Archive for the 'Inspiration' Category

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Running support network

Published on 27/01/2008 in Inspiration. 0 Comments

On the face of it running is a solitary experience. Lets face it, no one can do it for you, and even if you run with friends or as part of a club, come race day its just you against your fellow competitors, but most importantly against yourself and the clock. But if you dig a bit deeper, you realise that helping you to get to the start line is a huge support network. Declaring to family and friends that you taking on the challenge of a marathon causes a bit of a stir – lets face it, it is something that makes people sit up and take notice of what you are saying. Those people closest to you are important in keeping you sane as the enormity of the training commitment really hits home – there is a lot of practical stuff to arrange in order that you can run 4 or 5 times a week – how annoying is that! You need the help of your family and friends. Add to this list your work colleagues then your network starts to increase in size considerably. You may not think it, but they are more than casual observers – they want you to do well and sharing your goal with them helps share the burden just a little. Now add in all those people who might be sponsoring you to run the race and the list grows even more. Now add those little bits of advice you get from other runners, from TV, radio, magazines, websites, physiotherapists, sports massage therapists, sports shop owners, the list is endless. All of this information and support gets stored up, ready to be drawn upon in the future. Over the average 4 month period of a marathon training programme this could amount to hundreds of people and when you think of the advice you get from magazines and websites you are talking about a network of 1000s runners. Most of these people you will never meet, but they all count, and they are all valuable members of your support team.

Don’t forget them.

Read all about it

Published on 17/01/2008 in Inspiration. 0 Comments

Writing about running is one thing, but why not read about it too! Most running books focus on the technical aspects of training and nutrition and there are many great ones around. But over the past few years I have tried to find books about running from a different angle, be it a more light-hearted and comical approach, or one that tries to understand the wider influence running has on us as individuals, or society more widely. Two books that I would recommend to all runners – in fact to anyone, even if they are not runners, because they are so good are, Russell Taylor’s The Looniness of the Long Distance Runner, and Feet in the Clouds by Richard Askwith. Taylor’s book is a diary account of his training for the New York marathon and is a fantastic and very funny personal view on the ups and downs of what it means for an absolute beginner preparing to run 26.2 miles. Feet in the Clouds is an altogether different book – a social history of fell running! Now don’t let that put you off for a second. This is a beautiful account of one runner’s obsession of tackling hills and mountains, and also a fascinating insight into the cultural and social impact that this side of the sport has in Britain.

Life as a professional runner

Published on 01/10/2007 in Inspiration. 0 Comments

Ever wondered what the life of a professional athlete is like?

Then meet Christopher Lukezic and read about his experiences as he prepares for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Marathon monks of Mount Hei

Published on 02/02/2007 in Inspiration. 2 Comments

Meet the Marathon Monks of Mount Hei. The monks, known as Kaihigyo, are spiritual athletes from the Tendai Sect of Buddhism, based at Mount Hiei, which overlooks the ancient capital city of Kyoto.

Their ultimate achievement is the completion of an incredible 1,000-day challenge, one of the most demanding physical and mental challenges in the world. Only 46 men have completed the challenge since 1885 and it takes seven years to complete. The first 300 days are basic training, during which the monks run 40km per day for 100 consecutive days.

Continue reading ‘Marathon monks of Mount Hei’

Its never too late – ‘age-graded performance’

Published on 02/02/2007 in Inspiration. 0 Comments

One of the best things about running races is that no matter what your ability; you get to race with the best. Though us mere mortals will never appear on television cameras at the head of the field there is a way you can race against other people without worrying in what place you cross the finishing line – its called ‘age-graded’ performance.

Age grading is a way to adjust your performance according to age and gender. The age-grading tables were developed by the World Association of Veteran Athletes, the world governing body for track and field, long distance running and race walking and were first published in 1989. The tables work by recording the world record performance for each age at each distance, for men and women. Where necessary, the world record performances are estimated.

For example, the world record for a 53 year old woman running a 10km is 35:01. So if a 53 year old woman finishes a 10km in 45:18, she has an age-graded performance of 77.3% (which is 35:01 divided by 45:18). The wide availability of age-grading tables has allowed older runners to compete on even terms with younger generations. In many running clubs today, the age-graded champion earns as much, if not more, recognition as the outright (non-age adjusted) winner of the event. Age grading can be used to compare performances across different ages and sexes; track your own performance over time; identify your best events; set goals for current and future years; and identify your best ever performance.

The great thing about age-grading is that it’s never too late to improve your performance as a runner.

Take a look here and find out more.

Does having a baby make you a faster runner?

Published on 26/01/2007 in Inspiration. 0 Comments

It has often been suggested that women can run faster times after having a child and now that Paula Radcliffe – who is the World Champion and World Record holder for the marathon – has returned to action it has reopened the debate.

Ingrid Kristiansen, the Norwegian long-distance athlete of the 1980s and a former world champion over 10,000 metres, set world records for 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres and the marathon within two years of her son’s birth in 1983. Liz McColgan, the Olympic silver medalist, also trained until just before going into labour in 1990, winning bronze at the world cross country championships four months later and becoming 10,000-metre world champion nine months later.

Belief in the performance-enhancing powers of pregnancy was apparently so extreme in former East Germany that athletes were encouraged to become pregnant to reap the benefits of increased blood volume and hormones. Female runners report increased performances after pregnancy, when the capacity of the lungs and the heart increase by 50 per cent, to cope with a 40 per cent increase in blood volume.

However, Radcliffe’s personal physiologist for the past 15 years, Prof Andrew Jones, of the University of Exeter, is skeptical, saying that, “there is very little research into the effect of pregnancy on the performance of elite athletes, with only a 1991 study into recreational runners suggesting that oxygen uptake increases by seven per cent in the eight months following childbirth.”

McColgan, now a 42-year-old mother of five, has said the athletic benefits of pregnancy were possibly mental rather than physical, “taking time away from the relentless rollercoaster of hotels and training gives you time to relax, and it really rekindles your love for the sport so you come back with more passion and zeal.”

So the evidence may not be clear cut for elite runners, but what about everyone else? Here are some real life stories.

The amazing Dick and Rick Hoyt

Published on 22/01/2007 in Inspiration. 0 Comments

Learning about the experience of others can be extremely motivating and inspiring. One such experience is the story about a sporting bond between a father and son. Dick Hoyt has spent the last 25 years pushing his son Rick in a wheelchair through marathons and triathlons. Their best marathon time is a stunning 2 hours 40 minutes. He’s towed Rick the 2.4 miles swim phase of the Hawaii Ironman in a rubber dinghy and cycled the 112 mile bicycle phase with his son in a specially adapted bicycle chair. All of this despite Dick’s admittance that when he began he had never even ran a mile and was a non-swimmer!

Take a look at this video of the two of them and be inspired.

Its emotional stuff!