Kenyans would win' not phone rest, chat rest, active recovery but rest, and this links to the quality of sleep as well another big change in my life. All the best folks..

tip 15:- I love this tip :- Do not compare yourself unfavourably to other runners. You are what you are and where you are. You may improve or you may not, just enjoy what you and your body can do in the moment. Treat yourself kindly.

tip 16:- one from Elizabeth Calton Chalmers I love this tip :- Do not compare yourself unfavourably to other runners. You are what you are and where you are. You may improve or you may not, just enjoy what you and your body can do in the moment. Treat yourself kindly. Be compassionate with yourself!

tip 17:- a more refined approach to trails in nature. Note the sound, the soundscape as you run through nature. You can only do this if you are really attentive on it, not the watch or outcome. Where I live thinking through my local route I encounter hedgerow birds, water flowing, wind through the leaves, the different sounds paths make. The sea and waves and seabirds to the place I finish where there is a soft flowing outflow of seawater at low tide. Soundscape:) listen attentively.

tip 18:- airscape:- we swim in air, and move in air, I love my local trail, quiet calm places, next to the stream, the change in air as I run towards the sea. Someties, very rarely though, you detect different air masses changing, a subtle shift in the wind direction, a storm is coming:). The tide turns, the air changes, wind moves again. I try not to fight running into the wind, lean gently against it, keep the rhythm of my feet going and know I will be changing direction sometime! Feel the air around you!

tip 19:- body scan, when running and walking, some of you practice yoga and quite often at the end of practice there is the body scan/Yoga Nidra, you can take that with you in your running/walking. Here are a few key scanning areas:) relax and soften your face and jaw. Shoulders dropped, relax lower legs, easy breathing, doing this while running real easy and I do mean real easy!!

tip 20:- Avoid doing a hard session the day after a long drive. Every time I try it feels awful. Go for a walk, easy yoga only. I mean I’ve been on holiday and walked 6 miles a day. On return felt great !! But driving one day. Oh no no. All the best

tip:-21 downloaded your training plan, it says 'do this' you step outside and begin, 10 minutes later it just feels 'not right', change, stop do something that feels right, walk, slow down, strength, something OR something I have done is simply stop and walk and/or rest, you are not going to lose anything by changing or stopping. I noted a while ago Paula Radcliffe said the same thing, 'if after 10 minutes it feels wrong, change/stop' listen to yourself more than a training plan. I know Garmins have HRV and sleep monitors but we are refined enough to know as well.

tip 22:- one run a week, take your garmin off your wrist or silent it, and run your regular route without looking at your watch at all:). Run purely by feel, slow down when you think 'slow down', speed up when you feel 'speed up', (fartlek if you like), feel what it feels like to move inwards away from external distractions.

For the yogi's here Pratyahara BUT there are 4 different versions I read! Maybe with this type of run we hit all 4 

indriya-pratyahara—control of the senses; karma-pratyahara—control of action; prana-pratyahara—control of prana; and mano-pratyahara—withdrawal of mind from the senses.

tip 23:- walk around everywhere you can in your bare feet, climb the stairs, wash the floors, do the gardening, even some gentle barefoot walking and running somewhere safe. I don't do barefoot running on concrete etc where I live there is glass and small shards are incredibly painful if under the skin. There is a quote 'grow from the feet up' and also feet die first. I have been observing my legs for a few years now, when I ramped up barefoot interval training on my local beach I noticed the muscles and shape of the legs began to change. Mysterious I thought I was not changing anything BUT my body was:) elastic return and fascia connection have all been amplified the system of movement (kinetic chain) can be nulled, dampened by shoes I am afraid, yes it is still there but not in the refined way. Those Kenyan lean legs are a result of many factors but one of the main ones is walking to school in their bare-feet for years:)

OH, ONE MORE THING, THE WHOLE POINT. If you do this you will not need any form coaching, your body will find its perfect stride, it will, mine changes as soon I take my shoes off and tootle down the beach, I can tell my fast buddy can tell, he sees it and tells me:) it is all there you just need to change the environment to allow your body to do what it does, keep it nice and simple.

tip 24:- when running with someone, run together not apart:) seems easy but there is a cultural difference between East African training and the west we tend to run solo, even as a group you can see individuals running not the group compared to the pack of hyena's coming at you on trails and dirt roads of Kenya/Ethiopia, and they do look amazing running together. I try to run 'in lock step' close, elbow to elbow get into the rhythm of your running buddy. You also see this in the tour de-france, teams working together the closeness of the group pulls you along, not as much for running over here. One run a week 'lock step, rhythm and together' and I do mean close less than a 1m apart. be hyena's not lone warriors fighting yourself and the environment, even if you LOVE solo running and I do I think the element of community and support and also team is another element that can add something more to the experience.

