Midnight Maggi

I know I shouldn't but hunger always strikes me after my run.

I ran or perhaps today I should call it a fast walk.  I decided to burn more calories by going fat burning mode rather than doing high cardio running.  At first I ran, pretty fast I must admit, I covered 5 kms in 35 minutes, thanks to Madonna blaring the 4 Minutes track in my ear.  I had downloaded a few tracks by Madonna including Remixes of that song that went on for 25 minutes altogether.  So I didn't feel exhausted much.  My heart starts to slow down, even at a higher pace run, my heart beats at a steady 171 beats per second, usually it goes up to 182 beats per second.  I take this as a sign that I've gain a fitness level.

Enough about my running, today, my body took it's toll, after my run yesterday, I find myself waking up to a still exhausted body.  It doesn't ache or anything, but it was really difficult to wake up.  I told my roommate/shift supervisor that I need to extend my rest.  And he said "Go ahead boss, it's okay, if anything comes up, can I wake you up?"  I told him, "Sure, but I won't be sleeping, I'm just resting here".  He agreed and went his way with his crew.  

I wanted to wake up for lunch.  I suppose I need to have lunch for my run.  I have been avoiding lunch during my run, and I suppose my exhaustion was the cause of low food intake and high burning calories exercise.  But I never miss having hi-tea.  I need to watch my weight too, running takes a lot from your body.  And carrying a big mass of yourself for 10 kms is fair enough but double that, you need to loose more weight, which includes your muscle mass.  That is why we always see marathon runners skinny as stick.  Technique is also important.  I remembered reading an article about running in a marathon.  Basically for that whole duration you need to pace yourself and doing things correctly in order to avoid injury.  The run itself requires your body to move in a way which is less painful and efficiently.

If you find yourself hurting because you have run a mile or two, it is most like that the technique is wrong.   First and foremost, we need to know what shoe to use.  Either you're a supinators (like me), neutral or pronator.  I have written this before in my blog.  Tried looking for it, but I can't find it.  So anyway, there are certain movement of the body that you are require to do when you run.  But most of the time, people think the way I run is a little girlish or funny.  Basically these is my advice to you guys and gals who wish to run and perhaps you might actually feel the difference.  But to disclaim myself, I am no professional runner, I'm thinking this based on what I remembered from that article.  Please do not entirely use this method, please consult a professional.

Okay, running involves the whole body, correct?  So the movement, will be from head to toe.

• Firstly your head, don't look down, you foot will always be attached to your body.  Look forward and anticipate any obstacle along your way, look ahead.  If say you're running on a treadmill, stop looking at the dial, look forward or better still look slightly up.  Why is this so? The logical thinking behind this is to reduce as much resistance to your breathing,  keep you air path clear by looking straight ahead.  Looking down or bending your neck makes it harder for you to breath.
• Breath.  Wheeze and puff as much as you want.  When we run, especially when the route is packed with runners, we tend to control our wheezing and puffing, because other people might think we're not fit enough.  Forget them!  Reason behind this is basically, you need more air to burn your energy.  Who cares about your wheezing, you need it.  Like it or not, just puff and wheeze as much as you like.  Running is about you.  Not about what other people thinks.
• Listen.  For your footsteps.  Try as much as you can to reduce the sound of your footstep.  Logic behind this is, the harder or louder your footstep, the harder the impact on your knees, hips and foot.  So try listen to it, as much as possible to reduce it.  It will be awkward at first.  Try this, always ensure that you always land with your heels, how do you do this, well, try keeping you forefoot pointed up when you land your foot on the ground.
• Say Ahhhh...  Open your mouth or at least loosen your jaw.  Breath with your mouth, and nose.  Remember when you watch professional runners at track and field?  The replays on slow-mo with their face looks all dislocated.  Their mouth seems to move from side to side?  It's the same thing.  Opening your mouth, increases oxygen to be delivered to your lungs.  Also it makes your body loosen up a little.  And more oxygen will means less lactic acid developing in your muscle.
• Sway.  Okay, perhaps, so far,  it is a little too much for you.  I still haven't gone to the body parts yet.  If you want to run faster, just sway your shoulder and arms.  Loosen your shoulder, just sway it, don't run like a tough Frankenstein.  Just let it go, just release it and sway.  Your body will react with your footsteps, your stride will be longer, and you will run faster.  Just swing it to a larger degree angle, just sway it.  You will notice improvement.  And the rest of your body will follow naturally.
• Unclench.  Your fingers.  Don't close it or grab it.  Let your palm relax.  Do what ever you want with your fingers, but don't make a fist.  This helps your body to be less tense.
• An open chest.  No, I'm not saying you run topless.  But feel the air getting in your chest.  Open it up.  Take as much air as you want.  If possible, pull or force air into it.  We only use about three quarters capacity of our lungs everyday.  There's a quarter unused alveoli in your lungs, expand them, use them.  How do you do this?  Just breath in normally, but before your exhale, take same more, gasp some more air into your lungs.  Then you exhale.  More air in your lungs gives your more energy by supplying more oxygen into your blood.  And as a result you significantly reduce lactic acid in your muscle which cause numbness or soreness in your muscle.
• Pull your torso.  In par with the swinging action of your arms and shoulders, you will realise that your torso will be twisted.  Your stomach muscles will feel like it will pull the corners diagonally.  Your chest will move from left to right, whilst the lower part of the body or hips will move right to left.  Point in doing this, is to workout your torso section of your body.  Also if you have a gut, release them, let them bounce, as long as you pull your torso.  Letting go of your gut will relax your lungs, encouraging it to pull more air.  Don't be embarrassed, let other people see them bounce.  The whole point of doing this run is for you to loose it.  We'll see who will have the last laugh.

Okay, I'm not done yet, but I have written quite a lot.  And my fingers have gone tired on me.  I will continue this on another post.  Besides. I'm quite tired myself.  Besides, I am not sure if anybody is reading it up to this point.  I suppose, I've already bore you.  Ironically, I started off by not talking about my run.  Silly me.  I hope these tips helps you to run safely and efficiently.  Running is not that bad.  Uh, before I forgot, if anybody is well endowed with body mass.  Running slowly helps.  Just take care of your knees.  Running can be quite a high impact on big people.  Just be careful when running, my best tip for big body mass runners, is to listen to your knees and the sound of your shoe.  Try your best to not make a sound when you run, and use a really good cushioned shoes.

Alrighty then...  I think I better go off now and leave it for now to that.  Until then, happy people, take care, be safe, play safe and Adios!