Am I weird?

 

Boreham Church - once described as 'More curious than beautiful' but not weird - unlike the person in front of it 

It's been a while since my last post - which is probably a good thing. Last time I posted I had just run 100km on a dodgy leg.

Since then I've had one more real race, the Hare & Tortoise Roman River Trails Marathon which went somewhat better and was great fun. A few of us also didn't run the Saltmarsh and a couple of navigational events went ahead, The Ridley Round - a half-marathon between pubs, and the MEC Christmas Charity Trail Race. However since December there have been no group runs or events of any kind.

So what have I been up to, why am I blogging, and why is the title of this blog a question to which you have all said 'yes' and are wondering why I even asked?

January would usually see the Winter Spine Race. If it had been on I wouldn't have run it and so its cancellation should have made no difference to me - except in did...

Like so many events it became 'virtual'. Like so many virtual events, I had friends doing it. Like so many of these occasions massive FOMO made me sign up. The Spine Race is a non-stop race along the Pennine Way, 268 miles, in a week. The virtual event seemed slightly more manageable as it gave me the whole of January to run 268 miles. Another reason for entering was that I am entered into the Summer spine Race - same sort of thing but more daylight and (hopefully) better weather - so I reasoned that if I was planning on 268 miles in a week I should be able to do it in a month.

To cut  long and very boring story short, it required 8.6 miles/day average, I ran every day in January at an average of 11.6 miles/day and finished on the 22nd of January. My final mileage for January was 358 miles.

Hare & Tortoise, purveyors of many fine events including the Roman River Trails previously mentioned (alright, I won) created a virtual event conveniently starting in February, a virtual race round Lake Superior. It looked like a fun and interesting event but 1111 miles with a year to do it in wasn't, for me, a huge challenge. How could I make the event more of a challenge and possibly even useful? There was an alternative, the event could be split into 4 legs but they were starting at 3 month intervals over the year. Because H&T are nice guys and like giving out good medals, those that entered the 'full' event would still get the medals for each leg as they completed it (sort of... more of that later). I had a plan - one leg per month February, March, April and May. Challenging and perfect preparation for the Summer Spine Race in June.

February, longest leg (301 miles) shortest month (not even a Leap Year). I like to get some miles in hand so I tried to get ahead of the required average of 10.8 miles/day as it wasn't a Leap Year. That went well, so well that I did in excess of 100miles/week for the first three weeks of February and completed the first leg on the 20th. February ended with 408 miles for the month, by far my most ever (and it wasn't even a Leap Year - as I may have mentioned before).

Some of you will be breathing a sigh of relief as this blog is rapidly approaching the current date and so it can't go on much longer - can it?

Well, I've done  Leg One of the Lake Superior Virtual Ultra - officially I completed Leg 2 today although my target is still to do the full leg mileage (250 miles) in March. I have been promised medals but apparently I've outrun the boat with them on! Anyway we aren't yet two weeks into March and I've run over 900 miles in 2021. I know people that have done more but most of my running friends (and all of my non-running friends) don't - hence I get called 'weird' and 'a freak' (in the nicest possible ways) on a regular basis.

As is usual with my blogs after much preamble we are finally getting to the point - Am I weird?

Yes - I have more Scalextric cars than a grown man needs, I find it impossible to throw away the fixings left over from flat pack furniture and I have never seen a single episode of Gavin and Stacey. However, running? No.

Before I explain why I say that I'd like to thank Chris Branch of Forté Physical Health for indulging me listening to my case and providing a slightly more reliable opinion than mine and agreeing that I am not weird (running weird).

Most of my running friends think I am and all claim they would be permanently injured and/or knackered if they tried to do the same. I have considered the question long and hard (I've had plenty of running time to do that in!) and I don't think I am in any way abnormal for a couple of reasons...

Firstly, I don't really do any other exercise as such, some sit-ups and push-ups and stretching but that's about it. So in terms of my daily calorie burn I doubt it is higher than that of someone with a much more active job such as a builder or postman. 

I have lost a small amount of weight since the beginning of the year but only really back down to pre-Christmas levels. I'm fairly sure I can increase my eating slightly once I hit my desired weight so I don't feel my level of exercise is unsustainable or that I can't 'keep up' with the calorie intake required.

Secondly, my understanding is that 'Modern Man' is descended from nomadic hunter gatherers. We gave up speed when we became bipedal to gain an advantage in observation. I believe there is a theory that we didn't exactly chase and catch our prey but we chased them to exhaustion. I have no idea how far this would need to be per day but according to Wikipedia the practice still goes on in the Kalahari Desert and the hunters chase Kudu up to 22 miles in 5 hours in 42-degree temperature. The temperature is important as it is the not allowing the animal to cool down after each burst of running which exhausts it. This would be a run-walk kind of strategy which is a lot like my longest runs.

On average, I'm running 13 miles a day so far in 2021, well within the 'persistence hunter' level of daily mileage. Also I don't stress my body with hard efforts, sprints etc. very much. Occasionally I'll push hard up a hill or try a faster mile but generally I run comfortably within my limits.

Obviously modern life is a long way from the life of our persistence hunting ancestors and it has taken me many years of increasing mileages to get to where I am now. This is not dissimilar in some ways to the barefoot running theory. we may be designed to run barefoot but given that most people in the UK wear shoes from and early age it often takes a considerable period of time to adapt to barefoot running or 'zero drop' shoes - do it too quickly and injury is almost inevitable. 

I should say that I'm not saying that what I do is something anyone else should to, I'm not pushing it as a fitness regime or training plan, it's just what I do. If anyone is interested in discussing it more I'm happy to do so but as I said it's not a training plan and anyway I'm not a trainer. It is also a VERY running specific lifestyle and probably not at all good for those that want to be more 'all round' in their sports and fitness.

So from all of that my conclusion is that I'm not weird. I am unusual in that most people in Essex haven't felt a need to tune their bodies for persistence hunting. However, I don't think there was anything 'different' about my physiology when I started that means that anyone else (long term injuries etc. permitting) couldn't end up where I am by a long-term process of adaptation - if they wanted to, which most people don't. I know I'm different now to how I was when I started, I've less fat and a lower resting heart rate. According to Garmin my VO2 max has improved - although I am aware of the limitations on Garmin's measurements. However, I suspect that I am now simply closer to how our ancestors were and how our bodies 'should' be than most people, especially non-runners. So yes, I'm unusual but no, I'm not weird.

However I'm fairly certain that anyone that has made it this far is saying, 'No, you are weird' but I don't mind, I will still be your 'weird friend' and let's be honest, life would be really dull if we were all the same!