tip 25:- commit to some form of change or new habit that has meaning for you. This form of commitment in yoga is called 'Tapas' there are three forms of tapas, the focus could be on body, speech or minding the mind! Here is an example, when I used to pick up my son from his first school I would walk to the beach and run a little barefoot before collecting him, that was a while ago! Or commit to some silent time during the day etc we could have a three hour discussion here by the way:), but the overall point is that these changes or commitments will make some noticeable improvements in your life. Always tricky but I do believe in the domino effect/butterfly effect tiny but meaningful changes regularly applied create the framework for small but noticeable improvements in body and mind (also consider relationships, your view on yourself and the environment)

tip 26:- listen:) small little niggles can blow up to sustained injuries that can take ages to heal. I once tore a calf muscle, my fault, two back to back hard interval sessions, being a nerdy chap I decided to time how long it would heal until I felt NO pain at all, 12 weeks in total. This tip, the one where runners think they will lose all of their fitness in 48 hours because they decided to walk/easy run is important and of course not true you will not lose all your running fitness if you decide to rest/easy/walk for a couple of days and allow things to gently heal. I promise you:)

tip 27:-Our inner dialogue can be incessant, none stop, practising a 'comma in your commentary' just focuses the mind on pause.... before responding. A few gentle breaths and pauuuusssse:) I used to use this with children in school who were looking for an argument, rather than join in the verbal assault and some teachers did just that by the way, I would place a comma in the commentary and pause. For a lot of children it gave space to calm down, reflect and reassess, it did not fuel the verbal conflict they were constantly experiencing at home . Taking a pause before any tricky dialogue, or any dialogue means you are listening as well 'we sometimes listen with the intention to speak' is also a good quote that grounds me easy to practice when running/walking take a pause, focus on your mind on....object, sound, air, breath, body you get the idea:)

tip 28:- change a word, changes everything 'I have to go for my run now' change to 'I get to go for my run now'....... regardless of time/output a positive intention is important.

View insights

0 post reach

Like

Comment

Send

I removed all social media from my phone and .......

this little cartoon made me think!

Tricky subject this one, social media and my relationship with it.  I just began to feel uneasy, a stirring of uneasiness that I could not leave alone. So I did what I do, think for a long time, holding on to a thought, direction pointing to 'social media'. These pieces of thoughts have, over the time,  become more connected and easier to share hence this attempt to describe my experiences and observations. Being absolutely clear this is about how I need to manage social media in my life, and how I recognised that my approach needed to change. 

Let me begin with the positive I am a half full individual 'powered by optimism', I am not some  cynical man, sick and tired of the endless streams of trivia and fashion, the what's new chat  that can clog up our phones and lives. I found and find myself liking a lot of content, I like a lot of the  ideas and views expressed by lots of folks and businesses and will continue to encourage and act on things I find of interest.  Social media  is being used to connect with people of similar interests, friends and family and also inspire us to travel and achieve beyond our comfort zone. That is all good! You can, of course, run your business entirely via social media and get very savvy with adverts, content and your niche market, I completely understand; I see and have experienced this, if I click on some content that sort of content is suddenly part of my stream and then it does become click bait for sure. I can also see folks enjoy constructing creative content. I have learnt a lot over the past few years that is for sure. I even went online for some extended yoga study time, and of course, I also work for a distance learning university, but being clear 'online learning' is not the same as social media. 

One thing I did do, which was a positive  for sure, was to share my very long journey to the handstand, social media makes you accountable, at the beginning anyway, you have placed your flag in the sand, you are doing this!  I enjoyed sharing that journey, now it is an embedded practice with occasional posts. 

Social media can also share, in a very rapid way, local and international news, events and world affairs. Yes, keeping up to date and being informed of shocking and/or upsetting events is also important for sure. There is a sense that with social media the world can look on and some of the political decisions made in smug quiet confidence, that might have been made in obscurity a few years ago now  have not only the regular political accountability (in democratic states) but also the mass of humanity watching and sometimes responding in a collective manner,  although the level of passivity can be surprising at times as our senses can be numbed by the repeated exposure to catastrophe and human suffering. We can become sterile and even find the views of suffering and destruction entertaining which is deeply troubling to me. 

The reasons I decided to remove all media from my phone were based around the key areas of sensory input, distractions of the mind and attachment, clearly these three areas are  connected. Here read attachment as the shocking data of screen time and pick up's of my phone. Asking my teenage tuttee's their average screen time/day was over 6 hours on their phone. Mine was moving to 5 hours, something was up! What the hell was I doing? I could not help but notice my instinctive 'pick up' of the phone. I had notifications turned off, no noise, no red flags but still the 'pick up' the scan and scroll. Considering one of my roles is a very part time yoga teacher where we discuss habits and how we create habits (good or bad)  this was one habit that needed to be unpicked head on. 

