What's The BIG Idea?
By Sally Young
Yo-sal@cox.net
RUN LIKE AN ERITREAN
Majority of the world-class runners are from the Rift Valley province of eastern Africa: Kenya, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. To see them run is like watching poetry in motion. Their feet, as silent as cat paws, barely kiss the ground. Long, open strides, upward of six feet, are the norm. They cross the finish line at long distance running events, smiling, waving, andbarely breaking a sweat. How do they do it?
It begins with a distinctive environmental background. Nearly all of these athletes ran to school every day, often a roundtrip of 20 kilometers, and at a high altitude. Studies have shown that African children who run to school have a 30 percent higher VO2max than those who do not.
If their victories lie in genetic gifts, it’s their small body size and thin lower legs. Most of the men are in the range of 5’6” and 125 pounds; women are generally 5’3” or less, and weigh 100 pounds. It’s not unusual for runners to be 20 to 30 pounds underweight by American standards.
Community support is unmatched. Eritrean Olympic medalist Zersenay Tadesse became a national hero, greeted by fans and a parade, as a helicopter scattered congratulatory leaflets.
WHERE THE ELITE MEET
We learn by watching others and modeling what we admire. To run better, carefully observe the running form of those who lead the pack.
Idiosyncrasies aside, the elite and nationally ranked runners have
eliminated wasteful motions that get in the way of meeting at the podium.
An “elite” man must be able to run 26.2 miles in 2:15 or
less; women, 2:40. “National” allows 2:22 for men; 2:48 for women. They are
the experts.
Stride rates for these runners are upward of 185 steps per minute, but optimal stride comes with experience. The important metric of running lies in keeping the upper body relaxed.
Front-runners maintain an upright position - head over shoulders over hips - with a slight forward lean. Their arms are bent at hip level with minimal rotation of the upper body. Hands are gracefully loose, and there is a slight bounce to the jaw.
If you react to discomfort by clenching your hands, it’ll spread to your shoulders, neck, jaw, and squint up your eyes. Try taking a Lamaze style breath: breathe in deep through your nose and out through your mouth. It’ll straighten your posture, relax your upper body, and redirect your energy toward forward motion.
LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF ENDORPHINS
“Runner's high” has been popularized as “a feeling of euphoria” - but lets get real. Sometimes, long distance runners simply reach a pleasant plateau of rhythm and effort, of good karma. Having “an out of body experience,” or otherwise leaving the plane of reality, is better called “runner’s psychosis”.
Because running is a form of stress, specific parts of the brain becomes awash with cell messengers that dull the anxiety and discomfort of the moment so we can keep going. These are endorphins, so named because of their chemical and functional similarity to morphine. Our collective brain also produces another stress-reducing chemical, endocannabinoid anandamide, a word derived from its affect on mood, “bliss”. When we stop running, we are in a surplus of mood enhancing chemicals, a rewarding feeling indeed.
Interestingly, we also produce endorphins when we eat omething we like,
especially chocolate. In addition to stimulating ndogenous endorphins,
chocolate is an outside source of nandamide, acting on the same areas
of
receptors as the brain-made ones. Better yet, chocolate contains two
chemicals, N-oleoylethanolamine and N-linoleoylethanolamine, which delay
anandamide’s breakdown and prolongs the "bliss".
Would chocolate before exercising enable us to feel the inflection point of pleasure sooner? Would we run more?
The Aerobic Chocolate Experiment (ACE)
In this experiment, we want to see if we can transfer the satisfying, hedonic pleasures of eating high quality chocolate over to our next aerobic workout, making it a better-than-usual exercise.
Here’s how:
§ Be chocolate-free and exercise as normal for a week prior, being aware of how you feel.
§ Choose whatever chocolate you want and as much as you want, and eat it as close to your workout time as possible.
§ Engage in a workout that will sustain uncomfortable stress for at least a few minutes. This can be running, using cardio-machinery, aerobics class, weight lifting – you get the general idea.
§ Feel different? If you'd like to share your results, please let me know (yo-sal@cox.net). This can only be fun.
The Top Five Chocolate Brands as listed by Consumer Reports
(If you’ve never tried these brands, now’s a good time. Anything
for
science, right?)
* Lindt
* Green & Black
* Dove
* Endangered Species
* Hershey's Cacao Reserve
WARNING
Chocolate has been known to be addictive and cause carvings. You may also experience a condition called "moreishness", defined by the Journal of Public Heath as "a desire for more” - a committee-designed word, for sure.