Starting to run and keep running joyfully
It’s a little over two years since I picked up running as an activity, and it’s since then I have wanted to write about this blog.
If you are like me, working in the knowledge economy, and your work involves sitting at one place and focussing on screen for the majority of the time, you would know about inertia very well. I know a few people who have been into running for some time now, and before me got into it, I felt what’s the big deal; it’s a fad. But the situation took a turn, and I accidentally got friends with people and started the running journey.
Since then, I came across many people who are curious about running but can’t start as not knowing “how to start running” and “when to stop i.e how much to run” and “how to run” bothers them. I share my journey and a little bit of starting gyan I received from fellow runners in this post.
If you are based in a country where adults don’t exercise or play outdoor, often this can be a considerable starting barrier. Having a group around helps. It brings the comfort of having people willing to use the road for running.
Group introudced me a popular run-walk-run technique. Roads around us have the advantage of having anchors, such as lamp-posts or specific shops or turns. I would run from one lamp-post to the next lamp-post and then walk to the next one. This pattern of successive lamp-posts was enough tiring for 1st week. Then gradually increased the distance for running for one lamp-post to two and higher.
I started with essential shoes; the challenge many of us face is that shoelaces come out very often. Getting down every few hundred meters to tie the laces could be very irritating. A fellow runner saw the plight and helped me with double-knot. Yeh, it’s not only neckties that have types of knots.
It was fun as getting up early, going out for a run in the fresh air and coming back just enough out of breath to continue the rest of the day in the usual way was a refreshing experience.
I was fortunate to have caring runners in the group. While I thought running is all about clothes and shoes and speed and so many things, two messages which helped me get on to a journey and stay there were quite simple.
“Run with the pace in which you can strike a conversation.”
Sprint and speed are what most of us associate with running. This was bit new to me. I thought I was out there for exercise; why should I worry about having a comfortable conversation while running. Soon realised, running with someone helps you get into rhythm and discipline. I started looking forward to runs as there were many like me.
When you start any new fitness activity, it pains you. My muscles began showing where I was weak, sometimes, legs, sometimes shoulders, sometimes lower back and so on. Prasad, who was the anchor around this group, would always say
“Remember, your body has memory, so far it knows you wouldn’t trouble her through fitness activities, now that you have started the journey, it’s a new experience for your body it would take time for her to build that memory. Please pay attention to where it pains. We are here to enjoy and not live in pain”. It was so authentic; after studying it in school, this was the first time I realised our body has so many muscles and joints; every week, there would be a new one showing signs of weakness. Gradually I settled into the activity with(posture).
If you google around for running, it’s technically a lot and maybe overwhelming to start with. Here’s the starting sutra I received, which works as a guiding beacon for me today.
“Head high, back straight, shoulder soft, body relaxed”
It’s a simple description of how your body needs to be while running. Every time I deviate, some or other part pains.
Sustaining any activity on continuous basis is a challenge in itself let alone the one about fitness. One of the most common reasons why we quit is not understanding peripheral essentials. Two things which made my running sustaining apart from joy of running are
Ensuring pre-run Warmup & post run Stretches. This helps in reducing injuries and jammed body. There is no rocket science here and while some googling could give you reasonable exercises, even if you do what you remember from childhood days, it can get you started.
Second key aspect is a body strength. Remember our body is an amazingly interconnected and fast feedback system. If any of the body part is unusually weak it will start showing up but body will compensate through using a stronger one more. So little bit core strengthneing would go long way in sustaining injury free runs.
I picked up running pre-pandemic and continued through the lockdowns. It’s more than 2 years now and been a great companion through difficult times of covid. I run regularly thrice or four times a week and so far managed to run half marathons.
