How I Went From Being a Walking Person to Becoming a Runner
Don’t be afraid of running
I was, what most of you would call the typical 9–5 work kind of guy (to be fair, 11–8 would be more accurate). The only runs I used to get were the 5-minute ones on the gym treadmill, after which I used to head straight for weight training. Since as long as I can remember, I have always trodden the fine line between what you may call a healthy body and an obese one. In other words, I have thought of myself as a fat person and have spent the last 18 years eating, feeling guilty, and then working out to lose some of this guilt. So you can imagine, running or any physical activity for that matter, was never done by me out of pure fun. Losing weight or prepping myself before gouging on extra calories was always the purpose of these workouts.
The Covid-19 lockdown changed all of the above.
The lockdown effect
When the Government first declared phase 1 of the lockdown, the first thought that came to my mind was, of course, the business side. Our company was sure to lose money, pay our staff to sit idle, and worst of all we had no clue how long the lockdown would be. Everything was (and still is) very uncertain. Next, I was going to be confined at home for the next month or so. A while back after completing my first long run, I realised I had it in me to call myself a runner. It was the day I ran 20 minutes straight for the very first time. So I thought to myself, this lockdown could be an excellent opportunity for me to see if I can continue my running streak. To take a few dates with running and see if I could develop a relationship with it.
And oh my goodness, I sure as hell was not disappointed. The runs felt great. Truly wonderful. Also, it felt kind of nice to be doing something useful and meaningful with my time, the other option was sitting on the couch, or worse sleeping.
Runs make you ‘more present’
Humans, like other animals, are made to move. Getting stuck up in work and social media, we seem to have forgotten this very fact.
Running is an excellent way to be out of your mind and into the body.
During the day, the mind often flies off to different challenges, situations, and thoughts, so is the case while running, but with less focus time. While running, since the body is already in motion and the blood is pumping, the body and mind are occupied elsewhere and the tendency to be stuck or be obsessive about a single thought is less.
Thus, drawing parallels from mindful meditation here, running has allowed me to look at situations from a different perspective. It has allowed me to be more present — taking one stride after another, working on my breath and form.
Re-discover yourself
The moment you realise your body has the potential to run for long periods, you will start to feel different about yourself. Soon you begin to see yourself in a different light. Revealing to yourself how extraordinary you are, by achieving something that you thought you could never do.
You are lifting the curtains to your true self.
In my opinion, this is something everyone should experience.
A moment of re-discovery. Your re-discovery.
Cardiovascular fitness
It is my personal experience after running for a short span of 3 months; my cardiovascular fitness has most definitely improved.
When you run the following happens in our body:
- The efficiency with which the body utilises oxygen to generate energy increases drastically by regular running.
- Running, it increases the number of mitochondria in our muscles that are responsible for generating energy. What this means is that for the same amount of oxygen from the blood, our body now produces more power.
- Along with mitochondria, running also increases the number of capillaries in our muscles. Capillaries are the tiny vessels that carry blood to and from muscles. They are in charge of delivering oxygen and nutrients to the muscle tissues.
- Thus, our heart needs to pump less blood and therefore the heart rate remains more stable.
- As a result, our endurance increases, and you can run longer and faster.
In a sedentary lifestyle, the body is not in the habit of physical movement and hence it ‘forgets’ how to use the oxygen that we take inside our lungs. Running is an excellent way of reminding our body that oxygen is a precious resource and needs to be used efficiently.
The graph below indicates how the heart rate varies with exercise in trained and untrained people.
An effective way you can keep track of your cardiovascular fitness is VO2 max.
VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen the body can utilise during exercise. The unit for measurement of Vo2 max is mL/kg/min, meaning it measures the millilitre of oxygen consumed for every kilogram of body weight per minute.
A good VO2 max for a 25-year-old male should be in between 42.5 and 46.4 mL/kg/min and for a 25-year-old female in between 33 and 36.9 mL/kg/min.
Some gyms and health clinics offer VO2 max testing. Also, most health wrist bands and smartwatches today can measure it.
Talking from personal experience, my VO2 max before running was less 39. Now it is almost 41. Not a significant improvement, but it is an improvement nonetheless.
How to ensure you run regularly?
Set your intention for it. Why do you want to run? What do you aim to gain by it? Before beginning any activity, it is good to ask yourself these questions.
When the intention to run is firm, it is easier to get back to it, especially on days when we feel lazy. Remind yourself why you started running in the first place. It is time more people understand that running can sometimes be better and dare I say a more natural alternative to walking.
As a child, we rarely walked and were always running from one place to another. It is time we bring part of this child back inside of us.
