Trails With My Mum
Standfirst: My best running lessons are from my dementia affected Mum
Hill reps for Mum … setting the pace 2021
As runners, the ability to set new challenges is for many of us at the core of why running is fun, engaging, addictive and so our chosen sport for life. With performance measurement being objectively able to be gauged with immediacy through the truth of distance and time combining to give us a mirror to our realities as runners, these metrics until recently have been my preferred measure to assess my running status.
Conventional Performance Wisdom:
As an avid runner for 40 years, old habits have certainly formed. And as a dedicated runner with an interest in coaching, competition and the habits of the best, I’ve actively sought to educate my running efforts broadly. The antique copy of Training with Percy Cerruty (coach of John Landy and Herb Elliot) that I found in the locked antique cabinet of a book shop in country Victoria, Australia is my prized possession that holds star residency status in my modest library of running books.
In my education on running history and best practice, I’ve also studied the Arthur Liddiard (coach of Peter Snell) and Franz Stampfl (coach of Chris Chataway, Chris Brasher and for a period Roger Bannister) histories, reviewing their coaching philosophies more than a sane person would. The efforts of the Nike Oregon Project, the Melbourne Track Club and of late, the Indian Track Club have been other notable information sources of running wisdom. I’ve also followed the Instagram feed of local luminaries such a Mok Ying Ren and Soh Rui Yong, and during the recent Tokyo Olympics, the accounts of McSewyn, Ingebrigtsen, Muir and Kipchoge. Over 4 decades, I have continually looked for then overturned hidden stones to seek knowledge, insight and inspiration on running, but the best learning I note can still come from new and unexpected sources.
Approaching the Bell Lap:
Since Q1 of 2020, my pandemic impacted running has continued but with new perspectives that have given me what I‘ve not found elsewhere in conventional run-coaching literature. As the winter season carer in Australia for my advancing Alzheimer’s suffering 84-year-old mother, my solo running has been my early morning elixir. Being able to ply familiar routes from decades ago has been great for introspection as those familiar routes whisper then shout how far my abilities have eroded when I’m game enough to check my stopwatch.
However, my greatest pleasure has been the learning that has been gifted to me through the time I have spent with Mum on old and especially new trails near her Sydney home where my earliest neighbourhood running memories belong. As a newcomer to trails, mum’s enthusiasm, stoicism and willingness to explore her limits has been an unexpected masterclass.
New Beginnings… every trail is an opportunity.
Digging Deeper:
Much of the running world’s advice and literature encompasses a focus on improvement and being faster, stronger, and reaching higher goals. Introducing and accompanying Mum on some of my trail running tracks has been a source of pure joy for us both. Whilst I’ve always enjoyed time with her in the nearby local park, an undiscovered trail has never previously been on the radar for us. Life’s other many challenges, a career and family always presented demands over the decades that made our occasions together time poor and defaulting to established routines. Previous training and knowledge from running experiences was conventional and required a stopwatch.
Whilst her pace in life has slowed compared to her prime years, her willingness to be challenged and desire to explore her wanderlust for navigating to the next bend or crest is revitalising for me. Her pleasure in taking on the natural puzzle of a rough trail whilst in familiar company puts her at peace with nature and her present condition.
Agile Goalsetting:
Mum’s sense of adventure has always been there; of not wanting to turn back and taking on those many [unexpected] challenges that have been thrown her way. Had she been a track runner, the steeplechase would clearly have been her event.
As we both slow, it’s the times together that embolden us and serve as further foundation work. And whilst it may not be speed work, it is just as beneficial, for those sessions on each new trail section strengthens our collective focus, our concentration on footplant and ever more gratefully, our enjoyment in each other’s company whilst we log priceless kilometres together.
The Bell-Lap:
So, whilst I still do those trails and road sessions with my old-faithful training partners, it’s this new source of foundation work with Mum that I look most forward to of late. Whilst my performance metrics may constantly be recalibrated (lower), my trail sessions with Mum have redefined my perception of what limits I may set for myself. Given how I now more clearly understand what she has navigated to get to the present and the verve she on occasion can still radiate is precious knowledge.
As her bell lap approaches, I marvel at the reserves of energy that she musters at each new hurdle. Whilst other parts of the day are increasingly peppered with fatigue, uncertainty, memory loss and delirium, her foundation work has clearly been done and it is not just her that reaps the rewards.
Resources on Dementia and Exercise:
1. “It is generally accepted that physical activities can be beneficial for the physical, emotional and cognitive domains of people of all ages. Structured exercises usually involve training in the domains of strength, balance, flexibility and endurance. Recent meta-analyses180–181 suggest that structured physical exercises can be helpful in improving physical parameters such as functional mobility, endurance, balance and strength in persons with dementia.” Dementia — MOH Clinical Practice Guidelines (2013) Pg 53 https://dementia.org.sg/
2. https://peterattiamd.com/laurenmillerrogen-richardisaacson/ (@ 58 minute: “How exercise reduces Alzheimer’s disease risk, and the different risk between males and females”). Dr Peter Attia’s blog is a comprehensive resource on ageing and longevity. https://peterattiamd.com/category/aging/
3. Alty J, Farrow M, Lawler K. Exercise and dementia prevention. Pract Neurol. 2020 May;20(3):234–240. doi: 10.1136/practneurol-2019–002335. Epub 2020 Jan 21. PMID: 31964800. Abstract extract: “Exercise has emerged as a key intervention for influencing cognition positively, including reducing the risk of age-related cognitive decline and dementia. This article focuses on the current evidence for physical inactivity as a modifiable dementia risk factor and aims to support neurologists when discussing risk reduction.”
Acknowledgement: This article was first published in RUN Singapore magazine in the October/November 2021 edition.
