Playing is training and improvement, even when you are a grown up!

Play: Kids do it naturally.

Learning, rehearsing, trying things out. It is not messing about or leisure, it is developmental. But we stop doing it (many of us anyway). As we grow society tells us that play is for little kids. When we go to school our days are increasingly regimented into sitting and learning what we are told. We are told that we need to sit and listen to succeed in the world, but we aren't given a choice (unless we are really disruptive!).

The current model of success means getting a job. That's it, there aren't other options. When my daughter was 10 I got a parents' survey from her school in which one of the questions was something like "are we doing enough to prepare your child for the world of work?" I was outraged. I ignored the 1 to 5 scale of agreement and replied tersely that I hoped not at all, because she'd have plenty of time for that when she was older.

So, in our society the rot seems to set in early. But I'm excited and optimistic now, as it seems that the importance of play is finally being recognised, even if only in a niche part of the fitness world. Among the functional and natural movement experts the role of play as purposive, self-motivating, sometimes socially oriented and deliberative practice is now increasingly being recognised and factored into programming. But its not hard to do with a little imagination.

When I say "play" I'm not talking about organised sports, following rules and standards for performance and entering competitions to prove mastery. I'm taking about taking opportunities to do things because they are fun in and of themselves. Play is important on occasion as it allows expression and development of skill, often in complex settings and typically with goals and purpose, even if only loosely so.


Play can be very, serious, though. Airsoft and paintballing, for example are about playing or simulating tactical warfare, though with a significantly reduced risk of death. The 'games' and the reality both involve strategy, planning and movement - all components of physical and mental play.


Play in a fitness context takes training into flexible and fun, but purpose-focused activity. I recently met up with some friends for a Sunday walk and picnic on Hampstead Heath. The picnic just happened to be in the sun, next to a great climbing tree. So for around three hours we chatted, climbed the tree, jumped from branch to branch, as well as scampering around on all fours and practicing precision jumps on some nearby steps or forward rolls. We were messing about, there was no pressure, no competitive challenges, just time to scramble around and do what you wanted. 

If you find yourself struggling to motivate yourself to do another strength or conditioning workout then a playful training session may be the ideal antidote. You can make it as easy or hard as you want and can mix it up in any way you want. Nearly anything active can count if your goals are learning, development, fitness and skill. Play is flexible practice.

Movement is essential and fundamental to human life and this can be seen in the fact that sedentary lifestyle is associated with lower cognitive skills. Its a true story, I know because I read it in a book ;-) 

Last week I joined a gymnastics club and learned how to cartwheel. Not sure what functional purpose that might have, but it was a hell of a lot of fun, and that's what I'm talking about.

Why I do what I do - Sustainable Fitness

So, building on my last post, this one sets out my philosophy for staying fit and in good health. These are quite different not synonyms, as I will explain. As I said last time though, I'm following a path of gradual improvement. I carefully deleted the word 'continual' there as I do like a pie and and sit down, too. We're only human and backsliding can be so character building. 

Marks of a good run - mud, punctures, scratch

My approach to fitness is the scenic route to success (via some brambles, see right). What I want to share is a philosophy of fitness and health that fuses a stoic approach to tackling challenges with an epicurean attitude to enjoyment. People criticise New Age religion for picking and choosing from whatever bits of established beliefs suit someone's ideas. So what? This is my new age fitness approach, drawing on what works and what I like. It is determined yet easy-going, driven yet relaxed. These might seem paradoxical or conflicting principles, but they are not. There is a long and illustrious history to complementary principles, reflected best in the Taoist yin-yang; light and dark, hard and soft, constantly flowing and merging according to the occasion.

Good sustainable fitness can be built on a few key principles. These are my principles, but they are repeated or endorsed in various ways, words and emphases by nearly all of the people I cited in my last blog post - read here if you are interested.

Strength and endurance are normal - Being healthy and fit shouldn't be seen as something special that you have to make time for; 

• Having good quality kit is good, but you can do effective strength work in jeans and a shirt without breaking into a sweat. I'm not sure that looking sharp is quite as important as being consistent and skilled - remember, "all the gear and no idea" is an insult, not a complement (though it is nice to look good).
• Regularity and consistency is more important than occasional maximal effort - Little and often will see strength and conditioning gains without significant bulking. In fact, it is really hard to bulk up to comic book proportions, and it typically involves supplementation and diet control. These things do work but they are not natural. Its all about values and goals. I'd rather be unassumingly naturally awesome than have to make an effort.
• Leave useful stuff lying around
• Leave weights, heavy things and kit accessible for the odd passing whim.
• Make it convenient to lift something heavy or hang from a beam or rings as you move about your daily life.
• Reject labour saving opportunities.
• Carry your shopping.
• Use the stairs (all seven flights of them).
• Remember, if something is saving you effort it is robbing you of ability.
• Work to success (stop before failure). As soon as capability drops off (weakness, attention span, etc), stop until next time.
• Concentrate on quality of movement control.
• Do some movements deliberately slowly with pauses. This is not only providing isometric training but developing neuro-motor control and allows you to tell where you lose control (the wobbly, juddery, vague bits where you lose fine control).
• Stop when you feel you are losing good control. Not only will this leave you feeling fresher, your muscle memory will store control rather than desperation. Psychologically you'll know that you can, not reinforce that you can't yet.

