Among runners, you are bound to find some who enjoy the breeze of an early morning run, some who love the upbeat warmth of an afternoon run and some who simply cannot resist the allure of night running. The time of the day does have minor effects on our running. Let's take this analogy: Suppose you are back in your high school days, do you remember yourself working best at revision in the day or night? There is a high probability that you are more efficient at a certain period of the day. Similarly, you can expect a similar trend for running.

Dpending on our living habits, different periods of the day appeal to different extents to our running desire. For the early risers, the body readily welcomes morning runs. For the night owls, the body might prefer revving up to run only after sundown.

This is understandable. Running is a form of physical activity and it requires considerable will and energy to garner the willingness to kick-start and finish a session each time. For this very reason, runners often need to acclimatise their bodies to the actual race timeframe while preparing for a race.

When training, it is good to try out many different time slots of the day, within permitable limits of your free time. You may find that you run easier and faster during a certain period of the day. Try to find that optimal moment, during which you are mostly energized and well rested enough to train best.

Over time, your mind also varies in its ability to stay focused and relaxed. Through trial and error, it is possible to find that period when your body can perfect its training like clockwork.

When you've discovered your optimal training period, that is when you can capitalise on it and train for faster runs more efficiently.

You hear it on radio, you've seen it on tv, you've bought some from the supermart. Anti-oxidants. What makes them so good ... especially for runners?

The answer lies in what is produced by the body when a person exercises.

Under normal circumstance of aerobic exercise, the body takes in oxygen for cellular respiration. In this process, the oxygen is utilised in a series of reactions to release energy. The oxygen loses electrons and forms a tiny little devil known as free radical. Free radicals can attack cells in our body. They are known to be contributing factors to ageing, cancer, cell death, heart disease, Alzheimers' disease and a string of other conditions.

Under training conditions of an avid runner (amateur or professional alike), the body undergoes higher amounts of cellular respiration. Thus, larger quantities of free radicals are being produced, that can cause potentially more harm to the body. This is exacerbated long periods of intensive endurance training, like months of regular long distance running.

Having said all that, all is not lost. A group of substances called anti-oxidants, is known to combat free radicals. The body is naturally equipped to produce anti-oxidant enzymes (a kind of specific protein molecule), which in turn eliminates the free radicals from the body. Apart from the enzymes from the body, there are also external sources of anti-oxidants available (in food). Anti-oxidants are substances like vitamin A (beta carotene), vitamin C, vitamin E, ubiquinol, lipoic acid and uric acid. These can be obtained from the diet, mostly from fruits and vegetables.

There are 2 schools of thought when it comes to taking anti-oxidants from food. 1 school of thought is that our body is highly efficient, and would quickly adjust to adapt to increased amounts of free radicals due to exercsie. The body would generate more enzymes to eliminate the higher amounts of free radicals. Another school of thought is that there is a threshold that the body is able to handle when it comes to free radicals. Under prolonged exercise, the amount of free radicals generated may be too much for the body to handle well. Hence, additional sources of anti-oxidant from food is useful.

Anti-oxidants are known for extensive health benefits, including anti-ageing. It has been suggested (albeit without official evidence) that the high levels of free radicals produced during the trainings of endurance athletes (like runners) actually stimulates the body to produce more of these anti-oxidants, resulting in endurance athletes staying "younger". Ensuring a healthy dosage of anti-oxidants in your diet thus not only aids in recovery from trainings, it also helps to keep yourself in the pink of health.

Running is such a simple sport. Just wear light, comfortable attire and grab your running shoes ... and off u go running. It is truely one of the sports that requires least amount of gear. Simplicity is convenience. Because it is almost hassle-free, it is very important for u to make sure that your only gear is in right shape to support your running.

A run can range from a leisurely jog of a few hundred metres to a longer run of a few kilometres. During these runs, your feet makes hundreds and thousands of steps. Each step made sends the impact directly up your legs. This impact increases with increased speed and distance. To minimise the potential damage that may result over time, an appropriate pair of shoes should be selected for your run.

The basic step to knowing which shoes to buy is knowing your own feet. There are 3 basic kinds of foot: Low arch feet, normal arch feet, high arch feet. The diagrams below show the back view and side view of each kind of feet.