My phone is useful, for sure, I can access spreadsheets, answer emails, do my tax returns, invoice folks, check on eventbrite and other useful travel apps as well (love the Citymapper app) and checking on holiday options:) and yes,when using social media sharing some lovely times when attending or leading retreats all lovely stuff. 

An insightful moment and piece of information worth sharing was when I was listening to a psychologist on some podcast (name eludes me) stressing that our mind can cope and has evolved to be in direct contact with other humans, here I mean physically and mentally. The responses, support, community and family ties exhibited by apes and us are tangible and strong. We feel it and can sense this in others. (By the way mental health issues in tribal folk are very low compared to developed worlds) We are not wired to respond and emotionally engage in the amount of connections that are available for us through social media. Even with the most positive of intentions, staying in contact with folks only via social media for me, was more unsettling than I initially thought. 

I kind of like walking and talking, chatting and having a laugh, with a few folk who are present, not so much large groups of people but here discount super intense crowds such as Glastonbury which I love! 

I did not plan to decide on a day/hour to delete the media I just said 'do it, do it now' and I did. I also decided  not to delete my FB business page from my laptop or stop interacting with my only FB group, that was fine. The experiment was and still is the relationship with social media on the phone. Now, I could go on and on here but I am going to offer you some observations so far and thoughts for the future: 

Short term observations, lasting 1 week. 

1) I kept looking at my phone, sometimes picking it up, then placing it down!

2) sometimes wanting to take a picture but I resisted the urge. 

3) I could sense the mind was restless, not turbulent, just restless 

4) these short term effects lasted a week 

medium term, where I am now

1) less distracted mind, drifting nicely, moving through the day. 

2) check the phone for emails (work email server is NOT on the phone), diary review and whats app messages 

3) take pictures but only to post later via the laptop 

4) do check social media and FB via laptop but only 1 /day

5) sleep is better, I was tired! 

Long term 

1) I think this is a permanent change. 

2) post via laptop and walk away, this means I have to create content not idly post 'stuff' and then scroll through stuff 

Injury the helicopter view.

My next topic for discussion and reflection is injury or injury avoidance. There is so much out there on injury and I think sometimes written in a 'clickbait' triggered way. Creating a more resilient you will be at the heart of the discussion.

Things to consider is that word resilience; one definition 'capacity to recover quickly from difficulties' or 'the ability of a substance to spring back into shape' . Resilience is like a tree that bends in the wind, it needs to otherwise it breaks. The root system is healthy, the nutrition is good. You can't see the activity of a tree but it is there. Likewise mental resilience does not mean toughness but an appreciation of the ebb and flow of life. Being resilient to injury therefore fundamentally is one about approaches and appreciation of our being.

That seems a tad 'out there' but how often do you run with a niggle, push too hard, feel the need to squeeze workout after workout otherwise you will 'lose' fitness. Creating the conditions to develop a mental and physically resilient body threads together a lot of considerations. Yes, I do understand if you fall over, break an ankle etc, that is something that cannot be avoided that is the first dart of suffering it is the second dart, the response to the injury physically and mentally that is under our control. 'a calm sea does not make a skilled sailor'. All the best everyone have a good rest of the week.

As I chat on about injury there is one element that I have met quite often and that is the 'fear'. 'What if I get injured again?' this comment usually relates to a chronic injury, the stubborn persistent niggle/pain that won't go away. The usual suspects are plantar, achilles, knees and piriformis but lower backs can rear their lumbar head! What is interesting is when I drill down a little more. These conversations I have with runners are so important, the background sets the tone. I might ask 'can you remember when you became aware of the injury?' good question. Usual response 'can't remember, been here, it feels like for ever!' Oh , I think not such a good question then:) 'Have you changed your training, increased miles/changed kit/shoes?" this sometimes gets a response but runners will change the obvious. 'these shoes are awful' and away they go to the EBay store. That is where I get my shoes from! I then ask 'have you visited a sports physio/researched?'. At this point the runners split into two camps 'No or Yes'. If they have I ask them about the exercises or diagnosis and really the killer question 'do they consistently do the exercises/strength work' 90% of the time the answer is no' .

The main observation I would like to share and these are observations, is that consistency and other work to support a chronic site is essential. I have a dodgy right knee, I perform little strength exercises most days. I am not going to scan my knee via an MRI. Some of you know that the pain discussion is so complex and I am going to avoid the pain chat.

There is quite often a resigned fate as well, to the injury, the niggle the pain. Is it form related, does the focus on movement help, yes it can for sure but not always. A supportive yoga/pilates/integrated movement session does work, honestly my lower back used to fire up at aged 17, you might have a fundamental weakness but ignoring the scaffolding and structure around the site is, I feel, to be avoided.

