Running my first race in the dark

Last Friday I ran my first race that took place in the dark, in the Skeleton Race in Loughborough. It was another great experience to add to the small number that I’ve already had in running. As well as being my first race in the dark it was also the first race I’ve don’t that didn’t take place in the morning so the preparation was completely new. (I did want to put some pictures in but it turns out that there wasn't anyone taking pictures that you can buy)

First things first, preparation

I really wasn’t sure what to do during the day; should I go for a gentle run in the morning? What should I eat, when should I eat? I think I could have done a little more research than I did but in the end I went for doing nothing in the day and pretty much ate as I normally would; I had couple of pieces of toast for breakfast, early lunch and then an early dinner. Even though I could have known a little more about what I should have been doing, I made a plan. I think this is important for everyone to do for every race, no matter what your ability. Remember; fail to plan, then plan to fail.

Committing a cardinal sin, again

If you’ve read some of my other posts (if not, then why not?) then you might have stumbled across my post about my last race and committing some of the “cardinal sins of road running”. Well, on Friday I committed a big one; I didn’t warm-up. To make it worse, it was a freezing evening, making injury a huge risk.

Once the race started I could feel how stiff my muscles were and it took them about a mile to warm-up. Even though I didn’t end up injured, I think, in fact I know, that I would have had a better time if I had warmed-up.

Head torches

The problem about running in the dark is that, well, it’s dark. Race rules said that all runners must carry a torch or wear a head torch (I opted for a pretty cheap head torch). Friday was the first time I had run with it (another slap on the wrists for me, I know) and let me tell you, it’s tough to run in the dark with a head torch that doesn’t offer much in the way of light and that bounces around your head.

When the race started there was, like you’d expect, lots of runners lined up ready to go. That meant that there were lots of head torches lighting up the way. After about a mile, there were less people around me, meaning less light, and after about 2 miles there was no one in sight in front or behind me......I was all alone.

Nearly getting lost

So, 2 miles down, I’m on my own and I’m coming up to a marshall. They shouted at me which way to go, I went in the direction I thought they said and they had to shout back that I’d gone the wrong way, I had to turn around and mumbled a few unpleasant words. After that my faith in the marshalls went right down. At each turn I started physically pointing and asking which turn I had to take.

I came to a turn at about 4 miles and the marshall shouted something but I wasn’t sure what it was. I headed down a path but wasn’t 100% it was the right way. The course was supposed to be marked out with glow sticks but I didn’t see one for a few minutes, I began to think the worst.

 As I started to think that I was lost, there was a moment where I think logic evaded me. It might have just been that I was tired and not the fact that I thought I had gone the wrong way and was lost. There was a single moment that I thought if I was lost then I would stay in the same spot and wait to be found, until I realised that I could just turn around I go back in the direction I had come in.

Coming across the finish

Turns out that I wasn’t lost and I hadn’t gone down the wrong path. The glow sticks started appearing again and I had started to gain on the person in front of me. I could see the finish up ahead to switched on the after-burners and tried to catch up the guy in front. I pushed as hard as I could but left it too late. I wasn’t too disappointed though as I had still come 9^th   (out of ~250), easily my highest finish in a race.

9^th place, lessons learnt and an enjoyable first race in the dark, all topped off with a toffee apple at the finish because it’s so close to Halloween.  

Commiting the cardinal sins of road racing

This Sunday I was in the Tamworth 10k, running my first race in over 6 months (You might have read my post about how my Pre-race Nerves ). After reading and preaching the do’s and do not’s of road racing, I couldn’t help but cross the line with disappointment. Knowing that I’d committed some of running’s cardinal sins.

The week before
It’s very, very easy to do what I did in the week leading up to the race. Do nothing. Hey, it’s taper time. All of the hard work has been done, I’ve put the training in and now’s the time to relax and not burn myself out before the race. I only managed to put in two runs in the week and the last one was on Tuesday, 5 days before the race. I hadn’t planned on not running again but if anything popped up I just gave up the run I had planned, thinking that it didn’t matter.

There is a lot of advice and research out there for tapering. There has been research saying that a 67% decrease in training is optimal, I’ve seen a study that showed a 90% decrease increased endurance and performance. What is agreed on in a lot of research though, is that the “do-nothing” approach to taper is non-beneficial. I knew this, but ignored it anyway, committing the first cardinal sin, not doing anything during taper.