You can do a simple test to ascertain the kind of arch your feet has. Wet your both feet and make 2 wet footprints by standing upright on a large piece of cardboard paper. Look at the footprint of yours. Which of the footprints below does yours resemble?

Low arch
A low arch feet is actually a condition known as flat foot. When you run, the sole of your feet tend to "roll inwards" excessively so that almost the whole feet is flatly compressed on the ground. This kind of feet with "rolling inwards" is also termed as overpronated. This might cause problems for the legs over time and needs to be controlled.

Normal arch
A normal arch is what most people would have, with slightly arched feet. This is the neutral / ideal feet that runners would like.

High arch
A high arch feet has a characteristic area of the sole not touching the ground when walking. This condition is called supinated. Supinated feet tend to be underpronated, meaning it does not really roll in.

Based on the kind of condition of your feet, you should then look for shoes that are best suited to support your arch and absorb the impact you are prone to receive.

Check out the upcoming article where we will feature more on shoe selection based on your feet type!

Runners are concerned with 2 objectives in the course of running, one is completion of the run, two is the speed of the run. For the leisurely runner, completion would be something to aim for and speed is a bonus. For amateur runners, u might want to push for a little more to achieve a decent timing for your runs. For the professional runners, u would pursue your personal best timing religiously through tough trainings.

My personal recommendation for improving the speed of runs would be to train using 'fart leks' (speed play in Swedish). Proven effective and popular amongst sports, fart lek has its origins in sweden in the 1930s. The basic aim of fart lek is to increase the body's fitness in both aerobic (endurance, long duration) and anaerobic (speed work, short spurts) capacities. Contrary to conventional trainings, which tend to be continuous, fart lek is discontinuous. There are breaks between high intensity short sessions. For this reason, fart lek is sometimes known as interval training too.

A typical fart lek session lasts a minimum of 45 minutes. In each workout, the intensity and speed of the run is varied between full effort to little effort, interspersed with breaks. Here's a model guide for u on a possible fart lek regime u can begin with.

Aerobic Segment (basic endurance built-up)

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1) 5 to 10 minutes slow warm up jog

2) 1km to 3km constant, challenging fast pace (distance depends on your fitness)

3) 5 minutes of recovery brisk walk

Anaerobic Segment (Speedwork)

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4) Sets of 50m sprints inserted into an easy running pace. Continue the sets until about 70% fatigue

5) 1 minute of recovery brisk walk

6) Easy running, with occasional 10 seconds of increased pace

7) Full speed uphill for 100 to 200 m. Repeat until 80% fatigue

8) 1 minute of recovery brisk walk

9) Repeat from step (1) again until desired fatigue level / duration of training is reached

As u can see, fart lek is fully customisable to individual fitness levels. This is advantageous for u because u start at a comfortable pace and progress from there. The entire training is broken into aerobic and anaerobic segments. The 2 segments when completed, form your endurance training as well, especially when u repeat the steps again a 2nd or 3rd time.

For your own safety and the effectiveness of your training, do not push beyond your normal acceptable levels of fatigue. Feel free to stop or even shorten the intervals if you are panting more than usual. Ultimately, if u stick with the training, u will eventually be able to do it comfortably after 6 to 8 weeks of conditioning.

Runners not used to fart leks might find themselves aching more than usual after the first session. U might even find it hard to complete one full cycle of 8 steps that i recommend. Its your body's way of telling u, "hey, i need more time to recover from those lactic acid in my muscles!" My advice is, listen to your body and rest for a few days. U will come back stronger, only if u get ample rest. Fart lek is not instant elixir for speed. Focus on acclimatising to the pace of training and u will be conditioned to run a better timing gradually.

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Just as training is crucial for good performance in any sport, recovery is also pivotal to guarantee sustainable levels of optimal performance.

A few trustable wise practices can be your dependable aide to improving your body's recovery.

First on the list is stretching. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of stretching as an integral part of training in any physical exercise. After intense contraction during activity, muscles are left in an excited and tight state, which causes exhaustion and the pain sometimes experienced. To help recovery of the muscles, stretching them would assist in bringing the muscles back to a stretched and relaxed stage and is more favorable for speedy recovery.