Without going on and on. Resilience is a word I discussed before, the word to consider now is consistency but not just running but form a consistent and habitual practice that supports your movement (walking, bending, functional) running is an extension of that and if you are more serious refine the areas to focus on. Stronger balance, spine and hips/glutes area although I tend to argue the body connects so a dodgy weak little toe is also to be avoided!! Running exposes us and also cultivates a more aware you. You do become sensitive to your body and how previous days intake of 'what ever' affected your morning's run. Developing a personal practice is at the heart of this chat, habits are habit forming and my final point and quote is 'good and what is not good, do we really need to be told' without doubt every single runner I have coached has had a gut feeling that they needed to either reduce intense sessions (they are getting injured), increase strength work (they are getting injured), rest (they don't rest enough), diet is shocking or could be improved (only good fuel in a ferrari!). This way you can enjoy your running at whatever level you are, from recreational to professional. If ever I was asked to offer opinion on professional coaching it would be the rule of 1% , micro changes that accumulate similar to the SKY team and the tour de france. Leave nothing to chance!

 My next offering in some reflections on injury is 'decisions'. Don't be scared/frustrated by beginning a planned run and noticing a small niggle (It'll be fine) or feeling tired (I will get better, you might give yourself 20 mins easy running before making the 'fatigue decision). Even half way through and the niggle increases in intensity, make a decision and don't run through the pain. Ask yourself are you competing? If so, who with? Understanding why we decide to keep going when we really shouldn't is interesting. Nadal has just pulled out of Wimbledon(2022), amazing, there he was in a semi final he might not ever make it again to the semi final of wimbledon (he might

) put he pulled out! Why? I suspect because the injury would have been so damaging that he might not have been able to play again at such a high level. Top end athletes don't run through injury or compete. Why do we? Consider that thought, running to the point where your injury might mean months off or worse compared to a week off and pop onto a turbo, walk, and rest? A small post but perhaps the biggest one in terms of listening to your body and making a decision to change before the run/during the run and altering overall practice plans. Next post next week is about the quality of our rest. That word quality is key. Have a great weekend folks. Hydrate it is warm:)

Rest, it feels like a rude word to some runners, but a few years ago as I watched another(!) documentary on Kenyan running one of the commentators mentioned that if there was a gold medal for sleep the Kenyan runners from Iten would win gold all the time. Sleep and rest are not to be avoided. in our busy lives we tend to squeeze training in and hence ramp up the effort 'just in case' we lose fitness. Resting is the only time your body can rebuild AND grow. As the Norwegian running community share 'you cannot make the cake and eat the cake at the same time'. I am not a fan of training tired, I have heard of this method and sort of understand it but I can't help feel you are placing your body under stress. You feel tired therefore rest. Pushing your boundaries if you are training for something takes time, give yourself the time, rest, recover and grow as a person and runner. The other issue is resting and sleeping for the mind not just the body. A Good sleep does wash the mind, it seriously does, you should wake up after a good nights sleep bright eyed and alert, not groggy and sluggish. This state of mind of course links to mindfulness and meditation which I am a big believer in. There are a few triggers which you do need to look out for and should alert you when you need to rest or you are in a state of fatigue induced by running/over training I know there are other forms of fatigue such as work fatigue or fatigue induced by chronic conditions! .

Make these triggers a thing of the past make rest part of your overall practice. Some triggers I have noticed and read about:-

a) increased heart rate, longer recovery time

b) infections and lower immunity

c) state of mind, sluggish, difficult to focus, distracted or too focused, need to switch off. You almost know this but just can't unless injury stops you!

d) performance decreases, if you are into this, I am a little I have noticed all that apparent effort has no effect! Time to rest!

I don't mind resting from running by doing some light turbo work, and I do various yoga practices that I can dip into for recovery, more active at times and my morning practice, which is a very personal practice, that relates and links to the wider Yoga aspects. But resting completely, allowing the body and mind to settle is not and should not just be for the holiday you have booked. Hence the retreats are an ideal time to understand the power of rest/activity and simply being present, the penny dropping moments where I see people actually soften, their faces and bodies relax, it is a palpable experience and very real.

I could go on about rest, but everyone I have spoken too all admit they could rest more and be less busy, find more time for themselves. You cannot pour from an empty jug. Rest is not laziness it is about being compassionate and being more aware of your needs. Place these first and you can give more!

The words I have used to weave together the injury discussion have been resilience. Aim to develop and create a resilient body and mind through supportive practices and overall running programme. The next word was consistency, I do meet a lot of runners who move in and out of running so their bodies adaptions to running are never entirely fulfilled. The next three words are clearly linked and substantially refine your running practice. These are strength, endurance and speed. Generally these words pair up;- so strength and endurance, think running up a long hill the fitter your body is (lactic management, the more sustained this is). Speed and strength, think power and acceleration here, the ability to change speed easily or sprint. Speed and endurance, the faster 10K or whatever distance linked to tempo runner.

