Running - Improving Your Times

Hi Bloggers,

To follow up my recent post on staying healthy as you get older, I just thought I'd mention my latest training programme for running. Up to now I've always gone for just doing a decent distance at the best pace you can. For example, 5 km in half an hour might seem reasonable for most in their sixties. However, over time you inevitably find yourself slowing down. In fact, every year will seem to take a minute off your time. And it's extremely frustrating trying to get your speed back to where it was. Using the regular distance run just doesn't do it.  Special measures are needed.

The main thing one needs to introduce into one's programme is intensity training, i.e. in addition to the regular endurance distance training. Currently, I'm working on two ways to do this.  The first is what is known as interval training.  Here, you jog at your regular pace for two or three minutes and then burst into a sprint for between 30 seconds and one minute before dropping back to your regular pace again to recover.  Repeat four or five times, or for the whole duration of your run.  For this you might choose to cover a much shorter distance than usual.

The other method is simply to try to run a kilometre, or maybe just 500 metres, as fast as you can. Really go hell for leather at it. Then stop and take a complete break of two to three minutes to recover. Repeat four or five times.

Both these methods are incredibly intense and seriously force your body to uplevel its performance parameters. The main thing you will notice is your breathing. It will be strained to the maximum. As a result you will improve your aerobic capacity, which I was shocked to learn can decrease by 10% every decade once you're over 50.

More to come …...

Double Vision

Hi Bloggers,

Horror of horrors, I was just going out jogging just a couple of months ago and I noticed that I was having some difficulty focussing. Anyway, I carried on, but while I was jogging it developed into proper double vision. Obviously, I was  worried, but I thought a good night's sleep might sort things. But, alas, it was not to be, it was even worse in the morning and got progressively worse during the day, such that I was seeing two cups and two hands, and a path became one going off to the left and the other going off to the right. I was completely flipping. What the hell had happened?

So I spent a lot of time googling, and worst case scenarios were brain tumour and stroke. So you can understand my anguish. Luckily, I managed to get to see my ophthalmologist, Magrabi in my case.  Of course, I needed an MRI scan to confirm it, but they said it was probably not one of those two above because you would almost certainly have other symptoms like headaches and nausea, etc. Although that was reassuring at one level, it didn't change the fact that I was completely debilitated by the double vision. You can't believe how confusing the world is, particularly in a crowd of people, when you've got mega double vision.

Was it going to get better or was I going to be like this for the rest of my life? How was it going to affect my work and social life, etc? All these kind of questions were running through my head. Anyway, what the doctors said was that it was a pinched or inflamed nerve that controls the movement of the eyes. The precise name of the ailment is called Sixth Nerve Palsy, resulting in Diplopia and Strabismus. Strabismus basically means being crossed eyed. And indeed that's how it looked. They said it would heal naturally, but I didn't completely believe them, because there was no change for about a month.

Fortunately, then I noticed that some of my benchmark double images had begun to move a bit closer, and that gave me cause for genuine optimism. Even better, I'm pleased to say that things have improved quite rapidly since then to the point where I'm almost back to normal. I'm sure the special B12 vitamins they gave me helped too.

I'm writing mainly for those who have this condition and have stumbled across my blog through googling. Don't panic, stay calm. It will get better slowly, even if nothing seems to happen the first month or so. What I did was to take several benchmark positions or objects and monitor regularly. Eye exercises, by the way, won't make any difference because it's the nerve not the muscle that is damaged. In fact, if anything they seemed to make it worse temporarily. I also recommend wearing some kind of eye patch or cover on your lenses if you wear glasses to blot out the worst excesses of the side you're bad on.

If you have this problem, please do feel free to contact me and I'll share everything I know.

Sight is our most precious asset. Good luck

Staying Healthy As You Get Old

Hi Bloggers,

I've been meaning to write about my fitness programme for ages, but somehow never got around it to it. But what really galvanised me into action was this incredible post I read about a 96 year old man running 5 km in just over 40 minutes. 96-year-old-man-runs-42-minute-5k-to-break-age-group-world-record   Wow, that's one hell of a time. Assuming you're still alive at that age, of course. I've got 30 years on this guy but can only beat him by 10 minutes.

But, okay, it's only going to be the most serious and dedicated that are going to achieve those kinds of records. What about us regular folk who are just trying to stay in reasonable shape for as long as possible. I feel this is maybe where I have something to offer. I'm in my late 60's now and still in pretty good shape all round, e.g. not overweight, normal blood pressure, resting heart rate of 55 and good muscle tone. I feel the secret to my relative success has been keeping to a programme of what I call "sustained moderation".  The important point is that if you try something extreme, it's almost certain that you won't be able to maintain it. Extreme programmes are good for getting you fit, but staying fit is another story. I'll give details of my own personal schedule in the next paragraph. Meanwhile, another important factor is stabbing at the pudding from all sides. It's worth doing a bit of everything that might be good for you, and, of course, avoiding anything you know is outright bad for you, like smoking and regularly eating junk food, etc. But most of this is, of course, just common sense. You don't need a health guru to tell you this stuff.

Looking at my own schedule, I've always been a keen runner, and jogging has always been the cornerstone of my regime. However, I don't do it every day, in fact maybe only 3 times a week, and then only 5 km each time. If you do it every day and aim for 10 km that's when you're likely to fall away. Also, you're much more injury prone as you get older, and a pulled hamstring, for example, can put you out for months. Hence the greater likelihood of success with the lighter schedule.  On days when I don't go jogging, I work out in the gym or do the cross trainer. Again just a sensible schedule that exercises every muscle group. Not a split schedule, that's for serious body builders only. Yoga is another important feature of my programme. Staying as supple as you can is essential as you age, both for your joints and internal organs. Finally, cycling. I try to cycle everywhere I can if it's possible. Some people may argue this is the most important thing I do. Apart from the obvious health benefits, it certainly keeps you feeling young.

So, by rotating what exercise I do everyday and doing it only moderately, I've been able to maintain this programme for a couple of decades now. Obviously, you need to tweak occasionally, but I do believe that if you adopt my approach you will get lasting  health benefits. Everybody's own schedule and focus will, of course, be unique, it's whatever you personally feel comfortable with. It should always feel like it's within your range. If it feels like a chore or you have to make yourself do it, it probably means you're doing something wrong.

Good luck to everyone in their quest for health!

Back Again

Hi Bloggers,

Incredibly, it's been a whole 6 years since I last posted, so I'd better get back to it!

Let me pick up from where I left off last time. If I remember rightly I was about to start running my own teaching business or franchise in Thailand. Unfortunately, it turned out to be an unmitigated disaster, not because I couldn't handle the business, but because the guy who sold it to me was a scammer.  Yes, I was a complete idiot! Basically, he pocketed my money and never paid me a penny of the profits. Anywhere else in the world he would be behind bars by now, but in a developing country like Thailand without a proper working legal system, it was almost impossible to bring him to justice. Philip Dunne or Philip Crabb was the scammer's name. Absolute scumbag of a man. Do be careful not to do any business with him!

Fortunately, though, I moved on quickly and have developed a great teaching career in the Gulf region working in some top universities here. It blows away working for the British Council, not just in terms of pay, but also in terms of job satisfaction. Nice long holidays too!

Finally, my family. My son is almost seven now. He's growing up to be such a great kid. I'm really proud of both him and my wife. In fact, after so many years of being single, getting married and having a kid was the best thing I ever did. I now have a real purpose in life.

Going forward, I hope to put up some posts about how I stay healthy, maybe some philosophical stuff and anything else I think might be interesting..

Cheers,
Robert