Live the life - Make doing the do part of your self-identity;

• It worked for Kung Fu Panda, why can't it work for you?
• Make being physically capable part of who you are, not just something you do.
• You can create your own life story, make sure it includes being capable. There is a whole psychology of self-talk, but this is more than just being nice to yourself. Confidence and positivity are trainable. As with physical skills, the more you work on them the easier and better they become. Why let others dictate how you view yourself?
• As well as benefiting attitude, focus and concentration during action, your overall self-talk will affect your ability to perform physically  - are you certain you can, or do you think you might not? It matters, and regular practice - physical and mental - makes the difference.

Variety in all things - Aim for balance and harmony, dude; 

• Don't work hard every session. Just don't. 
• Listen to your body, not your head - if you are tired, not feeling it, or feel ill/ injured, go easy or skip it. Just as silence is required between sounds in music, rest is required between actions in life.
• When you do feel good, work hard, push yourself, take no prisoners. It'll leave you feeling great.

Physical fitness isn't health (told you I'd come back to it) - Never forget good food (not fast food, processed food or horrible food), rest and enjoyment.

Health and fitness are not the same thing, but sustainable fitness is built upon a healthy body. While often used interchangeably, fitness refers to the capability to carry out a task while health reflects the efficient and effective operation of the body's processes (physical and mental). 

Even if you are not aiming to be the next champion of the world you still need to have one or more motives. If you have no reason you will not keep with it. Enjoyment seems to be a good reward if standing over the bodies of your slain is looking less of an option.

I think that is enough. It looks as if I'm at risk of writing a top X things of successful wotsits, and that isn't my goal. No lists or instructions, just some principles and a philosophy. I'm going for a run now, it will have dirt, trees, logs and smiling. You are all invited. 

Personal Reflections - My Movement Practice

There are many, many, movement and fitness options available today, many of which are focused on maximal gain and maximal efficiency. Many (though not all, be careful out there) are backed by sound evidence and experience. That's OK, but I don't aim to add to that world of expertise. I like to think that there are other approaches to great fitness and health than the shortest. The strongest, fastest and most skilled in any human endeavor have got there through commitment and practice. It takes time. Most of us don't have that level of time and commitment, and many people want to be just fit enough - sufficiently capable but not challenging the elite, or even the serious. There is a place to be fit and healthy without attempting to bust anything.

Don't misunderstand, please. I'm not suggesting that good quality and targeted services for strength and conditioning are unnecessary. I'm recognising that there is also a more relaxed way to achieve some of the same goals - over a longer period and sustainably. It is legitimate to build any ability or skill slowly and with leisure. So you don't get maximal benefit per unit cost? Fair point, and if aerobic capacity and/or force expression are your main metrics for success then there are many effective options available. For people who don't like the idea of a hard workout (go figure!) there are still ways to say in shape beyond walking a couple of flights of stairs and denying yourself the last cake (what!). That doesn't mean I encourage not working enough, but there is a line that is all too easy to cross and it can alienate people who would like to get fitter rather than fittest.

So, my philosophy could be summarised as;

Idle fitness - roll with it, the quality of the journey is the point.

Some days you want to push, some days you don't. And that is OK. In 'born to run' Christopher McDougal describes advice he was given that to run well you need to run;

Easy, then light, then smooth. If you get all that right, fast comes too.

Well, if it works for running (and it does) there is no reason that the same principles cannot work for anything with a bit of adaptation. 

That does not mean that effort is unimportant; of course it is. At the right time, in the right way, its essential to see improvement. But if general fitness, health and enjoyment are your goals you don't really have to periodise and optimise to maximise if you don't want to. Of course you can, if you want the fastest immediate improvement, but you don't have to. If the process of getting fit isn't enjoyable are you sure that you will keep with it? What if you feel shattered and its a maximal session scheduled and you just can't face it? 

Is your approach;

Do, or do not. There is no try.

Or would you prefer;

Do something, anything, practice a weakness, roll with it?

No one likes a whinger, Yoda may have had a point with Luke, but seriously, if you aren't Special Forces you don't have to train as if you were (unless you do want to be ;-) ).