A little more formal but next time you consider a running programme consider the two key words resilience and consistency and then underneath the three words that combine strength, speed and endurance. It is how these words combine and your response to the training do you begin to understand your own body type. MIne is definitely strength/endurance, I forget the three body types in Ayurvedic descriptions(I think my dominant type are Vata and Kapha) but some of you will be speed/endurance or other. Don't get too bogged down with this though, encourage a flexible training programme that has a little bit of all three. I love to try and run quick, over a distance if I was being super honest with myself and wanted to compete again it would be 400m or maybe 200m at the masters level of course! I just don't get motivated by the track as I prefer space/nature and stillness sod the speed:) That is it easy right:)

resilience<=>consistency developed through strength, endurance, speed mix. Complete runner and mover as well, includes walking by the way!! have a great day folks

Energy and efficiency, fat burning:- a perspective.

  In all my work, studies, and observations the bottom line is that we are an endurance animal, our energy systems are aligned to this hence we can keep going. A few years ago now I was intrigued by the amount of food the Kenyans were NOT eating, they were not matching calorie intake at all but eating a lot of vegetable and pulse diet. Move across to Mexico and you have the same, written about in ‘Born to run’ you have the Tarahamura Indians who seem to run forever in sandals and vegetable paste! The Kenyan athletes have a high VO2 but not the most, they burn better, the Oxygen is used more efficiently for some reason.  There was a TV program called Tribes I think with the Scottish naturalist Gordon Buchanan, he trekked with the Kalahari folk in Southern Africa. He tried to persistence hunt with them, bottom line, no way, he could not follow them very well, they appeared to drink far less during their hunt and live on a few berries and roots (high in energy but not 2500 calories!). I can hear you say Genetics, but it turns out that the genetic discussion has been drilled down up in Kenya (again) it turns out that the genetic differences between Kenyans and us are not as big as we think, we are very closely related. The one major difference by the way between Kenyan runners in Iten is their light lower legs and generally small frame that does make a difference. Energy output and weight is important that is nature described by physics, bigger folk need more energy! BUT you can change your system to a degree, hope for us all, I think.

 This energy discussion is important because the normalization of the human body to move to an efficient system of energy is a subtle one for sure. Reading further and practicing (more on this later) you can alter your metabolic rate to some degree by slow easy running and other practices as well. Conscious of my body type and overall ‘Diesel engine’ endurance machine frame I was keen to perform some sort of lengthy experiment. Nothing mad, nothing drastic almost questions such as ‘what if I do this……..for…..an amount of time…what will happen….etc’. If I change my diet what happens, will I notice, if I do this or this what happens if…….’ I could go on but  the next post, next week will outline post by post some of the changes I made, not on diet (too lose weight) but around energy systems and hence, the change in body mass. To answer some of your thoughts I don’t bonk out, I don’t hit a downer as much, I have more energy now than before for sure. Yes, rest is part of the deal, so I do sleep for the just and know how to stop. 😊

Post 1: what I was doing.

We continue with the weight loss chat, remember it was not about diet and losing weight for body image or other health issues, but I changed the conversation in my head to energy systems and efficiency. It just wormed into my head for the reasons outlined previously.  However there were a few things that I was doing before the key changes. I was practicing yoga most days, running around 25-30 miles a week and generally ‘all systems were fine’.  This, however, is an important share. My vastly better half menu plans for the week. Yep, writes out the meals and then buys the food for the list. I have tried by the way but every time I get the books out and say, ‘Oh that would be nice’ the usual response is ‘no, not sure I would like that’, ‘how about that, or this’ I reply, ‘no, not sure about that either’ comes the response. I shrug my shoulders, only been married 27 years😊 Hence the menu planning is not me. We are also vegetarian with about 90% vegan diet. Don’t buy prepared foods/meals and of course I bake bread you HAVE to bake sourdough bread folks😊 . We tend not to eat sugary snacks or desserts. I do like dark chocolate. If we make a cake, please eat the cake. Treats are fine in our house. Ok so that is the land described to you. Repeat, this chat is not about weight loss but energy systems. I have this discussion open on my laptop and a pile of marking and assessing to do at the same time, so this little writing break is useful for me.  Have a great weekend folks, more to come and I will post this onto a BLOG after I have written this with some references and links.

 

Please read before jumping to 1^st change😊

As I reflect and consider posting these observations on energy/weight loss (please track back if you missed previous posts) the one thing I would like to stress is that I tend to triangulate advice. Reading, Observations, and practice. Also this was an experiment on me, not you, the human body is very subtle, those little responses do need listening and responding to.  However, I do meet a lot of runners and other folk who read a lot and then I ask ‘do you do any of this’ answer is usually an informative read and book recommendation and for some reason a lot of the diamonds out there don’t get tried on! I have boxes of books, maybe more than 100 plus books and by now I am beginning to sense some common features underneath the journo books and the mighty gravitas of well referenced science journals. Oh, don’t assume because a scientist has written=quality, a quick check of the ‘dull thud of references’ will give an indication of quality and also note any bias in terms of sharing points of view (just saying😊 ). So here we go first observation based on practice supported by some reading is:- drum roll please.

