We are now well into the New Year, and with that comes all the promises that many of us make to lose weight and eat more healthily. The main problem though is that often, these plans to shed the pounds quickly die – usually the first time we eat out, or they simply fizzle away by the end of January. I challenged myself to come up with a good plan of action – which I’m variously calling Operation Trident or The Trident Plan – to lower body fat and reduce weight, without totally ditching some of those yummy things we all like. Payback comes in the form of extra exercise, so this isn’t going to be a ‘cream cake diet’ where you get to stuff your face and sit watching the TV all day long!
For those of you who didn’t know, every year the BBC runs a competition called the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. It started out in 1954 and has seen winners from a wide variety of sports. On the whole, men dominate this award ceremony, but in general the shortlist includes a good proportion of Britain’s best female sports stars. This week saw the unveiling of the whittled down shortlist of the ten candidates for this prestigious and well-promoted televsion event for 2011. It seemed odd immediately that all ten of the challengers this year are men. And given some of the achievements of the ladies this year, it begs the question: where did all the female sports personalities go?
One of the most polarising debates in the world of running – apart from whether to change running form or stick with heel-striking – is when you should do your stretching. The old guard say you should always warm up and stretch before your run and then again more thoroughly afterwards. A new school of thought has appeared in recent years, which maintains that stretching is exclusively for after running, but that more dynamic, functional stretches should be done prior to hitting the trail. The arguments seem mainly to focus on performance rather than injury, but I am now of the mindset that a pre-run stretching session is important.
We get bombarded with a huge amount of information about diets and nutrition, both in our everyday lives and also our sporting lives. One of the best ways of keeping body fat low is to develop practices which increase the metabolism. Nutrient timing can be a very important factor, as these days the old-fashioned ‘calories in versus calories out’ paradigm is becoming less credible. The new advice by many sports nutritionists and coaches is to eat more meals per day, each of which of course needs to be smaller than your usual three square meals; and whenever possible, to eat within an hour of physical exercise. But does this give us carte blanche for snacking?
When it comes to winter running, it certainly pays to wrap up fairly warm to remain comfortable, otherwise it becomes very easy to give up and take a break until spring. And when you are considering what to wear on your legs, recent research has suggested that a pair of compression socks might be great for keeping your shins nice and toasty, but that they are fairly useless for anything else. This should be quite a shock for a number of runners, as sports compression socks have been hailed as our savior from shin splints, muscular fatigue and even calf injury. I can vouch for the relative ineffectiveness of compression calf guards on a personal basis, having worn them in the run up to a calf injury that left me sidelined since August this year. And I also have the personal accounts of others for whom the compression sock was the enemy of injury-free running. So, what is the reality and what is the advice now?
Experiencing a painful leg cramp or muscle spasm while underwater is quite a painful experience and something that you will seriously want to avoid whether you are a competitive or casual swimmer. Not only will your afflicted muscle be left extremely sore and unable to function for some time, the sudden cramping can make it nearly impossible to stay afloat, and you may find it tough to stay calm and think smart. Failing to take the necessary precautions to prevent leg cramps can leave you in a very dangerous situation, and you might be surprised when you find out how simple yet effective some of the methods or remedies are towards prevention and relief.
I have spent the last year studying minimalist running and proper running form, which I have written about previously, after making a transition into this more natural form of running. In the past, I suffered from terrible shin splints and always ended up with sore hips and legs after running. So I made some changes described in Ken Mierke’s book about Evolution Running and everything seemed sweet. The first months were the best running I’ve had for ages, but it was not to last. And it is only recently, during a long break from the road due to injury, that I finally found another book which helped, called Natural Running by Danny Abshire, co-founder of the Newton Running Shoe Company.
Recently, many people have moved away from the traditional to more minimalist running shoes. Both types require a different pattern of movement, with the traditional shoes having padded heels to absorb shock during heel strike whereas the minimalist shoes have flatter profiles, far less cushioning, and they require the runner to perform a midfoot or forefoot strike. Arguably, this latter style is more efficient as there is less braking and vertical oscillation. One of the problems is that people who made the switch to ‘natural’ running tend to be worse than reformed smokers, and constantly berate others for continuing to heel strike. So: should you make the transition to minimalist running shoes?
Once you get past the initial muscular aches and pains when you first start a running program, it is all too easy for running to be become an essential and almost addictive part of your life. Combine that with the rush when you first get involved in organized races, and it is all too easy to want to squeeze just one more session out of yourself. Or to just push through that extra mile in training to see how far you can go. All very reasonable, you may think. And it is also very common, seeing runners push their limits without a care in the world. Unfortunately, that is why roughly 50% of all runners get injured at least once every year. I’m as guilty as the next man – or woman. So I have just begun a series of physiotherapy – sometimes called physical therapy – in order to address a couple of running injuries, one in each leg. I cannot help but think if I had caved in sooner and gone to the physio room earlier, I’d have avoided about 18 weeks off.
A busy schedule at work can often leave you wondering when to go for a run, and it is an easy option just to not bother at all, especially when the winter arrives and the days are short. But to keep a grip on your levels of fitness all year round, it is best to equip yourself with a few items that will enable you do exercise at night. Just like one of my previous articles about winter running gear, it pays dividends to buy some reflective running gear also. This post will give you some ideas, many of them very cheap to implement, which should make sure you are safe and seen while out running at night.