I spent over ten years as an academic before turning my hand to public administration and management. I know how to fly a desk. Gradually over my thirties I spent less time doing the exercise that I really loved and more time pretending that I was ambitious and that I wanted to be as senior and well paid (and important) as possible. Should have been a different person really, it didn't come together like that. After some time I realised that while I cared deeply about the quality of my work I also cared about the quality of my family and my friends. The latter didn't pay me money, but I valued what they gave me (and still give) equally (but differently). Trying to balance the need to be seen to work all the time with actually seeing family and friends I gradually squeezed the fitness out of my life. Roll on a decade and you would meet a genetically thin man with stick arms and legs and a cute little pot belly. I didn't feel good.  

Since around 2007, when I reached 40 years of age, I have gradually been trying to become more active again. I've blogged on and off since then (more often off than on, admittedly).  

On the way to my first "pop-up"

This blog series started in 2009 and reflects that I like to be active for myself and dabble with things that appeal to me - capable of many things, excelling above everyone in none. I've seen fitness experts and personal trainers who trot out impressive accolades to stress their prowess and intimate knowledge of skilled performance - world titles, European records, school badges - before describing how teaching other people is the only thing that they exist for. That isn't me. I know some stuff. I like working out with like minded people; pushing my limits, learning, competing, messing about and relaxing with trusted friends. 

I looked back over some of the things I've written and it looked like a cross between eulogising my latest interests (barefoot running is better for your gait) and trying to distill some of the reading I'd done to spread the word (or some words anyway). But none of that seemed to really make much difference (if anyone even found it). If you really want a good read, go the the sources themselves. Here is a list of people who's published work I've been inspired by;

Frank Forencinch, Prof John Noakes, Christopher McDougal, Phil Maffetone, Scott Jurek, Kelly Starret, John Brown Jr, Tom Hodgkinson, Mercedes Pollmeier, Todd Hargrove, Stu Mittleman, Joe Hyams, Laurence Gonzales, Katy Bowman, Dan Edwardes ... You get the idea. These are the people I can think of off the top of my head without checking my bookshelf or kindle. Then there are people like Rafe Kelly, Ben Medder and Erwan le Corre who share their passions and interests on the internet (as well as in real life!). There are sites like BreakingMuscle that act as a repository of all things fitness knowledge, and many others. We truly live in an information age. A lot of these people seem to practice what they talk about.

So, rather than just pushing and summarising other people's information I thought that I'd use this blog more personally, to reflect on my journey so far; where I've come from, what I am doing and where I may go. Firstly though, I wanted to share how excited I am to have completed my MovNat level 2 training certification. So now I'm a psychologist and social researcher  with a training qualification for movement fitness!

I've spent quite a while thinking about how to apply the principles and techniques that I've been taught, how to make interesting training sessions, how to make a business. I started off setting it all out on paper, generating ideas, writing them down, creating plans, hating their rubbishness. But then I had a better idea.

I went for a run. Not just any run though, an assault run, or adventure run. Instead of running around obstacles and following the trails I deliberately launched into the surroundings to exploit the opportunities to challenge my physical skills, vaulting fallen tree trunks and fences, climbing trees and jumping between branches, crawling under and through bushes, doing pull ups on branches, then swinging and jumping off them again. It was a blast and I saw my local environment in a new way. Not only in the sense that there are more things you can interact with than we normally do, but that from different angles I literally saw things in a different way.

So that, combined with my bad attitude to work for working's sake, has become the guts of my training philosophy; its got to be fun, or worthwhile, preferably both, in and of itself. Otherwise what's the point (apart from making you fit by accident)? Of course looking buff and shedding pounds are important and valid goals, but if you don't need to achieve it by yesterday then why rush it? If you get shredded in six months, or whatever awesome rate of progress you are assured, what happens when you reach your goals? Or if you don't reach your goals - is that a problem? 

I went to see a PT and was hyper-competitive about my progress - was I gaining as much as most people? Am I lifting as much as most people? Am I as fast as most people? Turns out the answer to all of those questions was no. But by taking a relaxed approach, doing just the things I fancied, making movement part of my journey to work, I have kept up the momentum for several years now. I'm a couple of years shy of 50 and I feel stronger and leaner than I did in my 20's, and am not stopping any time soon. Who's in for the long-haul?

Components of capability

There are several things that you should think about when you want to get fit. One of the first is "fit for what?" If you want to be fit for sport then the route is fairly straight-forward - you train by doing the sport, or drills and conditioning for it. This is specific training.

But what if your goals are more wide ranging? What if you just want to be healthy and strong enough to cope with whatever life throws at you? In this case you need to have unspecialised, or generalised, training. For General Physical Preparedness (GPP) you are aiming to have a full range of functional capability - to move (walk, run, sprint), balance, lift, carry, throw, swim, possibly fight - call it self-defense. The idea here is a range, and wide balance, of conditioning.

