The Courteeners once sang “You’re not 19 forever ( Click and have a listen its a belter)”….But what have you learnt from not being 20 anymore.
In this post I wanted to write about a couple of things I wish I knew or have made the mistake of doing and always getting the reminder “you’re not 20 anymore”. A look at my life, training for a marathon whilst “not being 20 anymore”. Positively, I’m glad I’m not 20 anymore as I have learnt so much from running. Interestingly when opened up to the running community one response made me laugh…
I wouldn’t waste my time trying to tell a 20-year-old me anything, life too short for regrets. – SB
I agree with the above but in training terms I wish that I knew what I did now….when I was younger ( Rod Stewart quote)
Read below and let me know if you can relate:
- Dynamic Warm Up
We all know that we sit too long a day. Be it in a car, desk, meeting or in front of the television. We then jump up, put the runners on, pick a playlist and away we go. This was easy before and no repercussions were felt. But now, I have noticed that it takes me longer to get into my running workout. The first 1-2km is normally the slowest and sorest kms I run. I have spoken to numerous colleagues and friends about this and they were the same. Stating ” don’t judge a run by the first mile, it only gets better” or ” I ran 400m and had to stop as I was too stiff and sore”
This led me onto thinking about the importance of a dynamic warm up ( I was able to film my colleague completing these below – further videos on Physiorun Youtube). This only takes 5-7min workout prior to running to help awaken the movement patterns required for running, and allow the range of motion through a joint prior to its exposure to running.
This has certainly helped with my recovery and also improves my start kms at the initial part of a run/race.
[wpvideo RKGQAroA]
- General Mobility – Yoga
Moving on from the above pre run activation/wakening routine. I have also been trying to complete yoga sequences, little and often. This is a main part of my treatments in the clinic and I often try to complete a few exercises 2-3 times per week. I mainly do the sun salutations, as I find it works well for time and easy enough that a plank of wood like myself can complete.
I recently have been on travels to Vietnam and Tenerife. Both times I experienced Yoga/ Tai Chi on a boat and at a cliff top where the poses were the sun salutations ( Maggie Miller Yoga ) but the experience and atmosphere was amazing. Being aware of your surroundings, being in Zen whilst moving the body controlled through range is great physically but more so mentally. A massive thing about being over 30 is that there is additional load on the body from the stresses and strains of modern life. We manage our physical stress by stretching, rolling, etc but how do we manage our psychological stress? Mindfulness, Brain breaks and being in the here and now….accepting things for what they are really do help.
- Nutrition –
I use to be able to eat anything and didn’t have to worry about it….How many people have muttered that quote whilst piling the humus onto a stick of celery? Me too. I don’t worry too much about what I eat now, but I feel I’m more informed about the choices and tend to make the right choice 90% of the time. I have run on a beer lunch, a burger lunch and a pasta lunch….I now know what outcome is expected with all these so tend to make the choice accordingly. I also know that I have run in the heat without water/juice, started a run before breakfast and ran after coffee. Again I know what the outcomes are for my body and have learned what my body can cope with. Learn from experience. I may not be 20 anymore but I am more experienced that 20-year-old James ( maybe a little wiser and funnier) I read articles on nutrition and along with recovery is something we all could do better. But I challenged myself to learn and educate myself so I understand why certain meals work or why certain meals don’t work. Education is the greatest weapon, educate yourself.
- Not being afraid to fail
I previously always erred on the side of caution, never took risks, only completed things I knew were fail safe and certain. I would only run if I was 100%, I wouldn’t run if I didn’t think I could get a certain time in a race. I missed so many learning opportunities not just in running, but in football, work and life… by erring on the side of caution. Being more experienced in life. I have learned that you either achieve or learn both positive outcomes. This way of thinking has changed how I approach everything in life. Injuries are a part of running, graded return is a part of rehabilitation and in running if we don’t hit a certain time then we automatically think negatively about that experience.
Tiger Woods allows negative thoughts for 5 steps between holes then switches to positive outcomes before the next hole. Otherwise the downward spiral continues and rather than one bad hole, it becomes one bad round.
I set out to complete the local Parkrun, looking to go sub 20mins for the first time in 5 years. I prepared well, set up well did everything well. Got to the front of the pack, the gun went off…. I went too fast for the first 2km and held on for 21:12. I was annoyed, but I only allowed myself until my bar code was scanned to be annoyed then I had to move on and answer the question “why?”. I reflected on the run, looked at the two first kms and the final three and learnt that in order to go closer I need to be savvy at the start not to get caught up going to fast so that my back-end was stronger. I took this into my rep session and kept the first 7 reps consistent and try to find something at the end of the session in 8,9,10th rep.
Outcome: Steady start of Parkrun, into a stronger back-end giving a 20:20 time…not an achievement, but a positive outcome. Fraserburgh half marathon arrived, adopted the same strategy – start consistent and push at the back-end. I achieved a 1:34:45, a time I hadn’t been near in 4 years. I had taken an experience and reflected upon it and it had improved my performance, learning from running only increases your experience…missing runs out or not racing because of fear of failure is surely failure itself?
- The Importance of Sleep
Sleep is underrated. Period. Sleep hygiene or a routine before bed is so important to get into. In today’s world its super cool to be busy and have no time, I use to think it was cool to boast about only needing 5-6 hours sleep, much like the cool kids who use to boast about smoking 20 a day, it’s a bad habit which may shorten your life. Couple of facts:
- Male temperature is highest at night, but lowest in morning
- There is an increase in injury prevalence on less than 6 hours sleep
- Eating carbs before bed can will help you fall asleep, but the sleep will be broken due to the drop in blood sugar level
- Blue light stops the melatonin production which stops the body wanting to fall asleep
- Napping that is a full sleep cycle can add additional benefits but not replace an 8 hr sleep
- For soft tissue repair you need to hit the deep sleep phase for regeneration
If your like me and use to be cool and have reduced sleep hygiene, don’t let your training suffer due to this…. don’t work hard at training and let yourself down on your sleeping.
If only I knew this when I was 20.
How do you keep it positive?
Whats your sleep hygiene like?
What would the present you tell the 20-year-old you?
Thanks for reading
Run Long and Prosper
James
