The Monument-al hug

As karma would have it, we ran the biggest hill on our list of training routes today – the Monument. It makes me think of that song:

The grand old Duke of York,

He had ten thousand men.

He marched them up to the top of the hill…

And then he marched them down again.

I was just about marching/hiking at some point. I’ve learnt that if you just put your head down and focus on the yellow line, the hill is more bearable.

I actually like the Monument route. It’s scenic, short and rewarding. AND good preparation for the Two Oceans. Have a look at the profile of this race (scroll down and click on image to enlarge). What are those spikey thingies? *gasp*

My calves were quite sore afterwards though. And not burning, but pulling. I tried to give them a good stretch by standing on the edge of the pavement and holding onto the lamp post (which I have now dubbed ‘my’ lamp post for daily stretching). Must remember to ask the HKE experts about stretches on Thursday. *makes mental note to research the importance of stretching* Especially after the podiatrist told me that my calf muscles are too short. (This is excellent for wearing heels, but not so much for takkies and Monument runs.) They actually need to be stretched as often as daily meals – three times religiously.

But the best part of today’s run was the therapy. Who needs happy pills? A good blast of endorphins is simply splendid for emotional uphills – true story. I ran my 10k PB (personal best) on emotional stress. My digsmate often says “Hugs not drugs!” as he heads out the door. And today, the Monument was more of a hug than a hill.  

What's that coming over the hill?

“57335 – yes that’s right. They have received it and you’ve been entered.” THANK THE POPE! For the past two weeks, I have been picturing my Two Oceans re-entry falling off the snail mail donkey cart. For what reason the Two Oceans office wouldn’t allow me to just email it, I do not know. It had to be in by 18 March, and so, I braved the smelly que and pathetic service at the post office, to send it via registered mail – just in case. And now I am regretting the drink I had last night.

I asked Dr Google just how bad alcohol is for exercise and, naturally, he had about 66 900 000 results (in 0.15 seconds). I won’t elaborate on every fact given, but what it comes down to is that alcohol has no nutritional value and way too many calories. I knew that already. More importantly, it negatively affects endurance. As it stimulates blood vessels to dilate, heat loss increases. Therefore, muscles get cold and become slower and weaker during contractions. Furthermore, aerobic capacity, the ability to mobilise fat and recovery capabilities take a knock too.

Shocked realisation: the hill I run up just now is going to be particularly challenging, no matter how loud I blast the music through my iPod. “What’s that coming over the hill? Is it a monster? Is it a monster?” No, it’s Megan on the Tuesday after Cougar Monday. 

Behavioural change - run more, smile more :)

“Oh you’re grumpy this morning. I think you need to go for a run.” This is pretty much the response I get from my digsmates everytime I’m in a bad mood. And they are right. Running makes me a happy person. My slightly dirty, New Balance takkies (with a pink characteristic ‘N’ on the side), are my mobile therapy room. Running processes my issues whilst (hopefully) generating some gorgeous calve muscles at the same time. Hill training is best for those difficult days where you turn up all the one-ways. And in Grahamstown, South Africa, there are plenty of stress-relieving hills that offer rewarding views of the town (and a welcome downhill on the other side).  

Also in Grahamstown is Rhodes University – the place to study Journalism and Media studies in South Africa, and host to a brand spanking new honours course in health journalism. At the start of term, Prof Harry Dugmore explained the notion of behavioural change with relation to our health course. The challenge: bring about some behavioural change in your lifestyle to benefit your health.

Yes! I’ve had a head start! I absolutely despised long distance running all my life. But after entering the Two Oceans half marathon this year, I have discovered a new love and a crutch in none other than road running. With a couple of k’s already on my takkies, I stepped up my training programme. This most certainly does not imply a systematic plan or involvement of scientific method – I simply started running more often because ‘programmes’ ironically seem to discourage any aspiration for behavioural change in my fitness. Programmes guilt trip you for missing a day and ultimately end up in the bin with the imprint of the bottom of my slipper on it. 

However, one programme we are required to keep to is to be at the HKE (fanless, hot, old building for Human Kinetics and Ergonomics) at lunch time every Thursday. In the first session, ‘fitness’ (for lack of a better word) assessment showed that I have the flexibility of an ox and the heart of a young cheetah. I have never been able to touch my toes and probably never will – perks of long legs? But the pathetic flexibility measurement motivated me to do some of those elementary Yoga moves with unrelated names in the Runners’ World magazine. *Sets reminder to find respective magazine tomorrow*

How many sit-ups and push-ups did I manage in a minute? I don’t know. But it was also not fantastic. But a motivation to improve none-the-less. I aced the cardiovascular assessment, though. As we went up up down down the step to the rhythm of the pentameter, my heart rate made a slow climb to one hundred and twenty something. And a quick recovery thereafter. (No thanks to the two hot cross buns I had for lunch). 

And so, the basic measurements under the surveillance of classmates, have motivated me to run more and eat less hot cross buns.