Post 2: 1^st change, get used to running on empty pushing out the time a little each week. Ensure to fully hydrate the day before! If you do this, awesome, well done and I am sure you have found your energy levels zoom through the roof.

The first change and this was an incremental one, over time, was to get used to running on empty. However, I am not talking here about ultra-running or long endurance races where you and I need protein/carb mixes. I am talking about extending some of your running and associated dependency on gels/drinks.  You do need to do two things and really do note your micro responses over time, that is important. Things like amount of sweating, running lows and overall sense of energy and even thirst responses.  About 5-6 years ago I began running with my buddy every Friday morning (9:30am) almost without fail, but because he was coming back to running from a long layoff, we began real easy running maybe 5 miles.  As an aside the joy of running in the working week in the morning made us both smile. We were relaxed old blokes I can tell you!

I had drunk a green smoothie, so I was in a sense running pretty much on empty. We would carry the usual hydration because our intention was to increase the distance by a very small amount each week but keep running, as one ultra-runner shared this piece of advice, run as if you are a ‘bit embarrassed to run’, that runner won a jungle ultra a few years ago😊. This slight increase in distance, running very slowly, matches all the science out there on building an aerobic engine that is for sure (Phil Maffetone, heart zone training (zone 2) 80/20 etc). The body begins to adapt and move into the fatty deposits (Runners World, the runners body book(J Dugas) is very good) , and BIG energy reserves ( 1pound of fat is around 3800 calories!! ) . You begin to re-condition your energy systems BUT you DO need to increase distance, the body adapts so well that it stays at a ‘new normal’ if you don’t. In addition to this we were both fully hydrated before the run, I don’t mean a liter of water tanked down an hour before but a couple of litres of water drank the day before.

As we increased distance over the year (yes, a year!) to around 20 miles, train the body we noted we sweated less, drank less, and had more energy during and after running even though both of us were running on empty with very little food intake in the morning. Put on the spot I would say extend the long slow easy to run to around 1h45 to 2 hours, the fact that my buddy went longer meant we noticed at around 2h 45 mins we were getting hungry, much longer in time than previously though.  What is also important to stress is that the physiology of my buddy is completely different to me, I am a Toyota truck he is a Ferrari sprinter. He could happily do and still could if he could be chewed😊 run 43-44 minutes 10K at the age of 56 but we both felt the effect. That was a surprising observation and an important one. You can’t really use ‘the build’ argument, it is there for sure for macro movement but at the micro level adaptions of energy cells etc we are similar enough. 

The hydration of my body I noticed is more important than the food issue, energy systems need H2O, slow down to create a more efficient you, train the body with real easy running but don’t think weight refocus, change the lens of objectivity, and focus on energy systems and tap into the human being that already exists inside us.

Tips. Change 1, hydrate, run really slow and run on empty ((almost))

1)      Hydrate like a trooper the night before

2)      Drink some smoothie (only) for breakfast, we use a blend of spinach and fruit.

3)      Carry some hydration and run easy and increase time on feet by a miserly 5 minutes a week

4)      I don’t stretch after the run, but I do walk a mile to cool down and drink coffee as well plus hydrate fully over the day.

5)      Small increases in distance, don’t think distance think time on feet, check watch for time not for speed, you won’t be going fast.

6)      We also do eat after the run, the book ‘good to go’ (Christie Aschwanden) does stress eating after but does myth bust a lot of the fuelling chat! After exercise I have a full pizza panini and coffee.

7)      These posts are not pointing to ultra/long triathlon endurance events. You do need to intake protein/carbs over long endurance events of course you do!

8)      Minor changes over time, it is a marathon not a sprint.

The last post I pointed to the give your belly some rest time, eat your last meal early evening. change.  Now to the next change and linked to the above change in a very considerable way. Always tricky to discuss heart rate but getting into this zone of aerobic training is very important. I have a saying and it is not mine ‘don’t argue with your breath have a conversation instead’. If you are fighting your breath, then the breathing and related and connected Oxygen/C02 system is not working efficiently. You can read more on this via Oxygen advantage (Mckeown) or Breath (James Nestor). Slow everything down so your breathing is easy. There are some heart rate discussions and guiding principles (Maffetone, etc) which I will avoid, and the reason is because I have met some very good runners whose heart rate was very high and runners who heart rate was very low.  This challenges a lot of new runners, or those wanting to improve. Some runners I have met, new to running can sometimes ‘bite of more than they can chew’ or as I stated in an earlier post you need to make the cake before you eat the cake. I am not offering paces here but as a point the Kenyan runners real easy pace for recovery IS around 9 min 30 mile! Very surprising and very easy.

