Jogging

[retrofuturist]

Greetings all,'

I was interested in starting a discussion topic on jogging.

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to jogging. I've never really jogged before, and any attempts to jog as a teenager seem to have resulted in me being swiftly out of breath and struggling to complete a single lap. However, over the last few days I've started giving it a go again, and have pleasantly surprised myself with how I've gone.

Yesterday's 11.8 km run (7.33 miles), combined with how my knees feel today, have prompted me to actually get some running shoes. Arguably that's probably something I should have done before deciding to run that far! As I said - noob.

Being a noob, I'm keen to get any general or specific advice that anyone here has picked up in the art of jogging, so that I can do it properly and not stuff myself up in the process - so feel free to share!



Metta,
Retro.

[santa100]

Great job on yesterday run Retro. Jogging is a wonderful exercise that doesn't really cost anything except a decent pair or running shoes. No need for gym membership fee and you can do it wherever and whenever you want. A few safety points I'd like to share:
1. Fuel: Gotta make sure the engine gets some fuel before starting. Do not overload. It'll vary depending on body size and metabolism, but for me, half a bagel and a banana would do the job.
2. Warm up: very very important that you do enough stretching before AND after your run.
3. Intensity: when you can talk with ease when running, then you're not running fast enough; if you can't talk at all and constantly gasping for air, then that's not jogging, that's running.
4. Length: distance is not really as important as time length. Each session should be about 45 min to 1 hr. But start out light if you've never jogged before or just restart after a long break. Always listen to your body. THat's the most important thing.
5. Frequency: don't do it everyday or else eventually your knees are gonna have to pay. Do it every other day or every 2 days. The bare minimum is 1hr and 30 minutes a week which is very doable right..
6. Posture: keep your view level and your back straight and slightly lean forward. Land with the middle of the foot. Swinging arms should not cross over the body's center line. (Refer to this link for more details: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osDO_a1vYHc )

Happy jogging!!....

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Santa,

Jogging is a wonderful exercise that doesn't really cost anything except a decent pair or running shoes. No need for gym membership fee and you can do it wherever and whenever you want.

Yep, that's part of the appeal.

What sort of stretches in particular would you recommend?

I look forward to watching the Youtube clip as I know there's something I'm not quite doing right... I would often get a "pins and needles" sensation in my hands and need to shake them out.

Metta,
Retro.

[santa100]

Like the one on this link would be good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmBp05_DMrQ

About that weird feeling from your hand, try not to squeeze the hand into a tight fist. Keep it relax and remember not to swing it from side to side (not to cut across your body's center line)..

[retrofuturist]

Cheers Santa.

I'll be sure to check those out and see what I can put into practice on Thursday evening.



Metta,
Retro.

[daverupa]

There's a book called The Stark Reality of Stretching, by Dr. Steven D. Stark (!), which contains the best lower-body stretches and explanations I've yet come across. I recommend it for any exercise regimen, but especially running.

The human form evolved to cool itself and its big brain while persistence hunting, so go for distance instead of speed and you should pick up a natural rhythm. As much as possible, run on hills and other terrain, rather than tracks. Look into trail running.

Stay loose.

Have more water.

[Mal]

Does the Buddha recommend jogging? Why not walk? I jogged/ran for twenty years and stopped when my knees became quite painful most days. One colleague who didn't stop had a knee replacement, another a hip replacement. So I have great doubts about it being a wonderful exercise! These days my exercise is walking to the shops and back, which (just) gives me the minimum needed to keep fit, according to UK NHS guidelines. If you *must* jog, I'd start very slowly, barely above walking pace for 10 minutes three times a week, and build up to Santa's minimum - 30min three times a week, over three months. If knees or hips hurt, don't run through it: as an alternative walk, or if even that hurts cycle or swim. In meditation novices are often told to ignore pain from adopting the half lotus, DO NOT APPLY THAT ADVICE TO JOGGING. The pain from stretching in the half lotus is not the same as the impact pain from jogging, where you are actually wearing down the joint.

[Sambojjhanga]

Greetings all,'

I was interested in starting a discussion topic on jogging.

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to jogging. I've never really jogged before, and any attempts to jog as a teenager seem to have resulted in me being swiftly out of breath and struggling to complete a single lap. However, over the last few days I've started giving it a go again, and have pleasantly surprised myself with how I've gone.

Yesterday's 11.8 km run (7.33 miles), combined with how my knees feel today, have prompted me to actually get some running shoes. Arguably that's probably something I should have done before deciding to run that far! As I said - noob.

Being a noob, I'm keen to get any general or specific advice that anyone here has picked up in the art of jogging, so that I can do it properly and not stuff myself up in the process - so feel free to share!



Metta,
Retro.

Congratulations and welcome to a wonderful sport/activity!

My basic advice is give your body a chance to adapt. I started running at age 40 a little over 10 years ago and could barely run around the block. In that time, I've completed runs up to 100 miles. Your body can adapt to anything...given time to recover.

Eat well, get plenty of rest, drink water. Lots of great resources online. Your cardiovascular system adapts fastest, followed by muscles, joints and tendons, followed by the bones and endocrine system.

Much metta to you, friend, and welcome to a great sport!

[santa100]

Some motivation for all of us:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlpcpo ... record_fun

Longer lifespan and a healthy body allow more time for Dhamma cultivation and helping others. It's a win-win..

[David N. Snyder]

Excellent! Glad to hear you are running/jogging, retro. It is a great sport / fitness. Over 7 miles is long for someone new to this activity!