The day before

An important thing in endurance events is energy; without any, you won’t be able to keep going. This is the basic idea behind the concept of “carbo-loading”. Carbohydrates are a quick releasing energy source that is used during endurance events, so if you take more in, you will have more to use during a race. Simple.

On the day before my race I had lots to do and had very little time to eat. This meant that I had no lunch or dinner and the only thing I ate between 5 o’clock and going to bed was a small tub (like one of those mini ones you get at the cinema, not a small tub that would feed 5) of vanilla ice cream, not the most nutritious of foods. And before this all I’d had was a banana and a piece of orange. Not eating the day before a race limits the energy available and so compromises performance. And so I had committed a second cardinal sin of road racing, not eating the day before.

The night before

There is some debate into the issue of sleep before competition, and for that reason I’m not going to call this a sin, but I got into bed after 12 o’clock the night before and I was up at 5am the next morning. I have seen in some places that performance may not be reduced by one night’s bad sleep and some places that say otherwise. I think it is down to the individual and all I can say is that, even if the lack of sleep didn’t affect my actual performance, it definitely played on my mind. Lack of sleep then may not be a cardinal sin, but it might take you off the road to success.

The race

So far, so bad, but still, I made it to the start line and my race performance was still mostly in my hands. I had warmed up well and lined up close to the front, ready to go. 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – GO! And boy did I go and commit the ultimate of cardinal sins. I began running at a pace much faster than I had planned to run, more than a minute per mile quicker. And there it was, the third, and biggest cardinal sin, going off too fast.

Big finish! Not sure how, but
somehow, I got to the end

I was up with the race leaders for nearly 1km. At the time it felt like I couldn’t slow down but now I think it was more a case that I wouldn’t. I felt great, but that didn’t last. My chest and my stomach started to burn after only 2km and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t even finish. I had to slow right down and get recover a little. I eventually came over the line in 41:38, I had wanted to go under 40 minutes. The race was a good experience though and proves that knowing what to do and not to do in the build-up to and during a race is one thing, but getting them right on the day is another.

I committed three of the cardinal sins of road running. That’s not to say they are the only ones and I’m sure you have committed some of your own. Let us know which ones you have committed and if you suffered for it.

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Pre-race nerves

Following a quiet summer and a tough few weeks of training, tomorrow I will be racing in the Tamworth 10k. This will the first time I have been in a race in around 6 months because of a knee injury that has kept me from pounding the pavements all summer. This will still only be my 7^th race and my first at this distance; I’m still pretty much a beginner.

Going into tomorrow though, I have to admit, I’m nervous. Nervous about a few things; about not finishing if my knee starts to play up, not getting the time I want, I’m even nervous about getting to the race because this is first time I’ll be travelling alone. The more I’m thinking about it, the more I’m getting nervous. To make things worse, I’m playing in a football match today (stupid I know and a problem easily fixed, don’t play, but I have to), so I’m definitely nervous about getting injured.

Have I been here before?

In the races I have done before, there were nerves, but different nerves then what I feel now. In my first race, a marathon, the nerves were definitely concerned with not making the distance, a problem I’m not envisaging for tomorrow. Then I’ve done 2 half marathons where my biggest concern shifted from finishing, to time; the runner’s biggest enemy. So far, my battles with time have always seen me triumph, beating the times that I have set for races. Tomorrow? Well, I think that could be a different story.

Stepping up

Over the last 6 weeks or so, things have gone a little quicker than they were going before. My legs have been turning over a little quicker and all of my runs have a little faster. I’ve thrown in a lot more sprint work and I think it is doing wonders. All this has done though, is raise my expectations. The time in my mind that I have set is at a quicker pace than my previous race times would predict. Am I setting myself up for a giant, thumping fall then, or am I preparing for one of my biggest personal highs of running so far?

Preparation

One of the best ways to get over nerves is to plan. As the old saying goes;

“Failed to prepare? Then prepare to fail”

Obviously the most important preparation is training; there is no point expecting to break records if you haven’t took the time to train, and train well. For me, I can’t change what training I’ve done now. All I can do is look over my training plan and see whether training has gone well (which it has) or not. One day before the race though, the things that need to be planned and prepared are the little things that make race day run smoother than Barry White on ice.

