Infinite Ideas - Instant Running: Tips and Techniques to Get You Moving

Instant running

Tips and techniques to get you moving

Infinite Ideas with Simon Poynter

Running groups

Its always easier to accomplish a goal if you have someone to help you through it, be it a supportive friend or someone with similar goals to you. It stands to reason, therefore, that running with a partner or group can help keep you motivated. A quick internet search will reveal hundreds of websites of all sizes dedicated to running and creating a sense of community and team spirit. These range from the largest, such as www.runnersworld.com , the gender-specific, such as www.running4women.com , through to the online diaries and tools such as www.runningintheusa.com . These are sites built to help motivate you on your goals. Many have forums buzzing with members giving advice, tips, inspirational stories and much more. If you sign up to these sites, which is easy and almost always free, some let you plan for events in your local area, if you feel you want to get a bit more involved. You may also be able to join or even arrange a local running group. Not only is there a psychological benefit to running with other people, but it can be useful to use your running companions as pace-setters, preventing you sub-consciously speeding up or slowing down and wasting energy (depending on how your pace-setter is running of course!).

Music

A lot of people associate running with music, and quite rightly: theres no doubting that the right song can really get you motivated. Its important to know what to listen to and when though; too many motivating songs and you could speed up without realizing it, tiring yourself out. On the flip side, switch Leonard Cohen on and you might find that you grind to a halt hes a great songwriter but his music will hardly give you the boost youre looking for. The only way to make sure youre in control of the motivational music is to make a playlist specifically for running, perhaps starting off with some slower tracks for the warm up and building up to faster music for mid-run matching the beat to your pace. Dont forget to bear in mind the safety issues: if youre running near traffic then your music needs to be quiet enough that you can still hear approaching cars, bikes and other pedestrians.

How to make health and fitness work for you

Heres an example of how to stay healthy while being busy, by Alexander Mills-Mullett, a writer whos been there and done it:

Balancing work and maintaining a good fitness level can be difficult if you dont set aside adequate time for a regular routine and stick to it. I find it best to do these sessions in the morning as I find when it comes to the evening, I can be too tired. It also means Im free to complete any work I have, setting me up for the rest of the day, giving me an energy boost and a positive attitude. This in turn helps me to complete my work promptly and successfully, as I am then more relaxed and there is no guilt about my exercising. Setting aside time to cook a healthy meal doesnt have to be difficult. Preparing the ingredients of meals well in advance of cooking can be extremely helpful in making sure I do not choose a convenient ready meal over something more nutritionally beneficial. I tend to cook my meals in bulk, making enough food to last several days. I then freeze it to have later on in the week. This has been essential in freeing up my time. If youre willing to set aside time several days of the week, balancing work and health can be a simple feat that everyone can achieve.

Why nutrition is important

Good nutrition will help you achieve your goals faster. Almost everyone in the fitness industry would agree that achieving a positive change in health is 70% about getting your diet right. This still leaves 30% for exercise so dont think youre off the hook that easily, but a good, balanced diet is paramount to seeing the results youre looking for otherwise all youre doing is slowing your own progress. That doesnt necessarily mean you have to cut down the amount you eat, and you may well end up eating more, just more good stuff! If youre finding progress slow, a simple change of diet could be all you need: what you eat before and after a run is of primary importance. If youre running on an empty stomach, or not eating properly afterwards, then its the same effect as driving your car without fuel youre not going to get very far.

Carbohydrates

The food type youre probably most familiar with is carbohydrates. To understand how to make carbs work for you, all you need to know is this: to get its energy, the human body converts food into glucose, a sugar that is transported in the bloodstream. Carbohydrates can be converted into glucose more readily than proteins or fats, making them the best source of energy. They come in two types: complex and simple. Complex carbohydrates are also known as starches, and are naturally occurring in wholegrain bread, rice or pasta, oats, nuts, root vegetables and yams (and plenty of others). Refined starches can be found in white bread, rice or pasta. Simple carbohydrates are also called sugars. Natural sugars are found in fruit and vegetables, while refined examples are found in (you know whats coming) cakes, chocolate, jellies, soft drinks and sweets. Eating too many carbohydrates, regardless of the type, will lead to weight gain. If you take in more carbs than you use up in energy, the excess glucose is turned into glycogen, which is then turned into fat. When your body needs this extra energy, it converts it back into glucose (burning it off).

More carbohydrates

To work out the right amount of carbs to take in you need to understand more about how the body breaks down food. The longer food takes to break down, the slower, more stable (and generally better) the energy release of the food. Luckily, theres a scale for how quickly it does this, called the Glycaemic Index (GI). The higher the number, the quicker its broken down. A high-GI food (such as refined sugar, which rates a whopping 100 on this scale) will give a quick energy boost, but will inevitably lead to a crash a sudden drop in energy as the food will have burned itself out in your system. Low-GI foods, such as wholewheat spaghetti (GI rating 37) will break down slowly, giving a more sustained energy release. This is not only preferable for sustained performance during exercise, but will make you feel fuller for longer. Some diets recommend severely limiting your intake of carbs, or even cutting them out entirely, so nothing is converted into fat. This is a bad idea: not only will both your mind and body be robbed of energy, but you will begin to break down muscle for energy instead. This is bad at any time, let alone when youre training.