How To Start a Love Affair With Marathon Running

Marathon running is like having a love affair. Both are risky but rewarding. Pastors frown upon love affairs and it is the same thing in marathon running.  Physicians will deter people from running marathon distances, but it’s such a powerful allure that it becomes greater than risk of hamstring injury.

You might be apprehensive at first but it only gets better

Tom Holland, running coach and author of “The Marathon Method,” tells his clients that running for 3 miles was horrible for him too, but farther down the road things changed.

“It happens for different people at different times and different distances: that runner’s high,” he said. Holland calls it a cardiovascular turning point where the run becomes exponentially easier.

“There’s a point where the run becomes enjoyable,” he said. “Whether this happens at 8 or 10 or 12 miles down the road, it will happen,” he said.

When you start it will feel like hell but if you stick at it, it gets easier and better.

It can be addictive

Qualitative evidence for the runner’s high suggests that for those prone to its euphoria, it probably contributes to running’s addictive quality.

Marathon running is not for everyone

Long-distance running seems to be appreciated by those who enjoy solitude – or periods of solitude – and are OK with monotony. Richard Finn, spokesman for New York Road Runners, organisers of the New York City Marathon, agrees that long distances do not suit everyone.

“Running 26.2 miles is a big, bold brash undertaking,” he said. “You’ve got to put heart, soul, mind, body in it for months. It’s like climbing Mount Everest. Not everybody should be doing it.”

He said a runner is a runner whether you’re doing a marathon or a five-kilometre (3.1-mile) race.

If you feel 42K is not for you, go for 5K, 10K or 21K races.

Source of material : Reuters Health article

Are Runners Penny Pinchers?

The New York times have one of those David vs Goliath stories, this time its your corner running gear store vs the big chains.

How to Save Money at all cost

Speciality stores owners in America are really feeling butterflies in their bellies, like one worried owner told the paper “It’s a fact of life some people will do anything to save $3 so they’ll come to our store and get fitted and then go up the block and buy it there,” said Leanore Gallardo, whose flagship Metro Run & Walk in Falls Church, Va. — one of three she owns in the Washington area — is about to face a Road Runner Sports a mile away. “Only a fool would not be concerned,” she said.

Its seems runners will walk into a small store get get fitted without blinking an eye say thank you and walk out to get a burgain elsewhere. How unfair!

Read the New york times online to see why your corner running shop maybe no more.

 

3 Legal Performance Enhancing “Drugs”

If you are a runner and you want to dope your body “legally” then I recommend you try some of the following doping ideas. Dont worry about Joining Marion Jones in prison because this are all legal.

1. Doping your body with altitude training.

I have previously blogged that, this is one secret of Kenyan runners.

The basic concept behind high altitude is that as you go higher above sea level there is less oxygen  in the atmosphere.

This places additional stress on the body because less oxygen is being carried to the muscles and the body has to produce more red blood cells to carry the oxygen.

The more the red blood cells in your body the higher the oxygen carrying capacity.

2. Caffein as Performance enhancing drug.

A number of studies have shown significant performance increases in various endurance disciplines, including running, following caffeine ingestion. In one study, elite runners improved their time in a treadmill run to exhaustion by 1.9 percent with caffeine. Caffeine boosted time to exhaustion in a cycling test by 15 minutes in another study.

So how does the world most widely used drug improve your  performance? It appears caffeine enhances performance in shorter events by stimulating the nervous system in ways that enable the muscles to contract faster and more efficiently. In longer events, caffeine delays fatigue by reducing the athlete’s perception of effort.

3. Cancer as Performance enhancing drug

What has made Lance Armstrong a super athlete? A recent article claims that Armstrong’s testicular cancer actually helped him during the Tour de France. The Authors speculate that the treatment procedure might have actually altered Armstrong’s Testosterone production. Read the article in wikipedia.

Spirit Of The Marathon Movie

The running movie “Spirit of the marathon”  debut yesterday across theaters in US, the dependable guys at complete running dot com went to theater and first observation was “You have never seen so many fit and healthy people in a movie theater”

The typical image of a movie goer is a fat pop corn crunching dude. For now “Runners rule!”  

Your cynical friends have asked you so many times why you run. The answer to how the rest of the society views running is in the spirit of the marathon. As the six running heroes in the movie start running Chicago marathon someone in the crowd is shamelessly waving a sign that reads, “You’re all crazy.” of course we dont give a shit!

Will the spirit of the marathon save obese Americans from what Mike Huckabee Calls “killing yourself with a fork”?

If you live in the U.S. and missed the screening, dont worry!there will be a second screening in Feb 21. For now you can wet your appetite by visiting marathon movie to view trailer of the movie.

 

Why Running Is Better Than Soccer

I was reminded why running is a much better sport than soccer yesterday when I read an article on BBC on the violent nature of soccer. It not about the infamous soccer hooligans but how the players at times have a go at each other.

In Tuesday’s Carling Cup match between Asernal and arch rivals Tottenham hotspurs, Asernal’s Emmanuel Adebayor and Nicklas Bendtner squared up to each other and Bendtner appeared to suffer a cut nose.

According to good old BBC ” It is not the first time that team-mates have been involved in a bare knuckle fight on the pitch.”

Infamous Soccer Brawls

“Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer were sent off after brawling at St James’ Park in 2005 when they were playing for Newcastle, who had fallen 3-0 behind to Aston Villa.

Seven years ago Bradford’s Stuart McCall had to have stitches in a facial wound after Andy Myers struck him just before half-time of the 6-1 defeat to Leeds.

And in 1995, Blackburn team-mates David Batty and Graeme Le Saux came to blows during a Champions League match against Spartak Moscow.”

Of course I cant forget the Zinedane Zidane head butt that would have made Mike Tyson proud!

Apart from shoving and pushing at the start of a marathon I am yet to hear an ugly incident of runners having a go at one another.

How to Avoid Killing Yourself at the Start Of Marathon

The number one mistake novice runners make at the start of a marathon is starting like a pro runner.

Before the start of a marathon all runners are equal but immediately the starting gun is fired we all fall into runners hierarchy. The pro infront, followed by the fit runners and lastly the unfit runners.

The pro runners start at a fast pace and many novice runners are tempted to do likewise. A pro runner has speed endurance which enables him to sustain the fast pace. A novice runner who tries to imitate them will quickly notice his folly after quicky burning out.

Wannabee Stuntman accidentally  hangs himself

Just because the pro do it doesnt mean we can also do it. A good example of not try do what you see a pro doing is a crazy story I read on reuters news site about two guys who watched too much stunts on movies.

In Vancouver Canada, a 23 year old man and a friend (and they are usually youngmen) were attempting to film a mock hanging as stunt when accidentally things did not go as planned and the male was unintentionally hung from the rope he had placed around his neck. According to a police spokesman the friend initially did not realize anything was wrong. Read the rest of the crazy story

Neither man was trained as a stunt man. I wonder, were this  crazy dudes trying to make a video to post on You Tube? and has anyone out there seen the video on You tube?