What am I having for breakfast in the morning? What time is the race? How long does it take to get there? What facilities are there? What’s the weather going to be like? What food or drink will I want before, during and after the race? These are just some of the questions that have to be answered beforehand. Once these are answered, you can relax a little and concentrate on running the race.

When all’s said and done

Tomorrow, like many other runners every weekend, I will emerge in one of two states. I can crash and end in defeat, beaten by father time. Or, I will rise and triumph. Whatever happens, I’m sure I will be back at the start line again. Ready take on time, other runners and those ever-present nerves.

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Are there some people who will never care about their health?

We all know people that don’t exercise. We all know people who live their lives on a bad diet. Some of them are overweight and some are those ones that never put on weight no matter what they eat or how little they exercise. For the latter, it can be quite easy to think that because they are not overweight that they are relatively “healthy”. Fact is they are probably not. If your diet is poor and you’re not exercising, your health is suffering, regardless of the size of your belly.

Of these people that we all know who don’t exercise, ever, why is it that they cannot summon themselves of the sofa and out for a jog or down a local sports club or...just...well...anything. And what about those with a poor diet? Why don’t they put down that processed meal and eat something fresh or swap their takeaways for something that’s..... not a take-away? My question (a little like the title suggests) is; are there some people who will just never care about their health?

Some examples

Have a little think about some of the people you know who don’t exercise, do they fit into one of these? The bloke who used to play team sports until ~40 and hasn’t exercised since he finished? That person who never liked P.E. in school and has just never exercised, someone who is overweight and uses that as a reason why they can’t exercise or the office worker that says that they just haven’t got the time. 

What about the people whose diet reads with more Mc’s and ready’s than perhaps it should. We all know the mum without the time to make a dinner from scratch, the person who seems to always get a takeout or someone who would only ever get their 5-a-day in if banana milkshakes, cherry drops and strawberry ice cream counted.

Can they Change?

There are some people who yo-yo diet or that once a year might get into the gym. Forget those; we’re not interested, not today anyway. The people that we’re interested in are the ones that never do anything. Not a single thing.

Some people seem stubborn about not exercising and healthy eating. I’ve met more than one person who thinks it’s, and I quote, “sad” to lead a healthy life and that their unhealthy ways provide them with a much happier time on earth. Really? I’m not going to go and get the chez long and go all psychiatrist on you, but can anyone really say that a lifestyle is “sad” without ever trying it. I used to think that running seemed boring and, well to cut a long story short, I’m now out pounding the streets most days in the week.

Excuses

It’s not just stubbornness that is keeping some people unhealthy; there are a lot of excuses that people chuck about. Time, money, effort....the list could go on.  But would these people use these excuses if they knew some of the facts?

Just 15 minutes of low intensity exercise a day can increase your life expectancy by 3 years. 15 minutes!!! Who can’t find 15 minutes a day to live longer? And that’s just one benefit of exercise. I’m not going to list all of the benefits here but would people make more of an effort if this sort of information was out there? I don’t think they would.

Is all lost?

Are some people unreachable, beyond hope? Are there some in the bewilderment of healthy lives, cast away in a world of gluttony, slobbery and laziness? I’m going to leave it here for know and let you think. I want to hear your thoughts. Can anyone do anything to change things? Do things need to change? Let me know at the bottom.

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Have you been inspired by the Ironman World Chamionships?

Did you see any of the Ironman World Championships on Saturday? Our Brit Chrissie Wellington delivered the goods in the women’s race for her 4^th title and Craig Alexandre took his 3^rd World title. The times were phenomenal and these guys show just what the human body is capable of.

The Best

Craig Alexandre crossed the line in Kona in a time of 8:03:56, 12 seconds quicker than the previous distance best. His spits were; swim 2.4M - 51:56, bike 112M - 4:24:05, run 26.2M - 2:44:03. Let’s just put these times into perspective;  in the Speedo Open Water Swim Series swimmers raced for 2.2 miles along the Thames, downstream. The winner finished in 00:45:06. For 2.4 miles this would have got a time of about 49 minutes, only 3 minutes quicker than Alexandre and they didn’t have to worry about a 112M bike and 26.2 run after.

Craig Alexandre crossing the line to take the win in08:03:56

Correct me if I’m wrong (which I might be) but I think the World Record for 100M bike time is 03:27:05. That pace would give a 112M time of around 03:51:40. That’s only around 30 minutes quicker than Alexandre’s effort and for those who know anything about cycling, things like course and conditions are very, very important – the slightest headwind makes a massive difference. I’m not saying that this world record was done in more favourable conditions or on an easier course because I don’t know. But, if it was, it again makes Alexandre’s time even better.