The health benefits are great and there is the possibility of longevity -- due to "saving" heart beats with a more efficient heart:

http://www.stairclimbingsport.com/weigh ... longevity/

[jonno]

Hi, fitness fanatics. I jogged about 4miles 5days a week, also ran a few half marathons, attended gym twice a week for many years. Even though I followed all the rules re warm ups ,correct running shoes , etc. I now find at age 65, My hip is painful due to wear and tear caused by those many miles pounding the roads. I now practice tai chit which I find extremely beneficial and less taxing on my ageing frame. I also find that besides the physical benefits that it has become more like a moving meditation which helps my practice no end . Just be careful guys and gals and don't overdo it, remember the"middle way" and practice moderation. Love Jonno

[daverupa]

It's a worthwhile warning to consider. Anecdotes of ruined body parts lie at the end of many running careers.

Taiqi, other waidan qigong, yoga - these are some great choices for healthy life pursuits, and require no gear besides...

[Ben]

Retro,

I don't recommend jogging - the health benefits aren't worth the damage running does to one's body.
I can't run anymore as a result of damage to my knees.
You've got a great olympic swimming pool close to where you live and I recommend that you investigate lane swimming.
I've always found it to be quite a contemplative experience and is an excellent low-impact exercise.
kind regards,

Ben

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Ben,

Swimming doesn't float my boat ~ but then, I'd have said the same thing about jogging a week or two ago, so who knows what could happen.

If there was swimming to be had, it would only be at the beach (because I don't much like the stink of chlorine), and therefore only a Summer-time thing - which, incidentally, it nearly is.

Metta,
Retro.

[Reductor]

People commonly over extend their leg while running, thus landing on their heel. This directs the majority of impact force up the bones, through the knee, and into the hip, forcing those joints to absorb that force. This is what causes them harm. Rather the stride should be short, so that upon impact the knees are slightly bent. This allows the muscles of the body to absorb the impact force, rather than bones. This way the joints are not over worked and worn out.

Legs/Stride While sprinters need to lift their knees high to achieve maximum leg power, distance runners don't need such an exaggerated knee lift--it's simply too hard to sustain for any length of time. Instead, efficient endurance running requires just a slight knee lift, a quick leg turnover, and a short stride. Together, these will facilitate fluid forward movement instead of diverting (and wasting) energy. When running with the proper stride length, your feet should land directly underneath your body. As your foot strikes the ground, your knee should be slightly flexed so that it can bend naturally on impact. If your lower leg (below the knee) extends out in front of your body, your stride is too long.

http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/perfect-form

[kazarata]

Hi!
Im jogging for a while now and can tell you that this is one of most wonderful thing I ever do Sadly its really hard to start running without any help, I was running out of motivation at the beginning. I help myself with runners applications on smartphones. I try some of them and can said that they can give a lot of fun. Now im running with streetquest and I can easily recommend it, you have achievements and quests there which make running really entertaining
Peace and keep running.

[Alobha]

1. Walk slowly for 1 minute after every 10 minutes of Running. It brings down your heartbeatrate and gives your body the chance to have more time running with a lower heartbeatrate - which is great for building up stamina according to my jogging book. (I do so, too and I guess it works. It makes jogging more enjoyable, too, because you can see how far you get until the next "minibreak")
2. Don't eat anything two hours before you start jogging. When the body is really busy with processing food, it's not the best time to go jogging.
3. If you enjoy running for a while, consider also taking an mp3 player (music or dhammatalks or audio books) with you. There are also heartbeat-monitors which count stuff like average heartbeatrate in a session, burned kcal, burned kcal total (since you started running).. depending on who you ask, people tell it's better to run with an average heartbeatrate. I guess the body is less likely to get injured when one doesn't put 120% energy into running. However, it's nice to have some of those little statistics with the heartbeatmonitor to be able to see how long the session was. And if you get to the point that you notice you have burned 2.000, 5.000, 10.000 or 40.000kcal by jogging since you started - well that is an awesome motivator, too.

I don't recommend jogging - the health benefits aren't worth the damage running does to one's body.
I can't run anymore as a result of damage to my knees.

One should get running shoes and probably insoles if the knees or other parts of the legs hurt after and during training. People develop wrong leg and feet postures all throughout their life, not just from running.

Personally, after I got an injure from too much jogging, too, i'm now shifting to just 20 minutes every 2 days with the option to go jogging for up to 30minutes every 2 days when I feel that 20 minutes isn't cutting it anymore.
The likelihood to get an injure is of course connected with knowing or not knowing the limits of the body. That's why I hesitate to recommend walking 5-6 times a week or more than 25 km peer week (the exact amount surely depends on one's personal condition). And that's how at least I got my injury

Best wishes,
Alobha

PS: Try orchestral music while running like "Two steps from Hell" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4Y_qI-1 ... re=related ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASj81daun5Q). It's both hilarious and epic to go joggin with this music!

[danieLion]

That's cool Retro.
Knees and back won't allow me to jog but I would othwerwise. I try and rotate power walking, spinning, basketball, hiking and the elliptical (community gyms here are cheap and outdoors georgious when it's not raining--and even when it is). Helps keep the qi/energy/circulation throughout the legs, feet, butt and hips. Also keeps the monotony down. I'm with you on swimming: very time consuming and chlorine's icky (toxic IMO). The pain relief consistent aerobics bring me far outweighs the temporary pains I have to endure and keeps my overall pain levels down about half of what they were when I was too sedentary/not aerobic enough.

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

I just wanted to touch base to let you know I'm still jogging, and in fact have signed up for my first ever fun run later this month. It's a local one, and I'm doing the full 10km.

(As an aside, I've also started cycling now that I have a bike)

Metta,
Retro.

[philosopher]

I used to love running until I injured my knees. Running is wonderful cardiovascular exercise but very hard on the joints. Be mindful of your body, do plenty of correct stretching, run on forgiving surfaces (packed even dirt is ideal), increase your intensity and distance very slowly. I wish I'd been more heedful; I could perhaps still be running today.

Enjoy!


philo