Ice bath is a way to cool the excessive heat from those overworked muscles. Soaking the affected area for 5 to 10 minutes can do wonders for instant gratification from training by easing tensed and throbbing muscle tissues. For easier application, you can apply an ice pack to specific areas like the calf, quadriceps, hamstrings or joints. Ice pack application can be longer up to 15 or 20 minutes.

An alternative is to employ a hot/cold contrast bath. This takes effect by immersing the affected area of your body in hot water for 2 minutes, then switching to cold water for 2 minutes. This cycle is repeated for at least 3 times to encourage muscle relaxation.

For those who are willing to spend more money and time, a visit to a sport medicine centre would be a bonus. A sports massage there can soothe the specific muscles and provide added boost to the recovery process. With the professional attention, you can also ensure that specific joints are not strained from inappropriate stretching. Increasingly, amateur athletes would probably go for sports massage after a major race, as part of recuperative theraphy (and a reward as well!).

Of course we do not neglect the importance of healing from within. The intake of plenty of fluids and balanced nutrition is crucial after trainings / races. Typically, consumption of water and fluids must be sufficient beyond the point of thirst within 30 minutes of the end of your exercise. Subsequently, you should try to drink at least 250ml every hour until your urine is colourless (as opposed to yellow). In terms of nutrition, you should maintain adequate complex carbohydrates intake (e.g. staples like pasta, rice, noodles, bread, cereals, potatoes etc) within 2h post-race/training. This is because our body requires energy to remove the lactic acid built up during intense exercise, which causes muscular fatigue. The body also needs a steady intake of these carbohydrates to replenish the glycogen stores used up during your training. Be sure to maintain a balanced and healthy diet as your body needs all the nutrients it can get to come back stronger!

Sufficient rest and sleep is vital. With all the previous steps done, all the body needs now is to put those into work when you sleep. Many of the recovery still happens when you sleep. Worn out cells are repaired. New cells are produced. Metabolites are regenerated. Wastes and toxins generated during exercise are removed. Levels of body substances are returned to the optimal levels.

Do you have the habit of stretching and warming up before you run? How often do you cool down and stretch your muscles again after your workout? Much as runners know about the importance of proper stretching, many of them are reluctant (or plain lazy) to begin a routine of thorough stretching of their muscles. I confess that when i start off in my younger days, i also did not value the importance of proper warm up stretches.

Stretching, if done correctly and adequately, is a good preventive measure that helps your body warm up for your training, improve mobility and avoid injury.

The focus is on completeness of each stretch. No matter which body part being stretched, you should maintain the posture for a minimum period of time to achieve the desired effects. Typically, keeping to 20 seconds is a bare minimum. For parts that are prone to greater usage and intensity of exercise, more time should be spent. My personal habit is to keep each stretch to at least 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Sometimes people have the myth of 'pain is better'. A good stretch should make you feel that particular muscle group being brought to tension gradually. The emphasis is on controlled motion. A sudden jerk, a forceful stretch or sharp pain are things to avoid. Remember, stretching exercises are meant to improve performance and reduce injury, so don't kill yourself doing it.

Many of the high intensity and high impact sports (like soccer, basketball, rugby) often carry the highest casualty numbers. The fact is simple. The sudden increase in speeds and change in directions during these sports necessitates the body to be at its tip-top form. Players who are too anxious to jump into the game(literally, for some) often neglect this stage of stretching and end themselves in unnecessary injuries and discomfort.

Stretching must always cater to the specific muscles and joints that will be used during the exercise. Like uncooked dry sphaghetti, a cold and unstretched muscle is more prone to "snap" or resist smooth motion. Conversely, like cooked sphaghetti, a well-stretched and warmed-up muscle will be more fluid and flexible for motion.

Even on rest days, you can do a simple stretching routine to keep those joints and muscles of yours nimble and flexible. This is especially beneficial as you taper towards your race date. As training progressively lighten, you need to sustain the body's conditioning. Stretching well regularly during the weeks prior to the race will provide that added finnese to your readiness and post-race recovery.





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