Finally, Alexandre’s marathon time of 02:44:03. If you know anything about marathon times I know you will already be impressed. In this year’s Berlin marathon, the fastest marathon on earth and against marathon specific trained athletes, Alexandre would have finished a hugely respectable 226^th. And that’s after he’s done an epic swim and a quad-busting cycle.



Chrissie Wellington - smiling, as always



Chrissie Wellingtons splits looked like this: swim - 1:01:03  bike - 4:56:53 run - 2:52:41. I could just as easily go through the ever-smiling Chrissie Wellington’s splits and show just how good they are but I won’t, you can just see for yourselves.

These figures are truly incredible. If you are an athlete or keep-fit enthusiast of any sort, you can’t look at those times without being in awe. The winners and top finishers of yesterday are inspirations, but so is everyone else who took part.

The Rest

First of all, I admit, I did not watch the whole race from start to finish without a break. That in itself would be an endurance event and if anyone out there managed it, well done, that is an achievement accomplishable only with training and dedication.

Of what I did see of the race, the part I enjoyed the most was the finish. Not the finish of the pro’s, but the finish of the people that were just happy to finish. Some of these people were amateur triathletes, some were just amateur athletes, and some were just ordinary people, some with a great story.

The person that was put in charge of welcoming and commentating on people over the finish line was great. He was enthusiastic and helped to make each person’s moment of triumph that little bit more special. As people crossed the line he addressed them by their name, cheered them on and called each an Ironman as they finished. He also shared a little bit of a back story of a few.

A couple of the stand-outs for me were a 71 year old man and a women that used to be overweight. The man was an Asian chap who clocked a respectable time of just over 14 hours. To be honest, I don’t think he cares about the time. He had this beaming smile as he crossed the line and was greeted with a huge cheer from the crowd.

I know that the women I mentioned used to be overweight because the commentator said so, not because I’ve got a biography of every finisher. I’m sorry that I can’t remember how much but the commentator said she had lost a lot of weight in training for the event and as she crossed the line she did this funky little foot shuffle.

If you’re reading this, first of all, thanks, but second, you can’t help but be inspired. I imagine that some people will see this and say, “well I couldn’t do that”. Fact is, you can. Most people could do this. The elderly Asian man and the overweight women didn’t have anything else except will and determination.

Whether you are an athlete that is stuck in the middle of the pack or someone that’s overweight or someone that’s clocked up a few years under your belt, this Ironman World Championship can’t help but motivate you. It has definitely put the thought in this writer’s mind about trying that little bit harder in training and even slighted tempting them to dabble into the world of triathlon.

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Toning Trainers and Barefeet Running

Last week Reebok were fined $25 million because of false claims about their “toning” trainers http://bit.ly/nVBEvs. Then at the end of the week a small study was released claiming that more than half of the women studied showed no benefit from wearing barefoot running shoes http://nyti.ms/o792cP. So, I thought I’d shed some light on the situations and give you my thoughts about these two different types of products and whether they are worth your money.

“Toning” Trainers?

So far I’ve called them “toning” trainers but from here on out they shall be referred to as, “Rounded-Underneath’s-Bought-By-Idiots-Seeking-Health (or rubbish) trainers. Reebok seem to have muscled their way in to a market that has been about for a couple of years. These “rubbish” trainers have been around for a while, each with the same principle; by having a rounded, unstable sole the trainers are supposed to make your leg muscles work harder when you walk to keep you balanced. Reebok came in, put the fantastic body of Kelly Brook at the front of a big advertising campaign and have sold quite a few of these trainers. And I’m not surprised; the suggestion of a body like Kelly’s just by wearing a pair of trainers is an attractive offer for most women.

The Problem

Reebok have been fined because their claims of your muscles working harder have been false. However, even if their claims were true, I would still advise people to take steer clear of these “rubbish” trainers. The selling point of them is an age-old method of selling anything in the health and fitness sector – do less and get better results.

But let’s think about it, even if these trainers make your muscles work harder, when would you wear them, to work with your office wear? I don’t think your boss would be impressed with your new casual look? Would you wear them for all of your outside of work activities, when all your short journeys are taken by car? The point is most people would only wear these trainers at one specific time, their dedicated exercise time.