I will keep stressing the point that this experiment has been on me, and has taken around 4 years.  I was and still am relaxed about the changes, I was not fixated, a change here, a change there but I always asked, ‘how do I feel’ at any moment. I think that is important to share at the beginning.

This little experiment on myself is about energy systems and the effect on the human body rather than a focus on ‘race weight’ which is a thing for sure or weight loss for health. These other considerations were not an issue for me, emotional or otherwise.

So now to the next change, remember the first change was to practice running on empty, a little longer each time, ensuring you are fully hydrated the day before. This next change is a linked one and I think probably, on reflection, more challenging than the first, but it was and still is a game changer for energy systems, quality of sleep and rebalancing your system or at least mine😊 This change is all over the internet, but I don’t like the term it is bolted onto it can feel quite ascetic and intense to be frank.

Change 2:- make sure to eat your final meal of the day before 7pm in the evening and do not eat anything else after this time. I know, right, you are out for the evening with some friends what do you do? You DO eat with them and enjoy the time, this is not a hard rule but a guiding principle, when at home we plan our menus and times to eat for around 6:30pm, therefore by the time I eat again my belly has been empty for at least 14 hours if not longer. Avoid sugary snacks in the evening, your pancreas is having a snooze after 8pm, your energy system is not geared to deal with food intake at this time of night.  You can read a lot about the need for sleep, what your body does during rest and why it is not a clever idea to eat late at night. Yes, this is called intermittent fasting but to be honest I noticed the effect before I came across the term! It has been around for thousands of years, referenced in Yoga literature and Ayurvedic advice. I do meet folk on retreat who have work patterns where this is a difficult one to follow, or partners who do eat late at night and happily munch on a takeaway. Retreat meals are usually at 6pm and breakfast at 8.30am so there is a good 14 hours between last and first meal.  The bottom line and a report on my own experiment is that my energy levels have ramped up, I only start getting hungry about 18 hours after my last meal and in that time  I might also have included a 13 mile run so something has happened for sure hence the share.

I do know there are ‘apps’ that you can buy into, it might be worth researching and this change does take discipline. I am no monk though because we do eat cakes, I do bake and eat well but the time I eat treats it is not late at night and of course, in moderation.  At my age I would rather fall ill for a few days and pass away rather than have poor health for 10 years. I suppose I am trying to bias in my favour being aware that my mother lived a super healthy lifestyle but was hit with strokes and vascular dementia compared to my dad who smoked and drank most of his life but lived to 90! He did do a few things namely drink a LOT of water (he was Greek, Greek’s drink a lot of NERO😊 ‘) and he loved Olive Oil and Greek salads, and REST boy could my dad sleep for Greece or the world for that matter! makes you think right, makes me think as well.

I could go on, ‘How not to Die from’…..Michael Greger is a good read on diet and disease.

Change 2:- eat your last meal at or around 6:30-7pm, try to avoid snacking late at night.

 

If you have been following my posts on energy and weight loss well done and thankyou😊 the next change is probably the most difficult to rationalize so I am not going to try and rationalize anything. It comes straight from the east, as B K S Iyengar states in his book ‘Light on Yoga’ (a hefty tome) ‘eastern minds, western thoughts’ is the blend I am aiming for. Firstly I like and enjoy wellness chats, the exchange of information, the reports, and the discussion with reading all super interesting and of course it makes you think a lot about the human body and, well, how simply amazing it is!

I do think, sometimes, we can get lost in the maze of podcasts, books, and journo articles it can become ‘have you read this or this….’ You try something for a few months/weeks and then gradually move back to earlier habits. Change can happen for sure, that is what, after all, I have been posting about.

This change is not really a change, more of a change of viewpoint, a subtle sense that the background of the mind has shifted a sense of how I engage in these ideas I meet and practice the suggestions.

As some of know I do meditate every morning and have written a list of noticeable outcomes based on meditation, which I might revisit as I have been reflecting on this for some time now. There is, however, one word I don’t think I stressed enough and was always the central message in the sessions led by Indra Mohan during the lockdown sessions. That word is peace, to find peace, stillness and calmness which can be carried throughout the day. Running can be a peaceful and joyful practice, those Kenyan and Ethiopian runners do smile a lot in their training! you can move in a balanced and a breath centred way. Your yoga practice and hopefully mine to, is not one of only training the body but also finding that inner connection, promoting and cultivating (one of my favourite words) peace, clarity and an ease of focus.