There are plenty of places that will tell you what exercises you should be doing - go to a gym, get an app, read a book, download a program. There is information on exercise schedules, with and without equipment, everywhere you look (within reason - not so much in our kitchen, for example). 

All the focus tends to be on the exercises, but do you want to do exercises? Not everyone does. For some people "exercise" is a thing that is off-putting in and of itself. There is a growing recognition of the importance of this point. Not least because we've found, quite incredibly, that telling people that they ought to get fit doesn't generally lead to the change that the well meaning (or not so well meaning) expect their advice to have. 

If you want to get into good shape, there are several things that you will want to think about fitting into you schedule. These things will help you get fit with fun - is the picture to the left a bunch of fallen trees, or a promising looking playground? There's balancing, jumping, climbing and vaulting in that there jumble. 

But physical conditioning is only one of the things that you want to consider when you set out to transform yourself. You will also want to think about skills, mental focus and social interactions. The astute will recognise immediately that these factors are not necessarily independent (the less astute will say "whats astute?"). There are also different approaches you can take to gain confidence, skill, strength and conditioning - are you a 'novice' wanting guidance? Are you self-motivated but need challenges? Are you already in excellent shape but need pushing?

These are all important factors because being in shape shouldn't be thought of as something that you do to yourself if you can find the time. It should be a key component of the way that you live your life, just doing what you can do. Feeling good doesn't mean being an Olympian, it means that you are pushing your own boundaries, where ever they are. The more you do it, the further away those boundaries move.

Remember, your body is adapting ALL the time. Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands (SAID) isn't just a training concept - its a life concept. If you live between chairs and the sofa, you will be well adapted to being supported. The downside to this adaptation is that its not ideal for a body that you then want to move around as your muscles and bones will weaken. Your neuromuscular control will reduce, and there will be knock on effects throwing other elements of your body out of synch. But the remedy is simple, just use your own propulsion to achieve the things that you like doing. 

If you want my advice - follow the link below and start throwing some moves in the kitchen. 

Here's a bonus track because I like you. 

A new (old) fitness paradigm

So, I've been posting and blogging a bit about movement and I was taking to my brother in law and he said words along the lines of "whats that all about?" A fair question, and one he soon regretting asking because I only went and told him. I'm not inspired to move to just be fit and healthy. I can do that going running, or a circuits class at the gym. As long as I eat fewer pies than I sweat off I'm going to live forever, right?

No. 

For me movement brings having a great time into my favourite place - the outdoors - and adds that special motivation - it makes you awesome. Like a real life action hero. Watch some of the videos of people who really understand how their bodies work, and I bet you'll be watching people who are pretty incredible. There are loads of them, and that's the unspoken secret. It is easy to be awesome, but you do have to pay your dues putting the time in.

I heartily recommend that everyone reads Natural Born Heroes by Christopher McDougall. It's a story about wartime (WWII) high jinx interspersed with science stuff and personal experience. As with his previous book, Born to Run, its a cracking read, and quite inspirational. If you lack time, I have distilled the entire book down to four main lessons, but you don't get the overall narrative in this version, no plot spoilers here;

1.    Your whole body is connected through chains of connective tissue, and in reality you are one integrated unit not a set of components. Motion comes from coordinated movement not just muscle strength.

2.    When endurance running it is quite easy to burn fat rather than rely on carbs that you have to eat on the fly. The body stores thousands of (K)calories so there really is no need to refuel for events up to several hours. I know that this is true as I ran a 3:30 marathon with only a protein bar for breakfast and one sip of water at the mid-point. Nothing else.

3.    You may be effective at doing a thing, but you need skill to achieve movement efficiency and economy. Skill is a neuromuscular thing, not just a muscle thing.

4.    Our senses of hunger and thirst do work as effective warnings of need, the idea that they are too slow and too late is marketing lies.

Do what you do with diligence and don't try to cut corners and you'll suddenly find that you are more awesome than you thought.

Movement, knowledge and culture

May I recommend a crisp little tune to go with your blog reading today?, or maybe a heavier one if that isn't your taste.

I have always been active, it’s just the way I am, and the way that I was encouraged to be. As a child I was able to run around woodland with friends (it’s a generational thing – we may come back to that), and my parents encouraged me to participate in sports. When I was a kid I was in an athletics club (100 – 200m sprints – I considered 400m to be endurance running), a judo club and a fencing club (I wanted to learn kendo, to swipe people with a big stick, but discovered that European blades can be fun too). When I got all academic for exams my Dad advised me to stay active. He may not have realised it, but it’s his fault that I subsequently took up karate, circuit training, cycling, running (further than 400m) and a whole range of other things because I have a short attention span and like playing new games. I’m nearly 50 now (only 651 more sleeps) and I’m still active. In fact, I am more active and more clued up now than I was in my 30’s - stronger, leaner and more healthy, too.

