An Old Man Jogs

Something different today.  I am 71, almost 72 years old.  In my twenties, I started running in an effort to get my weight down.  I was then around 200 pounds.  I read a book, can't remember by whom, but some Australian guy made the claim that if you could run a mile in 10 minutes, you were fit.  That got me thinking, and while I had not run much before, I started jogging, and within a month or so I was running 1 mile in 10 minutes.  I went on to running 3, then finally 5 miles in 8 and change minutes a mile. Of course I wasn't going to win any races, but I lost weight in the process down to 165 pounds.  Today I find myself wanting to get down to 200 pounds, and running again seemed like it might help.  

Now, all this running was done without any coaching or technology of any sort.  I wore Addidas indoor training shoes, because that is what we wore on my high school track team, rather like the one on Jim Fixx's book The Complete Book of Running.  I realize that the shoes Fixx is wearing are not Addidas, but my Addidas were very similar in the amount of cushioning.  Namely, there ain't much there.  I quit running and started cycling.  But quit that as well to concentrate on motorcycling and other pursuits.  In the process, I gained weight...a lot of it.

After my cancer surgery last October, which I admitted took a lot out of me, I have been slowly recovering, but Mrs. PolyKahr has noticed that my balance was less sure than before.  I noticed that climbing stairs was now requiring that I hold the railing.  What to do...what to do.  I started walking, since balances is largely an issue of muscular strength.  Now one of the great things I have today, that I didn't have 50 years ago is the interwebs.  One can find pretty much anything on the internet if you go looking for it.  There is now something called Zone 2 training. 

The various zones, there are 5, are defined by the amount of effort that is required to operate at that zone.  Zone 1 might involve very light exercise.  Zone 5, by contrast is an all-out effort that taxes the body at close to the maximum heart rate.  Zone 2 is enough that you can carry on a real conversation, but you work up a sweat.  The benefits of zone 2 are:

a) As you jog in zone 2, you slowly build up the speed at which you can run and stay in zone two.  In other words it has excellent effects on cardio-vascular health, building out the vascular system and cleaning out the arteries.

b) As you jog in zone 2, you build up the number of mitochondria in each muscle fiber.  Mitochondria supply the ATP that powers the muscle.  You slowly get faster up to a point.  Your muscles also become more efficient at oxygen uptake, so you can run faster and stay in zone 2.  You also build up the strength of the bones.

c) It trains the body to use fats as a fuel source, which becomes really important once you begin running really long distances, say 10 miles to the ultra-marathons.  Yes, people run continuously as much as 100 miles!

d) You are unlikely to injure yourself if you stick to zone 2 religiously.  You can get fit and not suffer injuries that competitive runners often suffer and sideline them like knee injuries, shin splints and various fractures.

None of this is really new.  Joe Henderson first coined the term "long slow distance" in 1969 which is the same as zone 2.  80% of a runner's efforts should be at a pace that fits in zone 2.  More recently, in Japan, Professor Hiroaki Tanaka has written a book called Slow Jogging though I think Tanaka is being too kind. I call it the "old man's shuffle" though it seems to be working. When I started a month and a half ago, it was very slow going. But the speed is creepy up, imperceptibly.

For Father's Day, Mrs. PolyKahr got me a heart rate monitor, a Wahoo TICKRfit that you strap on your arm as you run, and you can keep track of your heart rate as you exercise.  I can keep my effort in the zone 2 range pretty easily with this technology and it has been an eye opener.  I start with a quarter mile walk, at the end of which my heart rate is only 96 bpm.  Then I start the "old man's shuffle" and my heart rate slowly rises to 135 at which I start walking again until it is down to 120 bpm, where upon I start jogging again.  I do this for a total of 1.25 miles. 

As for the problems I mentioned at the start, those have both improved.  I am more sure footed and am having less problems with balance.  In addition, I can now climb the stairs again while holding grocery bags in both hands and do not need to hold onto the rails.  Maybe the young can walk faster than I can jog, but I haven't felt as well in a long time.  Oh, and I am losing some weight too.  So I tip my hat to the young and keep on jogging.