Swap exercise for walking?

So, you’ve started wearing the trainers and you’re going for some walks. Great, I’m not going to say anything bad about someone willing to try to exercise and improve the health and fitness. I will say though that it is naive to think that, because you’re wearing your brand-spanking-new-give-me-a-body-like-Kelly-Brook trainers, all you have to do is walk and you will give your muscles a workout.



"Wow, if I get some of these trainers, I could look like that?" Um, no!



Bottom line

You will not get a Kelly Brook bum (no pun on the subheading intended) by wearing these rubbish trainers. You will by exercising.

Barefoot shoes

In the running community barefoot running is growing in popularity. The theory goes that we are biologically wired to run barefooted. In however many 1000s years BC, man hunted and man’s advantage over beast was that man could run and run and run and run and.....you get the picture. Usain Bolt can run 100m in around 9.5 seconds. In the animal kingdom this is embarrassingly average.  Patrick Makau  ran the Berlin marathon in 2 hours 3 minutes and 38 seconds. Not many animals could match that. Humans were made to run and we have ran barefooted for thousands of years.

Man no like soft, cushioned foot thing

I've always thought my toes would be happier if they were
seperated and hugged, individually by my running shoes

Along came the commercial world and they said, when running cushion your feet, our trainers will save your joints. Trainers were built up and today you can buy all manner of shoe to make it feel like you’re running on pillows. The fad now though is switching back to minimalist. The reason is that this way your joints will be spared of huge forces and pressure. This happens as you switch from striking the ground with your heel, as you do in cushioned trainers, to striking the ground with the ball of your foot as you run.

Do they work?

The study that I linked to at the beginning looked only at the Vibram FiveFingers but most of these shoes follow the same principle; they are light and thin, offer little cushion and support and are basically there to stop you cutting your feet on the ground. In my opinion there are too many positive things coming out about these shoes for me to think they aren’t worth the hype. I haven’t tried them myself but I am very, very tempted to.

 In the study the half that continued to heel strike first when wearing the FiveFingers were doubling the impact compared to traditional trainers. But, those who switched to a forefront strike reduced the impact compared to traditional trainers.

One of the reasons why half of the women saw no benefit has been said to be that they made no effort to modify their form. A conscious effort may be needed to change your form and adjust to the minimalist shoe. It was suggested that the transition from traditional to minimalist shoe was slow and progressive to ensure that the correct form and technique developed.

Summary

So, let’s conclude. Reeboks “rubbish” trainers probably (maybe even definitely) won’t give you a bum like Kelly Brook. Minimalist shoes might not help you reduce the impact when running straight away but will do if you take the transition to these shoes slowly and make a conscious effort to change your form.

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Ways to stay unfit and ruin your fitness plan

Are you happy with having a tyre around your stomach? Do you want your weight loss program to fail? Is your fitness training just too fun and giving you too much personal satisfaction? Then look no further, we have the definitive list of ways to make your programs fail.

Do the same type of exercise all of the time

Cross train to avoid injury? No thanks. Mix up training intensity to hit different physiological systems and different types of fitness? Nah, not us. Try a completely different sport/exercise program if you’re getting bored? Don’t think so. For us that want to fail, we’re going to do the same thing until we’re blue in the face. And then we’re going to do it some more.

Don’t match your diet to your personal aims

Want to lose weight? Get a huge fix of calories each day. Looking to gain muscle? Green leaf salad twice a day is plenty. Training more than once a day? Forget recovery food, train your starved muscles to the max. To make sure we fail we don’t need to bother thinking about what we eat in terms of our goals. We definitely don’t need advice from people who know better than us, advice is for wimps.

Never Warm-up

Who needs to get their heart rate up slowly? What’s the point of getting blood to the muscle’s where it’s needed before training/performance? Do your muscles need warming-up, stretched a little? Do they heck. Feel the ping as your cold, stiff muscles snap by going from nothing to all out max by missing a warm-up. Warm-ups take all of 5 minutes which is way too much time to take out of our incredibly busy lives.

Not warming-up? Why bother cooling-down

When we’re done, we’re done. There’s no point in helping the body recovery so it’s ready for next time. Help get rid of all that lactic acid that’s built up in the muscles? Start to repay that oxygen debt? Those things are for mugs. The next time we train/perform, our aching, tired and unrecovered muscles will be grateful for not doing a cool down.