So, with so many sports and activities to pursue, why is there a growing discourse about “movement”, and why aren’t people doing it for themselves already. Frank Forencinch is a progressive force in human health and activity, and he has kind of nailed the issue in a recent blog-post in the Paleo-Magazine. He argues, very compellingly to my mind, that the health and fitness industry is researching and debating the same points, which have already been made, and that the key issues lie within our culture rather than our knowledge of what to do about the rising ill-health and obesity problems. Forencinch is clear that we already know that exercise of various types is important for strength, flexibility and aerobic capacity. We also know that what you eat is crucial for health, energy and fat storage or loss. We know too that despite all this fine knowledge people eat garbage and sit on their backsides so much that for many the idea of being fitter is nothing more than something to think about tomorrow, or never.  

What creates the largest barrier to exercise for most people? Is it lack of knowledge, money or time? It looks suspiciously like it is our cultural norms that are the barrier. “When I feel like exercising I lie down until I feel better” goes the hilarious quotation often misattributed to Mark Twain. It is a real barrier though. In strength and conditioning training there is a principle with the acronym SAID: Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands. This means that your body adapts, brilliantly as it goes, to the challenges that you put it under. Most of us in the developed West live in a world where very little physical demands are ever imposed upon us. Consequently most of us are really quite weak. Sorry, but its true. You are adapted to the swivel chair, train, sofa, cake shop life that you live.

We have reduced physical activity to the realms of modern day "heroes" - the emergency services, military services and athletes. These people are 'other' than us and venerated through the media (until it comes to public spending, but that is a different story). Then there are the subcultures, the bodybuilders and gym rats who are pigeon-holed as being obsessives, not like us normal lazy folk. So, this is where the movement culture or movement is trying to come in.To show people that ordinary movement is important for all round body and mind health. Everyone can move, and it can be used to address problems and remove pain as well as developing skill and conditioning. The Silverproject has blogged on the growth of movement, and I think he's right - there is definitely a growth in awareness of movement. Lets hope it becomes a sustainable approach for the wider good that it is meant to be, and not this seasons fad to be abandoned with last year's minimalist shoes.

Why Move? Why Movement?

You could be forgiven if you thought that natural movement is just today's buzz words, like jazz-boxercise-kick-kettle-functional-boot camp. There's a dazzling array of gym and non-gym based exercises classes and styles, so just what the hell is so important and different about movement? Well, the simple answer is that it is generally aimed at all round fitness through - can you guess?

Through moving! 

Its that simple, and yet it isn't simple either. It hasn't really gone mainstream yet, but it is picking up followers. The appeal of movement is that it is so often about expression and attention, discipline and self-control (some say mindfulness but that term itself is become overworked). It's not competitive, its general rather than specialised, and while there are some amazing athletes out there pulling shapes to admire with awe, its really very accessible, and deliberately so. Because movement is a thing that everyone can do, it is part of our natural heritage, we just live in a culture that doesn't encourage being active for the sheer embodied enjoyment of it. Sports are acceptable, they are about competition, dominance and supremacy, we have the cultural patterns to support that. But, you want to climb a tree or jump a railing and vault a wall? And it's not a competition? What is the point of that?

Ido Portal is a leading exponent of movement, being strongly influenced by capoeira. I wasn't that fussed until I tried some of the things he does and now I'm a little more respectful. Have a look here. Closer to home, Dan Edwardes of Parkour Generations has got to be one of the most thoughtful voices and exponents of movement. His blog posts are always great, and the most recent about the importance of mind to good movement is spot on. I've mentioned Ben Medder before, he is based in London and is influenced and taught by pretty much anyone of significance in the movement movement. He'll teach you some stuff, I know that because he taught me a great deal at the recent MovNat certification courses he ran. He runs regular classes and has a great all round philosophy and calm manner. Check out his website here.

One of the approaches that inspires a lot of people who like crashing around in the great wide outdoors is MovNat, started up by Erwan Le Corre, a French man living in paradise. I'm sure to go on about about MovNat, because I think that it has a great deal going for it, and it captures a romantic idea of getting strong and fit in the natural environment, using real tasks and actions, ideally in group, for the purpose of being generally useful.

So, if the gym and organised sport is your idea of no fun, look out for a movement class; natural or parkour. They sound intimidating but from my experience you will be welcomed warmly and many of the people who do them will be pleased to share what they know to help you.

Natural Movement

As I age I am increasingly concerned that I don't move enough, that most of us don't move enough. There is a great story on the Onion, The Onion - Majority of Americans never use physical education satirising many people's attitude to their own physical condition. It is meant to be tongue in cheek, but reads to me as a sad indictment of our modern culture. The "convenience" of modern technology has freed us from all sorts of physical labour, but it hasn't actually freed us, and has meant that many of us have been freed from sufficient activity to maintain our own strength and conditioning. We don't notice because we have adapted to an environment that does not require us to move as much as we used to.

