Running: A Free, Distraction-Free Way to Get Things Done

and how to get started

Staying in optimal physical shape does wonders for your mental state and overall productivity, I can’t emphasize this enough. Too often we seldom find the time or discipline to make exercise a part of our weekly routine—I’m certainly no stranger to that. Although I once ran competitively, and running was once my life, I hadn’t been too good with keeping it up after school competitions and their requisite compulsory training regimes ended. It’s all too easy to get caught up with the rest of our lives and to ignore… well, exercise. Exercise doesn’t need to be about an expensive gym membership or a fancy new age yoga course. Running is much easier in comparison! Everybody can run. Not everybody likes to, but read on and hear me out.

Running is a fabulous way to keep yourself in shape, physically and mentally. You don’t need a team, you can do it anywhere, you can start anytime. Which is probably why most people find it hard to start. If you dislike running, you were probably scarred by your days in school when your Physical Education reps or sports captains (that would be, people like me) forced you to run six rounds of the track for “warm up”. Please give it another chance. Running for yourself is radically different from running within an institution. All you need to do is want to start. I’ve found that running helps me focus, running consistently helps me become more productive because I’m happier and my mind works better, and I’m sure I’m not alone. When it comes down to you and the road, you learn to keep going even when your feet hurt, and how to pace yourself. It’s a bit like life.

Gear Up You don’t need much gear except maybe a proper pair of running shoes, a proper running top and shorts (assuming you’re in the tropics, like I am). I cannot stress enough how important it is to get a pair of running shoes that not only fit your foot, but also your running style. If you’re just running leisurely and infrequently then it’s probably not necessary to buy a pair of proper running shoes, but if you run in moderate amounts or more, good running shoes make the world of a difference. Know your foot type: do you have a high arch or a low arch? Are you flat-footed? Do you run supine, neutral or overpronate? There are special shoes for each foot type, if you have specialized feet needs like I do (I’m flat-footed, and I overpronate when I run); running with regular sneakers causes my feet to hurt and makes me prone to injury. I tend to spring for the Japanese shoes from Asics and Mizuno because they are serious running shoes, not fashion shoes; they also last much longer than running shoes from the major international brands that come to mind (I should know, I’ve owned every running shoe there is to own). For everyday running, the Asics GT-2110 series is unbeatable; the Mizuno Wave series are excellent too. Every Asics running shoe I have ever met has been stellar. Just pick the model that fits your foot type best; if in doubt, go to a running specialist. Running Lab at Funan Centre will have trained staff who can run tests on your foot (free) to tell you what types of shoes you should be looking at.

Decide What Your Goals Are Sure, you can run with no goals in mind, but what’s the fun in that? As with any other form of exercise, you need to set goals, even if you’ll never do it competitively. So where my previous goals might be to set a personal best or to break the school record, today it’s to re-establish a regular physical training routine for general health and well-being. Yours could be to lose weight, to complete a marathon, or to keep yourself in shape. Every kind of goal, provided you have one, is a good and legitimate one and never let anyone persuade you otherwise. Once you’ve got a goal in mind, then you can tailor your personal running program to fit those. My training current needs, to fit my goals, include trying to build endurance (what I think is my weaker point, as a former sprinter) and upper body strength. So I might tailor my own running program towards endurance-building runs, and do weights later on, for example.

Warm Up. No, Really I cannot stress enough on how absolutely important this is. Warming up is one of those things that everyone knows is good for them, but in reality, like eating vegetables and like not smoking, few people follow strictly. It’s very very important! You could walk briskly, jog slowly, for 10 minutes, then do the regular stretches. A warm up routine that works really well for me is slowish running for about 10 minutes, followed by a thorough 20 minute stretching program. I won’t run until I feel every muscle loosened, and mentally prepared to complete what I set out to do.

Actually, Just Run Run. It’s simple. Everybody knows how to. Where, you say? That depends on what you’re comfortable with. As a former track athlete, running on the track not only bores me to tears now, I also have too many past-life athletic hangups associated with the red 400m track: I cannot run around a curve without wanting to break into a sprint, because I used to sprint the 200m and loved running the curve in all the relay races. These days, I just want to lie back and listen to my surroundings, so I choose to run in my neighbourhood. Pick a route you’re familiar with. Do you like to have many people exercising around you? I don’t. I’m naturally competitive, and have a streak in me I can’t rid of: wanting to run faster than all of the boys, so if there are men running near me at East Coast Park or whatever, I have to out-run them. So I pick a place where I know I can be alone for most of the route, and focused. You may prefer to run around people so you feel like you’re not alone. Pick whatever works. The most important thing with running is to rid of any form of self-consciousness. Nobody cares that you run in a strange manner—my running gait has often been described as ‘similar to a headless chicken’, but it’s worked for me very well. It worked for Carl Lewis too, who we often say runs like a ‘headless chicken running damn fast’. What I do these days: I don’t bring anything with me. No iPod, no earphones; they annoy the hell out of me. I want to hear the sounds around me when I run. No bus card, no money, no watch; I want to get rid of the idea that I could stop and take a bus home, or that running is still a competitive sport when every split second counts. I just run as far and as fast as I feel like, and never stop until I’m sure I’ve accomplished what I’ve set out to do. Your mileage might vary. This might sound cheesy, but a visualization technique I learned in early track training, that still works is… you feel like your feet can’t carry you anymore, if you keep going, focusing on keeping your arms swinging to keep your gait and pace, and imagine your feet are actually well-oiled wheels, turning. I have swimmer friends say they use this too, but imagine themselves as barracuda or fins of other fast fish. That always keeps me going.

After the Fact Like warming up, but… after the run. Absolutely essential too. I spend about 20-30 minutes each on warming up and cooling down, and cooling down’s always my favourite: it lets me sit down and have some alone time to think about what I need to do, mostly feeling like I have it all under control. Quite a wonderful feeling and I can guarantee it works. Conventional wisdom applies: don’t sit down immediately, don’t drink cold water immediately either, unless you want stitches in your sides. You’ll probably feel better immediately—a spring in your step, a clearer head. Use the time to then bring about overall improvements in your life: aim to drink more real fruit juice, cut down on smoking or drinking, that sort of thing. Ever since I started running again I’ve picked up cooking, am about to learn to paint and maybe a new language, and generally feel up to… anything. Think about how you’ll keep running. If you’ve done 2km, and that’s plenty for you, try going for 2.5km the next time, and slowly bring it to 5, or more. Can’t run more than 5km, you say? You think you can’t, but it’s more of you not wanting to try. It’s really easy! Running saved me in many ways, first as an awkward social misfit through school, being an athlete helped me because all I needed to do was run, not socialize, and people understood, and even came to watch. Now that I’m here, 23 and ambitious with multiple jobs to boot: I’m a consultant, a freelance photojournalist, I’m currently writing a screenplay, and each one of these have individual projects that are stratospheric in reach and scale, I need all the focus I can get. Running gives me that, by putting me in a better state of mind (and body), cutting out the distractions, and I’m sure it’ll work for anyone who tries. It’s free; and the promise of a better body helps, too! (I could really do with that…)

Some tips.