Run/walk your physique

Run winding and weaving instead of straight lines

When feeling daunted or challenged to run or walk a particular distance, consider winding instead of straight lines. It is probably just psychological, but when running in straight lines it feels as if one need to go quite far, whereas when for example winding through the neighbourhood it is surprising how quickly the steps add up.

 

During lockdown level 4 in South Africa, from 1 May 2020, we were permitted to leave our homes to exercise between the hours of 06h00 and 09h00, to run, walk or cycle as long as within a 5km radius of our homes. I recall discovering that it would be quite feasible for me to complete a half marathon in the permitted three hours and 5km radius. For a faster runner, a full marathon would easily have been feasible.

My wife and I do neighbourhood patrols as part of an increasing-visibility drive. We often alternate one day walking together with me running solo. We accomplish more visibility, I believe, by winding through the neighbourhood, than going in straight lines. We’re often surprised by the distance accumulated when we wind up and down. It is also easier alternating uphill for some distance with downhill, than to keep going uphill for a longer stretch.

Many of the sidewalks in our area are not really pedestrian friendly, even the pedestrian paths are quite uneven with lots of growth in the cracks. Hiking boots (not even trail running shoes) and tracking poles might be a better option than road running shoes. It is easier to run or walk in the street. However, some of the main artery streets carry significant vehicle traffic, which make it dangerous. This is another reason to rather wind through the quiet streets.

Trail running revived my resilience

Challenging circumstances could gradually erode one’s self-confidence and deplete one’s resilience …

Apart from health benefits, I derived a lot from trail running … it serves as metaphor for many life’s realities:

• Sometimes a muddy decline or large rocks calls for getting down on your bum and shift
• Other times a muddy incline requires crawling on all fours, if without trekking poles; or if a rope or strap is provided, pulling one body upward with your arms
• Inclines and/or declines without traction demands slowing to a careful climb
• Negotiating dark tunnels, without light, requires slow shuffling and feeling ahead as best possible
• Often arm movements along with the opposite leg helps to propel the body up hills, and to maintain pace
• Chantel Nienaber, quoted 27 February 2019, Colin Wilson’s maxim “The mind has exactly the same power as the hands; not merely to grasp the world, but to change it.” adding that she uses her hands to balance when she runs, and uses her mind to balance her life

A while ago I found myself drained from fighting resistance and obstacles; with little faith that circumstances would improve; and zero confidence in justice … similar to a cordless mouse of which the battery has gone flat … appeals from colleagues, together with expressions of confidence, together with pledges of support, rekindled a dying fire … but similar to a rescued campfire, a lot of self-talk had been necessary to endure. Often my self-talk had been derived from my experiences on challenging trails.

Why ‘fun run’ when it is difficult?

For the unfit, or not so fit, 5000 metres is a long way to walk or run.

Why then do organisers call it a fun-run? Is it not belittling?

Running had been a serious affair for me, and I found references to fun run derogatory …

 

It is a mindset thing.

One can, however, lighten the burden by approaching it differently.

 

Research done, found a correlation between an athlete’s effort and facial expressions similar to pain. Conversely, it has been found that when athletes deliberately smile, they can and do indeed run faster.

Mindful running (or walking) is further advocated—it is advocated that participants concentrate on the entire context, appreciate the elements thereof, rather than focussing on their own effort, thereby overcoming their personal subjective perceptions of effort.

Encouraging remarks by marshals and/or spectators further serve to play a motivational role.

 

My advice about fun runs is to embrace them for what they are, probably a sincere attempt by organisers to accommodate non-serious runners (and walkers) to be part of an event. While the marathoners, half- marathoners, and 10k runners test their ability; just savour (from Old French savorer, meaning to ‘taste, breathe in [smell]; appreciate, care for’, odour/flavour) the 5k. Notice the route, the fellow participants, things along the route. Take mental photos, if not actual ones. Have a little fun! Make the most of the moment. Enjoy it while at it.

Midlife correction through running

At first walking, then part running, and then advancing to frequent running (interspaced by walking) granted me a midlife correction opportunity.

The Glossary of Psychology (https://www.psychology-lexicon.com/cms/glossary/46-glossary-m/13694-midlife-correction.html) defines midlife correction as a “re-evaluating [of] one’s roles and dreams and making the necessary corrections”.

Lachman and Kranz (2009) share mixed research evidence about crisis in midlife or specific birth cohorts. They cite Jacques (1965) who observed impending death fear-driven midlife crisis in clinical patients. Subsequent research shown that “usual sources of crises are life events such as illness, marital problems or divorce, job loss, or financial problems, which are not associated only with the midlife period, but occur regularly at other points in the lifespan”.

Personality—for example, more neurotic individuals have been found more prone—has been identified as a key factor predisposing some, at transitioning points, to experience crises.

Self-reflection, re-evaluation and review might be triggered by various unexpected or undesirable circumstances, say Lachman and Kranz (2009), who regard ‘crisis’ as a misleading notion. They indicate that a life review at midlife serves an adaptive function for later life well-being, and suggest careful planning, decisions, and choices about preferred directions. They cite Stewart and Vandewater (1999) who examined midlife review and coined the notion midlife correction, and postulated that regrets about early adult life choices may serve a source of motivation for life changes.

I found running, especially trail running, as an excellent means to distressing. While walking, I still found that I still ruminated while walking. However, running, being more intensive, I found to be better. With trails, where you need to pay attention where and how you put your feet down, the mind’s slate get whipped clean, rendering a refreshed capacity.

Furthermore, I succeeded in running of more than 30kgs. For the first time in many years I broken through on the scale from categorised obese to over-weight, and aspiring to get within the recommended weight range for my length.

In midlife, Lachman and Kranz (2009) say, there is a shift in focus from growth “to an emphasis on maintenance of functioning and avoidance of losses and decline”. They indicate that there are often other turning points (sometimes difficult transitions) that may occur. The notion of a ‘quarter-life crisis’ occurring among individuals “in their mid-20s and early 30s as they struggle to find satisfaction in work and meaningful relationships”.

Flannery (2018) observes that increasingly people are “taking on challenges that seem to belong to the young alone: by pushing the limits of what they’re physically capable of through endurance athletics and extreme fitness. The focus is less on what happened before the crisis and more on what happens after. Call it the midlife correction”. He adds that according to the U.S. Triathlon organization “almost a third of all triathlon participants in the United States are between the ages of 40 and 49 … the largest age demographic by decade and one of the most competitive”. Similarly with regard to the Boston Marathon he says “where more than 8,200 runners in their 40s crossed the finish line in April, a little more than 31 percent of the total field. The largest field of competitors at the 2017 New York Marathon was between the ages of 40 and 44. In London in 2015, those 40–49 runners had faster overall times than the 20–29-year-olds”.

Flannery, P. (2018). Extreme Athleticism Is the New Midlife Crisis. https://medium.com/s/.../extreme-athleticism-is-the-new-midlife-crisis-d87199a18bed 22Aug2018

Lachman, M.E. & Kranz, E.M. (2009). Midlife Crisis. In Weiner, I.B. & Craighead, W.E. (Eds)(2010). The Corsini encyclopedia of psychology (4^th Ed). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley, 2010. Electronically accessed from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9780470479216.corpsy0544