More seriously, research has recently shown how little modern children actually get out to play in nature: The Guardian - Concerns raised over amount of children not engaging with nature?. The article indicates that children of parents who value nature get out more. The downside is that urbanisation and cultural change means that ever fewer parents have the time and inclination to get out and show their children the way.

None of this will really be news to many people, but there is a growing range of options to address the potential crisis of engagement and health that activity in natural environments can bring. Ben Medder is a leading proponent of fitness through natural movement in London, with strong links to key groups and leaders in the field Rafe Kelly and MovNat.
I'll talk more about what you can do, and who else is important at the moment, but for now let me encourage you to get out and play. Through your play you will gain confidence and strength, and you will not even have to call it fitness or exercise if you don't want to.

I highly recommend that you watch this: Tree Runner
While listening to this: Tribal Tech House

Dartmoor Mountain Marathon July 2010

Last weekend I ran the Dartmoor Mountain Marathon, the event that I've been training for since January. Was it all worth it, I can't hear you asking from my desk? Yes it was I would reply if I had heard you. Over Winter and Spring it seemed like the date was never going to arrive and I managed to get enthusiastic and lose motivation in several cycles in the interim. I had planned on following a marathon schedule in training, but having run 17 miles off road barefoot (VFF anyway) several times without problems I didn't bother in the end.

Astonishingly, despite a number of niggles over the first few months of the year, I got to the end of July in the longest unbroken period of training without real injury for ages. I'm not sure if I was just lucky, or whether my crazy new technique of really listening to my body paid off. The tension between getting out for regular training (even when you don't fancy it) and listening when your body says "please lie down now" is a hard one to come to terms with, but I managed it.

I read an article about mega-sessions for body-building (somewhere on the internet, reference later if I can ever find it again). In this article the person in question, apparently a champion bodybuilder, would target a muscle group in one session, blast it in one heavy session and then do nothing more until the following week. The philosophy behind this approach being that strength and tone improvements happen after stress, and in response to it. Repeated stress before full recovery was not thought to help anything other than tiredness (I'm paraphrasing). This seemed intuitively logical and in tune with the 'listen to your body' ethos, so I thought I'd give it a go for my leg strength hill sessions. It seems to have worked really well and I can run clear up near 45% slopes that I had to walk only a few short months ago.

I've also been working on endurance too and this was (and still is) the killer. I could do the 17 mile run in just under 2.5 hours, and could make it back home OK if I took a small bottle of water and a sweetie or two for sugar recharge. I also took to training rides with my local cycle club, however, and they made me feel very mortal and insignificant again. The leg strength training was fine, and I could complete a ride using only the big ring for all but the steepest hills, but after a couple of hours in the saddle with the 'fast intermediate' crew I was totally drained. Eating on the way seemed to make little difference, my legs just emptied and I got used to the 'bonking' sensation and riding in last. Again. I'll just have to keep at it.

It did mean, however, that I hit the DMM pretty sure about my fitness and physical capability. What worried me was my mental capacity to navigate in the moors, on my own, without inadvertently going in the wrong direction. I took about a kilo too much food to ensure that this didn't happen. One of life's lessons - hard exercise suppresses appetite, and carrying too much food in a rucksack is a pain in the shoulders. At least I didn't get lost though and was pretty pleased with most of my navigation choices. Most of my errors were through over-caution, slowing myself down to (needlessly) re-re-re-re-check routes rather than actually allowing myself the freedom to go anywhere in the wrong direction.

All in all the event was brilliant, let down only by straining my left leg trying to run on tussocks on the first day and being generally completely knackered moving over the terrain for four hours longer than any of my longest training runs on Saturday and two hours on Sunday! Note to self, the North Downs are not a great simulation of open moor, but at least I should try running for longer if I want to be able to keep it up! Training specificity bah humbug. I'll do it all again next year though.

Next project, track 5k in mid-August. Got the spikes at lunchtime today. After a week of hurting leg (from the sprain on the tussocks) and generally feeling pretty decrepit and tired, today I feel sharp and perky again. Time for more sports!

Running Like New

On my last long run I covered 17 miles. It was a good run, I managed an even pace and ran strongly on the ups and downs. Near the end of the run, at around 12 or 13 miles I started to lose form a bit, hunching my shoulders and shortening my stride, especially on hills. I would find myself imagining the distance to go and tightening up. Then I'd try to focus on keeping fluid, just staying strong and on form and everything would free up again. I'd have thought that that would be enough, but I kept slipping out of good style into a scrunch again and it was a battle to keep concentrating. It seemed wrong and irritating that I'd slip out of a style that felt free and easy and into one that felt forced and harder, but there you have it. I vowed that I'd practice this looser style on my next few runs to see if I could slip into good habits rather than poor ones.