How does this connect with change and weight loss? I think that the ideas I have tried and pursued have not only been based on reading, observation and practice but also based on a peaceful and reflective standpoint. ‘They work, they don’t work, promising idea, bad idea’ no stress. I don’t get on my soapbox, something I think I used to do. Meditation seems to have created a calm and reflective background of engagement when considering and trying out ideas and practices. More reflective, less reactive, more proactive, more contentment, more generosity with the ideas and with the Self (capital S). As Ganesh Mohan stressed meditation is not only about THE act but encouraging a change of mental landscape, the mind wants to move to a quiet place, not a busy distracted place. A place where the mind can focus and concentrate for extended periods without effort is an important quality for sure.

Finally as I mentioned previously a relaxed body and mind is a more efficient system. Energy systems, etc are more in tune. Why Zebra’s don’t get ulcers is an engaging book, one of the chapters talks about stress and the links to weight gain/loss. Cultivating a relaxed and content mind is at the heart of this point and change. Bottom line I suppose is really do try and find that time to meditate in whatever form you find engaging and works for you not me, it is about developing a personal practice not just rolling out a script. I find myself smiling as I write this; A G Mohan has a saying ’if you find it difficult to meditate for 10 minutes, you need to meditate for 20!’

Enjoy the weekend folks.

Change 3:- meditate, practice and cultivate peace, you may be pleasantly surprised by what happens over time and in time

I have noticed if I DO eat late (link to intermittent fasting) and try to meditate first thing in the morning, I notice the mind is not calm, not steady, it almost feels preoccupied with the night before! Sleep was not good, food not quite right. You get the idea, right? If you approach from a completely different angle you can arrive at the same point. The same logical conclusions written from a holistic viewpoint.

There are three key changes to my lifestyle that I think have had a profound effect, not just a peripheral change here and there but on renormalizing my weight, note my weight is now at a steady 82kg it is not going down anymore by the way.

The three key changes are:-I am fully aware of the eastern practices on fasting.

1)      Hydrate fully the day before your long run and run on empty, a little more each time probably aiming for at least 1 hour time on feet making sure the perceived exertion level is easy.

2)      The last meal is usually around 6.30pm, no snacks and no sugar, having breakfast at or around 8am

3)      Breath work and meditation.

 

From a runner’s body chat this is still too heavy for endurance running and really to ‘nail hills’ my understanding is the cut off is around 75kg. Where did I get that figure from? Listening to the tour de France commentators. It is to do with energy systems and watts output supposedly hence those big sprinters do not like those days in the alps and can sometimes get cut from the race.  I think body type does matter but at my little level not as much😊 and to be frank losing a few kg’s is possible for many folks rather than buying super expensive shoes.

My last point is to bring this all together about weight loss and energy systems. Where does the weight go? If you create a more efficient body, that is a more energetic system with less lows you are burning fat for sure. If you keep reaching for sugary snacks all day and have crashing lows or often tempted by the ‘sweet cupboard’ that is a sign that your mind/body is a glucose/sucrose machine. This is detailed out in science journals. Fat holds C, H, and O, carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. The two by-products of fat burning are water and carbon dioxide. If you eat your last meal before 6.30pm, fully hydrate and run on empty once a week up to 2 hours max for a long run you create a fat burning energy efficient system. However considering atomic masses (I know right😊 ) H20 is released through sweat, wee and poo however the heaviest element, carbon, is released through exhalation only (Co2), which surprised me and accounts for 83% of the weight lost!! (I have been researching this one, can you tell). So these three points about meals (I am predominantly vegan in diet, I believe in the power of veg, protein is protein not animal or otherwise), hydration and running real easy creates the conditions to allow you to become a more efficient human being. In fact, I am going stress what the human machine is designed to do from birth. You renormalize your energy systems and physiological responses. Meditation is a core practice, creates the conditions for a balanced approach, an ease to the practice but also the breath work element I am pretty sure made me more of an efficient breather and energy burner(this needs researching to be frank, I need to do a PHD for this one ‘study of various breath patterns on the aerobic energy systems of the human body when running’ !!)

That was always central to my personal experiment.  If you are performing of course, then you do need energy and carbs as you will bonk out. I hear that a lot when following the ‘tour de france’. Remember I was not performing this experiment as ‘diet’ but as an energy experiment, the outcomes are more profound and connected than only losing a few kgs.

However intermittent fasting (from TedX chat)  is not for over 70’s, diabetics and  children in particular, you would need to discuss this with your doctor. I am not sure all doctors are up to speed with lifestyle, but the British Society of lifestyle medicine (BSLM) is, check them out. The one thing that I reflected on was that you do need a healthy relationship with food, I think fasting might fuel the negative relationship to food. That gut feeling was backed up by a nice youtube clip from a nurse discussing fasting as a tool to improve overall health etc.

That is it from me on this topic, all views are based on practice, observation, reading and reflecting over a three-year period. That might be regarded as enough for some folks of course.

Take care folks.