Running vs. zombies
Running from zombies is a popular sport all over the world as per some of the famous documentaries made on this subject: Resident evil, Zombieland, Dawn of the dead.
Apparently, running from ‘running’ is equally appealing.
Not to quote the exact statistics, but judging by the number of people I know who have joined a gym to run and hardly ever stepped a foot inside is convincing enough. The dropout rates are higher than SEAL team BUDS.
‘Studies’ have shown that buying a $50 Nike shorts and putting them on is much easier than sweating in them. While spending that money is supposedly the way to fitness, the destination turns out to be the couch with the thumb firmly hitting the Netflix shortcut button — where it is heart warming to see Tom Cruise run his brains out.
This is not a motivational piece — These are the points of discussion I have with my own brain fighting the breathlessness during each of my run for the past 10 years. Some are conclusions, some are work-in-progress but mostly everything is bummed down to my own layman understanding of general fitness.
General fitness, as I have come to understand is an expression of the ability of the lungs and the blood to carry oxygen to the muscles, and the muscles’ ability to use the oxygen to generate energy.
A real run represents that exactly and nothing else compares — hence our first topic.
Running Vs. walking
Ever seen that show, ‘The walking dead’ — I have not but that title hits the nail on its head — (just like one has to do to the zombies)
“I burned 300 calories today” because “I ran for 20 minutes @ 6.2 km/h”
“I burned 300 calories today” because “ I walked for 2 hours @ 1 km/h”
Apples and oranges may still be comparable based on their roundness but walking does not replace running.
Walking and listening to life changing podcasts can fool you into thinking you are burning enough calories but one year down the line when you get blood tested, it would be full of toxins that you thought were magically evaporating — according to the podcast.
It is about making your heart rate go up and breathing in gallons of air — the combination of which burns the bad stuff in your body.
No brisk walking, no backwards walking, no airplane mode walking — none of the walking works. You have to run and be breathless and feel your heart jumping out of your throat.
Running Vs. biking
A person of 70kg running for 30 minutes at a speed of 10km/h burns more calories than if they rode a bike at a speed of 20km/h.
Also it is easier to keep running for 30 straight minutes. Riding a bike, you must typically stop at red lights, or slow down on curves or for traffic.
It is not all bad though. While running prevents decalcification of the bones, it does not add any muscle. Cycling on the other hand, increases the mass of front and hind thigh muscles due to pedal resistance.
Time is money and biking is slightly more expensive in that respect. Choose wisely.
Running Vs. Tennis
Tennis is playing chess — moves and countermoves — and that sounded more like the hunger games but we get the idea. It is my favorite sport to play and that is another medium article, but while it keeps you sharp and entertained, I am not too sure about how far can one go to burn the right calories.
Running on the other hand is like being on the checkout at a grocery shop. It is repeating the same steps over and over again while trying to reign in your heart and lungs. That is a blessing in some ways and not in some other ways.
It is boring but according to more ‘studies’, the best ideas come to you when your brain is on default mode. Therefore, running makes you think of the weirdest things and while sometimes you are like frank-the-tank in marriage therapy, other times you get creative and start thinking of topics to write on medium.
Running Vs. running
Falling in love is not the only thing hard on the knees.
Running on an inappropriate surface can ruin your knees at the wrong time and at the wrong age. There is also no remedy to it, medical or spiritual.
Once the cartilage that cushions your joints is worn out, there is no way to recover it. Running on certain surfaces increases the chance of that happening and while your heart may remain in its best shape, your logistics is impacted heavily.
Dos
Do run on a treadmill — the best option
Do run on a running track — artificial or a flat natural hiking track
Do run with the right shoes
Donts
Do not run on concrete sidewalks — they are all mostly concrete and they also have ramps which go up and down — not good.
Do not prefer to run on the roads either — they are still hard surfaces but also in most places, they are slightly at an angle to drain the water or snow. This makes your left and right legs/feet work at different angles and over prolonged periods can cause serious issues.
Running Vs. quantity Vs. quality?
I once met a stranger at a bar (or imagine a long flight) and we got to chatting — at some point he told me about his passion and experience with triathlons. I was clearly shy of telling him about my 30 minutes of fame on the treadmill every day but on his insisting, I blurted it out in complete honesty.
To my surprise, as a bona fide expert in running, swimming and biking (altogether), he highly appreciated and fully acknowledged my running regime.
“30 minutes, that is like 3.5 miles I guess — that is perfect! But how many times?”
“Ahh, umm, 3 times a week . . .?”, came out as my weak question rather than a reply wondering if it was anywhere close to being worth it.
I realized two things that evening.
One, Remember to set realistic goals and seek consistency instead of racing your heart to oblivion and giving up completely. He was clearly more interested in how many times I was repeating this impossible feat than how long and hard I was doing it.
Two, Running 3 miles (5 kilometers) is usually the sweet spot and is also perfectly boastful to friends, colleagues and complete strangers at a bar.
Alternatively, set a time target instead of the mileage — depending on everyone’s mindset, one works better than the other and we should choose what best suits us.
Running Vs. Batman
Yes it is all about fighting fear.
There was a time I was trying to push myself to the next level — Starting with 10 minutes, I was up to 40 eventually.
Then I noticed myself avoiding the run altogether — I felt as if I was in it to win something rather than to enjoy the exercise. With winning comes the fear of losing as well — That is when I realized, it was not in my own interest to up the level and it was going to lead to no running at all sooner or later.
Dropping it back to 30 minutes suddenly made it feel like a normal part of my daily routine, rather than competing for the Olympics.
Do not let the Batman in — that guy never runs — only takes an elevator to the highest building or a mobile (no, not a cellphone) to his next face off.
Running Vs. Simon Sinek
Do it for our own apple watch, not for sharing it on social media
Do not be a one hit wonder
Its a relationship — Do your part and the gym will come half way
Its a relationship — It will take time to build and maintain it
Do not blow money on it — it is neither a car nor an iPhone which are both legitimate reasons for losing your life savings
Learning to crawl before walking and walking before running is for babies — you have been there and done that.
Just run.