In the mean time I came across the attached article at Wildfitness (http://www.wildfitness.com) written by Christopher McDougall (of "Born to Run" fame) about connective tissue and its role in actively supporting musculature rather than just holding it all together. This article seems to be a continuation of his search to run without pain, and he is certainly discovering some interesting people in his journey! http://www.wildfitness.com/pdfs/Mens_Health_Oct09.pdf

Well, I did run yesterday, and I thought through these points of form throughout and it was a bit of a revelation. I felt a bit like a pupeteer as everytime I straightened my shoulders I could feel my torso straighten and my legs lift. I am not sure whether I went any faster, but it certainly felt easier. I also found that my calves were less niggly focusing on my whole body rather than just my lower limbs. I've still got a few months before the DMM, but I'll have to find some races to test my pace on. Yesterday's run was slow because it was very muddy and I had to shorten my pace to stay upright on some sections of the Downs. A road run next time I think.

Dunsfold Sportive Completed

I had a great time in my first bike event this weekend. I entered the Dunsfold Sportive mid-distance, 58 miles of hilly fun. Having almost joined Redhill cycle Club (application form would have been in the post if I hadn't left it in the office last Friday)I planned to ride out with a club team. In the event I joined two others, Gary and Sean to form a break away, more by accident than by design.

The day started well, up early to load the car and eat breakfast in plenty of time. I was disappointed by the threat of rain but got to the venue at 7:50 and had plenty of time to load pockets with food and provisions and lose my phone - which I then found in another pocket I hadn't checked! The ride started well, riding in the pack with all the Redhill CC from the off. A nice comfortable pace, cruising at 20mph had me very optimistic that a gold finish was virtually in the bag. After a few miles I joined Gary at the front for a share of the pace setting, but after a couple of short climbs we found that we'd strung the group out a bit. Being impetuous we didn't back off to allow the others to regroup, but pushed on. On a short sharp hill we picked up Sean and dropped everyone else. These guys taught me a lesson in self-inflicted pain!

We rode in a three man mini-chain gang through Cranleigh and Walliswood and up Leith Hill. We were overtaken at the top of Leith Hill by a rider who looked unstoppable so I jumped on his wheel and we screamed down the hill getting up to 37 mph on my computer. Not so fast as to be amazing, but fast enough on a damp, leafy and stony road. I had so much fun that I didn't even notice my pump jumping out of my back pocket. Gary reckoned it went so far he nearly caught it. I only learned about my loss as the boys caught me just before the first timing checkpoint, and I wasn't going back up!

After a quick half-banana it was back on the bike and chain ganging again but after the short stretch of A25 at Wotton the boys had made me dip well into my reserves and I couldn't stay with them on the ups. I hung on the back until the second A25 stretch outside Shere where I retired from the attack. We were all totally aiming for a Gold standard finish, but I didn't want to hold them back as I was clearly toiling and they were going strong. Gary kindly lent me his pump as I'd lost mine, a kindness that cost him some time later on as it transpired.

From there I effectively rode on my own, just doing everything I could to keep my average speed up at 17 or higher. Although I was tired on the hills my love of downhills saw my speed range regularly from 7mph up hill to 25+ on the downs, just keeping me around the 17 average mark. I did discover that Eccles cakes are hard to digest when you're trying to pedal hard. By Shere I was struggling riding on my own and resigned myself to missing gold standard, but every time I came across others on the hills I managed to overtake them. Even though I wasn't a match for Gary and Sean I was clearly strong enough to hold my own. Things were looking more promising again after I drafted a couple of guys going at pace from the Chilworth railway crossing, but I lost touch with them at Shalford as I couldn't hold the speed any longer.

Then I made the route mistake that cost me my gold finish - not that I'm competitive or anything but I was furious with myself. I missed the right turn at the mini-roundabout before Bramley as I was head down and cranking. I was two miles down the A281 before I realised I'd lost all markers and riders. I turned around and found the turning with no problem, the sign being quite visible when you were looking. I rode the rest half depressed and half angry but pushing myself, using the discomfort as a punishment for such a stupid mistake. I entered the Dunsfold entry road with an average of 17.1 mph and determined to give it one last ditch attempt - the up slope saw me dropping to 15mph but with a final effort through the gate I crossed the line with exactly 17.0mph average. I ended up getting a Silver standard time.

Post race fatigue saw me sitting gently propped in the corner of the living room for the rest of the day. Apart from slightly tender ITBs I'm totally fine today, no quad tiredness at all. As a runner I'm used to going for 1.5 hours max on 99% of runs, so this 4 hour cycle thing is making me use up all my muscle glycogen in a way I'm not used to. My new book on bike racing says that I'll adapt as I train so I'm looking forward to finding my feet in the 2010 race season after a winter of training rides.