Train in unsuitable clothes

Office suits are great for race-wear

Trainers that are suitable for your feet and for your exercise? Reflective clothing at night? Comfortable clothes that aren’t restrictive? Why bother? You can’t beat combinations like jeans and flip flops for cycling, your work suit for weight lifting and short skirts and heels for trail running.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggXmKPMaHMo

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Having an end goal

This post follows on a little from yesterday’s post, “The measure of success”. I said how you should use as many ways as possible to measure how well your diet or fitness plan goes. But what happens when you 3 months in and you’ve lost a little weight, your resting heart rate has lowered a little, the blood pressure has gone from bursting to healthy and you’re jeans are a little looser? How can you stay motivated to keep going, to carry on the good work? That’s where the all important end goal comes in.

An end goal is something to aim towards, something you look back on and say “I did that”. But an end goal isn’t “I will lose 3 stone in two months” or “I will go down 2 dress sizes”. They are things that will happen along the way. When you step on the scales and see that you have reached your target weight, you may be happy, but there is no moment of elation, no huge moment of triumph. It’s just you, in your bathroom, staring at the ground. Compare that feeling to crossing the finish line at the end of a marathon, or a 50 mile cycling race, open water swimming event or triathlon. The end goal doesn’t have to be a race though; it can be training for a sports team and finally playing competitively for the first time since you were in school. These events create moments of pure joy, elation and are something that you remember for the rest of your life.

Sound impossible? That’s part of the point. By doing something that you thought was impossible, you feel even better, for that one moment, you feel invincible.

So, how do you do it?

In small steps. First, you need to pick the goal and then give yourself a realistic amount of time to do it. If it’s some sort of race event (running, cycling, swimming or triathlon) do a little research. There a literally thousands of races out there: beginners’ races, fun races, small local events, huge national events. Pick one that you like the look of and gives you enough time to train and then enter it. Don’t think about booking it or say you’ll train and then book it. Just book it. Then there’s no whimping out. The same with a sports team; just take the plunge and find out about training with a club. No club will turn down a player because they are unfit or have not played in a few years (well apart from professional teams I can’t imagine you can just stroll up to a premiership football team and ask to train).

So, you’ve taken the plunge. The event is entered or the training session has been planned. Now what? Train. Get ready and put the work in.

Need a little more motivation? Then raise money for charity. Do something good for you and something good for lots of other people. That way, when you’re struggling in training, you have that little bit more incentive not to give up. And when you cross the line, you feel twice as good knowing you have helped so many people.

Thanks for making it to the bottom. Please feel free to make comments on any of the posts. If you like what you’re reading then please subscribe to the blog. For daily health and fitness tips, links and more follow us on twitter at @FSLifestyle

Rage against the machines II

Rage against the machines II - a reply

After the last post I’ve had some interesting discussions with people who read it (no....seriously. The discussions were interesting and people are reading the blog). So, following these discussions, I feel that another post on the matter is required.

To recap the last one – I don’t like treadmills, indoor bikes, cross-trainers or any other gym machine that falls under the umbrella of aerobic gym equipment. Why? They’re boring and nowhere near as enjoyable as the real thing i.e. actually running or cycling and moving forwards. However, people have raised some points that I believe have good points in favour of this machines;

1)      When it’s icy outside they offer a safer alternative

Whilst this is true, for me (I do not want to held accountable for any twisted ankles/cracked ribs or other falling related injury), the ice offers just another challenge. This is obviously limited to running as I would never advocate cycling at speed on ice and I don’t think you can row on a lake that’s frozen anyway. Going for a run on the ice is just a mini adventure and I know t that hat may sound absurdly childish. Also, although the ice on roads and paths may become a slip hazard, there are still fields aplenty with grass that’s all crusty after its frozen which offer a lower risk of slipping. I will admit however, when I have been running when its icy I do have to run at a slower pace. So, for the Haile Gebrselassies, Mo Farahs and Paula Radcliffes out there (other elite distance runners are available), I concede that the treadmill would probably be better than running outdoors. That said, the likes of these have access to indoor tracks to be used in the winter. I guess even these don’t want to run on a treadmill.

