From non-movers to elite runners. Our founder and medical director knows running from all possible angles, from elite runner, to medical director of some popular races, to race administrator to a runner recovering from injuries.
Below are articles on running that have come in either Mint newspaper or other places that might be of interest to you.
GO-YA (Get Off Your Arse) 10 week Half Marathon Program for non-runners to new runners
The idea is to enable you to run, and enjoy it, and even attempt the half-marathon in good shape. One thing most people get wrong when they pick up running is that they want to run to get fit. But if you’ve spent most of your adult life being sedentary, you actually need to be fit first to run. Here’s how to get fitter, and improve your mileage.
MON, AUG 20 2012. 03 50 PM IST
From the couch to the track: Week 0 to week 4
Why is it difficult to begin running on a daily basis? Why is it harder to sustain it? There is no doubt that starting and sticking to a physical routine is getting harder and harder. And the more time you spend being sedentary, the more difficult it becomes to start an exercise routine.
TUE, SEP 04 2012. 09 29 PM IST
Go ahead, step up the tempo: Week 5 to week 8
By now you would be covering distances that just a month ago you thought were impossible. Time to go even beyond infinity.
TUE, SEP 18 2012. 01 40 PM IST
The final mile: Week 9 and week 10
Maintenance, rest and relaxation should be your focus less than two weeks from race day.
Tips for the week before the race
MON, JAN 10 2011. 08 24 PM IST
Prep-up for the run
Week before the race...
MON, OCT 26 2009. 08 55 PM IST
Countdown: 12 hours to the race
If you haven’t been training, it is too late to start now, so wait until next year (and make sure you start on time).
“Before I knew it, for once in my life, I was helping lead a boom, in road running.” Smith, while he headed the running club Runners are Smilers, now called Self-Transcendence, made his races some of the simplest and best in the UK.
MON, JAN 09 2012. 08 06 PM IST
The thinking runner
As a runner, you too need to become smart and analytical, not just a strong person bulldozing through tracks. You need to visualize every possible scenario and take decisions accordingly. And for different situations, you should have different plans in place. I want you all to be more aware as runners; for this, you need to be able to listen to your body.
MON, JAN 02 2012. 09 16 PM IST
The strength of a runner
To do justice to running, other than technique there should be a fine balance between stability, flexibility and strength—muscular endurance and power.
MON, DEC 26 2011. 09 23 PM IST
Every breath you take
Do you get breathless very soon after you start running? Other than starting off too quick, without warming up properly or pacing yourself, the commonest reason would be that you aren’t breathing correctly while running.
MON, DEC 19 2011. 07 22 PM IST
Running is not a numbers game
Way too much emphasis is given to numbers, whether it be for time, distance, speed, pace or other things in life, like money and weight. We simply forget that “it’s the journey, not the destination” that actually matters. Enjoy the journey, the destination is bound to come.
MON, DEC 12 2011. 09 32 PM IST
The power of discouragement
Last week, news items on a study, with headlines such as “Marathon training ‘may pose a heart risk’”, shook the world of sports, and running in particular. One news item, for instance, said “doing extreme endurance exercise, like training for a marathon, can damage the heart, research reveals.”
MON, NOV 14 2011. 10 12 PM IST
It’s all in the mind
While doing high-intensity aerobic exercises, do we really know what our physical limits are? Do we stop or quit way too soon? Is this applicable for every person who goes out there to exercise but is in the habit of quitting early just because he or she believes that their body is capable of much less than it actually is?
MON, JUL 18 2011. 09 59 PM IST
Assess, don’t guess
When an individual exercises with the intention of improving physical fitness, he or she should be pushing the body beyond its comfort zone. It is only then that physiological adaptations take place in the body...
MON, MAR 21 2011. 08 40 PM IST
The middle path
It was almost 2,500 years ago that Gautam Buddha spoke about the “middle path” in the very first teaching that he delivered after enlightenment. Roughly 200 years later, Aristotle spoke of the “golden mean” as the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency.
MON, APR 18 2011. 09 48 PM IST
Pushing the comfort zone
To be able to keep your body active, one set routine over a prolonged period is just not enough. Arthur Newton, a legendary long-distance runner, felt very strongly about this: “You never stay put at any stage; either you advance or slip back.”
MON, AUG 30 2010. 08 46 PM IST
Running in the city
The Commonwealth Games (CWG) could have been used as a platform to change the sporting culture not only of Delhi, but of India. But we have wasted this opportunity and reduced the event to a blame game. As a country we should focus on spreading a culture of fitness and sports, instead of just hoping for a medal at the Olympics.
MON, DEC 07 2009. 10 23 PM IST
Running into the flu
Respiratory viral infections, ranging from the common cold to the more serious flu (influenza), are very common in the cooler months, beginning in October and peaking in December-January. This is an annual trend, but the emergence of the swine flu has made it a bigger cause for concern.
More to be added soon...