Running philosophy and freedom

I've been selectively reading more on training ideas, trying to get to the bottom of my own struggle between freedom and rules. I'm only looking at the ethos driving the advice - whether overt or implicit - rather than the quality of the advice itself. It is fascinating going back to basic training advice in the popular running press after reading "Born to Run" (link here to Barefoot Ted's review rather than Amazon this time) as the kind of people discussed in that book seem to be the polar opposite of the audience that standard magazines, like Runners World appear to be pitching to. I will admit that not all magazines are equal; a friend recently told me about Trail Runner, which seems to be targeted at what I will call "lifestyle athletes" rather than "sports fitness people". Unfortunately TR is a US publication and not easy to find here in the UK, but the website holds lots of great information. There also seem to be some really good Ultra-running websites too, but I've not looked at many of those.

The kind of people who are prepared to run in all weathers on trails and roads, for miles and for hours, I think of as lifestyle runners. They have made running a part of their identity and this means that they seem generally to have a can-do attitude to running, and they may pay attention to all the advice that seems to be bombarding us from all directions, but ultimately they run for the sheer experience of it. They are intrisically motivated - that is, they are motiviated from within to run just because it feels like human nature. There is a freedom and lack of constraint in running, you don't need rules, you just need to get on a do it.

In contrast the sports industry seems to be catering to a different kind of runner, the fitness sports type. As a general stereotype they are less personally driven to run, and more doing it because they know that it will make them fitter or thinner, or whatever external goal they are seeking. This is the group that needs to given motivating tips and mottos, who are advised to eat and sleep and think and run in a precise, planned and safe way, to 'optimize their time'. This 'time efficiency' seems to be the underlying philosophy of the mainstream - not running efficiency, though of course techniques for that need to be planned too, but training efficiency. I recently read an article about 'junk miles'. These are miles of running that have no training purpose - they are not building a particular skill or strength base and therefore are worthless. I think that is garbage.

There are many training ‘systems’ – Pose, chi, MovNat, Lydiard's and many others to numerous to find and list. The intention of these is undoubtably good, and they will have positive results to show for themselves (though as they are not being truly evaluated they will never post the success figures alongside the "also tried it and found it useless" ones). I think the issue for me is that every one of these systems to help people improve impose a sense of system and order, sometimes with arbitrary rules. I read an article recently that told me if I wasn't "periodising" my training, setting long term goals and developing rigorous plans at the macro, meso and micro-cycle levels I wasn't training properly. I need goals apparently, and to strive for constant (and fast) improvement. It didn't tell me what to put in these periods but rest was necessary at all levels apparently. If I don't do this my running will suffer and I'll probably be a worse person.

As an example of why this focus could be a problem for the very activity it seeks to help I will consider MovNat, an excellent philosophy focusing on general adaptive fitness, not just running. It's all on the website and I encourage you to have a read if you are interested. I'd love to have a go at one of his courses, Erwan le Corre has developed the MovNat Natural Movement Coaching System® as an update and extension of the older Methode Naturelle coaching system. I’ve heard people call it a natural version of parkour, but it seems more. Though I’m only going on what I’ve read, it involves the combined training of walking, running, jumping, balancing, moving on all fours, climbing, lifting, carrying, throwing, catching, swimming and defending.

It all starts well, Erwan’s MovNat system adds to previous natural movement coaching systems, developing:
Movement principles and drills – identifying key components of actions so they can be drilled. This avoids time wasted learning by trail and error and speeds-up efficiency gains through improving motor-circuit development.
Quality of movement before volume or intensity. A lack of initial emphasis on proper techniques leads to problems through the assimilation of inefficient movement patterns.
Levels of practice enabling incremental progress and injury prevention: defined by limits in difficulty at each level, in terms of technique, distance, height, weight, time etc.

So far so good - teach people the basics in a controlled way and let them get on and develop them. Sounds excellent, and it builds with :
Techniques first, then combinations. There are essential techniques in each natural movement that are fundamental to the beginner and from which many movement variations derive.
“Combo” training: practicing putting different skills together.

Lastly, however;
Specialization cycles: only at higher levels of practice (thus introducing 'levels' of ability that someone else needs to assess for you). Well-rounded natural athletes that have already reached an advanced level of skills and conditioning should frequently manage relatively specialized training cycles in order to make even more progress. Here I hope Erwan remains more relaxed as it seems to be taking a slightly more proscriptive turn - he could just mean that people will need to take the time to remain skilled in a variety of skills, or he could be proposing detailed charts that you must follow or you'll fail. There is to be a book in due course, so I'll look out with interest.

However, while sytems are useful, they tend to become rule bound and constraining rather than fun. And in writing this I think I've worked out my dilemma - I'm going to continue to ignore the rules and guidance and just go and have fun. I'm going to run free, and I'll vary it and cross-train. But I'm not making plans and I'll take my chances with my development rate.