2)      Some people are embarrassed to run/cycle around their local streets

I would have previously had a lot of empathy for people of such a sentiment. Before moving to university, I was nervous to go running around the local streets. I had never noticed anyone else running near where I lived and felt that if I were to venture out in my running trainers and runners-issued short shorts I would be stared at by all I passed and thought of as a mad man. My own deeply rooted paranoia aside; it can seem as if no one else runs. I can also see how it could be difficult for anyone just starting out or that is overweight. The streets may seem to offer only public exposure whilst the gym allows you to hide away. My argument to this......well in regards to my own paranoia issues of being watched, get out there and run. As soon as I did I realised that I was not alone. As if only by running is it possible to notice other runners, now, I’m always seeing people running. And for those embarrassed possibly because of their weight or slow pace....   I’m no psychologist so don’t want to delve into body images and such things. However, one of the ways to get over this is to run or cycle with someone else, a point I’ve already made in a previous post. And then even if you don’t think you have anyone to go with, join a running or cycling club. From my own experience of these clubs they are very welcoming no matter what your ambitions or ability. I will say though that should a person unequivocally decide that the outdoors was not for them, then these machines are definitely better than the alternative of doing nothing.

I want to leave it there for now, my mind slightly (slightly!) changed. Two fantastic points have been raised and not only am I glad that these have been raised because it shows that people are actually reading what I write but also helps me improve the blog or see things from another view. One of the reasons for writing the blog was not only to help inform others but learn a little myself.

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Rage against the machines

Going back to our exercise guidelines of 5 sets of half an hour of “moderate-intensity aerobic activity”, I just want to talk about something that I’ve never understood. Treadmills, the bikes in the gym and the cross-trainer. Is everyone serious? I see so many people on these and, personally, I could not think of a worse way to spend my time. In fact, those machines are so boring I don't think I've ever managed more than 20 minutes on one but I’ve seen people approaching the 40 minute mark. Well done, I take my metaphorical hat off to you.

Endlessly moving your legs, literally getting nowhere, constantly looking at the time in the hope that more than 10 seconds has passed since I last looked, the worst part of all this is that I'm paying for the privilege. If only there was a free alternative that wasn't as mind-numbingly boring, a free alternative that pits me against the elements, makes me think about which way to turn, let me discover new places and where I can see how far I've been. If only........

Bottom line, take those legs or that bike and get outside. That’s only my opinion obviously but I just think there are a lot more reasons to get outdoors than get in the gym if you’re going to run or cycle. First, you can start straight away. Pop your trainers on, open the door and off you go. And then when you’re finished, you end up right outside that very same door. Go to the gym, though, and you have to walk/bike/drive there, walk in, put on a fake smile as you walk past the receptionist, get changed and then trudge over to the aforementioned exercise machine to finally begin exercising. Only took 10? 20? 30? minutes to get there, and then the same when you’re done.

I know the argument you might come back with. Yes. I know. I’ve heard it before. “...but the good thing about those exercise machines is that you can then do other things in the gym. And they’re a good warm-up.”

First, running and cycling are not a warm-up for lifting weights. The amount of times I hear people say that they use this machine for this reason is amazing. And the look on their face once they’re asked how cycling warms-up their arms for a bicep curl, even better. The only way to warm-up before a certain lift is to perform a similar movement with less resistance.

Are we clear? Good.

Second, unless you want to be the next Mr/Mrs Universe, you don’t need to go to a gym to tone up.

Although it may seem convenient that a lot of fitness facilities are crammed into one, monthly membership required, swanky and shiny place, I believe that most people can get the same, probably better, results from running and cycling outside and then using their own body weight and a set of dumbbells (although this is for another time in another post).

Next argument please.

“...but when it’s cold and raining I prefer to train in the gym.” This is nothing a waterproof coat and a new perspective cannot fix. Forget the cold; you will heat up as you run (change of perspective). And with the rain, you only end up a little more drenched than you would otherwise through sweating anyway. The coat keeps your body dry, your head might get a little wet and at the end of it, you only end up showering all the same, just like you would at the gym (well all those with a sense of personal hygiene).
The bottom line is that running and cycling are free, fun and.....I can’t think of anything beginning with “f”....but you get so much more from them than using aerobic gym equipment. Even the name “aerobic gym equipment” makes me bored. Sorry if I have not convinced you otherwise but I hope I have just emptied the gym and flooded the street with newly converted runners and cyclists.

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