Category Archives: Running

Keen spirit: Australian cyclist uses GPS to recreate Nirvana’s Nevermind cover

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Enthusiast marks album’s 30th anniversary with 150km ride around Adelaide using Strava to sketch naked baby

The naked Nirvana baby has been recreated yet again – this time on the unsuspecting streets of Adelaide.

Pete Stokes rode about 150km on a single-speed bike to sketch the outline of the famous Nevermind cover. His efforts, tracked by GPS-based site Strava, show the baby’s (slightly angry) face over the CBD and the banknote over the leafy eastern suburbs of Burnside and Kensington.

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Just don’t do it: 10 exercise myths

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We all believe we should exercise more. So why is it so hard to keep it up? Daniel E Lieberman, Harvard professor of evolutionary biology, explodes the most common and unhelpful workout myths

Yesterday at an outdoor coffee shop, I met my old friend James in person for the first time since the pandemic began. Over the past year on Zoom, he looked just fine, but in 3D there was no hiding how much weight he’d gained. As we sat down with our cappuccinos, I didn’t say a thing, but the first words out of his mouth were: “Yes, yes, I’m now 20lb too heavy and in pathetic shape. I need to diet and exercise, but I don’t want to talk about it!”

If you feel like James, you are in good company. With the end of the Covid-19 pandemic now plausibly in sight, 70% of Britons say they hope to eat a healthier diet, lose weight and exercise more. But how? Every year, millions of people vow to be more physically active, but the vast majority of these resolutions fail. We all know what happens. After a week or two of sticking to a new exercise regime we gradually slip back into old habits and then feel bad about ourselves.

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Face masks safe to use during intense exercise, research suggests

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‘Limited’ cardiology research also shows mask wearing likely to reduce spread of coronavirus in indoor gyms

Face masks can be worn safely during intense exercise, and could reduce the risk of Covid-19 spreading at indoor gyms, preliminary findings suggests.

Scientists from the Monzino Cardiology Centre (CCM) in Milan and the University of Milan tested the breathing rate, heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen levels of six women and men on exercise bikes, with and without a mask.

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I run to keep fit, but I hate it

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No one would argue that running isn’t good for you, but do we really have to pretend to like it, too?

For the 126th time this year, I turn the corner by the rowing club and begin the climb towards Stamford Hill. I have half a kilometre to go. Mist has settled on the river to my left, where waterfowls, Egyptian geese and a single, stately heron have gathered by some rushes in a dazzlingly pretty scene for Haringey in late November. They likely make some pleasant noises, but only the fortunes of HMS Royal Oak reach my ears, as my earphones sizzle with its battle against four French frigates near the Bight of Benin in the War of 1812. I am trying to enjoy myself.

Last November, with the cooperation of this magazine (ie they paid me), I defied my natural inclinations and did a radical diet and exercise overhaul. The experience produced not just an eminently readable lifestyle piece, but a substantial improvement in my general fitness. And then, shortly before Christmas, it ended, as did my adherence to its stipulations. I jettisoned the protein shakes and the thrice-weekly workouts, and gamely resumed my close personal relationship with butter, sugar, alcohol and grease. I discarded all the measures that had given me these results bar one – running.

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Family of missing Team GB runner appeal for help to find him

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Experienced fell runner Chris Smith, 43, missing in Perthshire hills since Tuesday

The family of Chris Smith, an experienced fell runner and Team GB member who has gone missing in the Perthshire hills, have appealed for help to find him.

Smith, 43, was last seen on Tuesday afternoon when he left his family’s holiday accommodation to go running in the Glen Lyon and Loch Tay area and had been due to return that evening.

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Start slow, wear what you like, watch out for zombies: a beginner’s guide to running

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There’s a replacement to your pre-lockdown workout right outside your door. Experienced runners explain how to get started

The gyms, pools and squash courts are shut. Joe Wicks is showing you how to get fit in your living room, but really all you want to do is get out of your living room. Now is the time to go for a run.

If you are worried you’re not a running type, don’t be. I wasn’t either until I decided that I didn’t feel safe going to the gym in mid-March. Eight weeks later, I finished my first half-hour run, covering an apparently respectable 4.83km in the process. Almost anyone can be a runner, it turns out. So why not give it a try?

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Spring-heeled: concept that could see Usain Bolt rocket to 50mph

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Prototype of revolutionary running device being worked on by scientists at US university

A wearable spring-based contraption that attaches to the legs has the potential to boost human running speeds by 50%, according to researchers who hope to build the first prototype over the next year.

Scientists came up with the concept after computer models showed that it was possible to dramatically increase the amount of energy people put into each running step by enabling them to do work when their feet are in the air.

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Any amount of running reduces risk of early death, study finds

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Previous research suggested health benefits increased with greater volume of running

Any amount of running is good for you, according to research suggesting it is linked to a similar reduction in the risk of early death no matter how many hours you clock up a week or how fast you go.

According to the World Health Organization, about 3.2 million deaths each year are down to people not doing enough physical activity.

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Experience: I’m nine years old and won an adult 10km race by mistake

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A 40-year-old woman came in second, about a minute later. She shook my hand and congratulated me

One recent Sunday morning, my mum and grandma drove me to a 5km race not far from where we live in St Cloud, Minnesota, in the US. There was a fierce thunderstorm, and when we got there I had to wait for it to pass beneath an overhang with the other runners. I started to feel a little nervous, because some of the people there looked really fast. They had proper running leggings and long, skinny legs. They were all different ages. I wasn’t wearing running clothes; just a normal T-shirt and shorts.

I’m nine years old now, but have been running competitively since I was six. I love it, because it makes me feel good. I have a lot of energy to use up and I can do it by just moving my legs. Sometimes I run for the sake of it, other times I run to win. That morning, I wanted to win.

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Exercise helped with my anxiety – but I became obsessed. Therapy was the answer

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It wasn’t until I had a back injury that I realised how extreme my gym habit had become – and admitted that I needed help

The first time I went for a run as an adult, I was at university and had been deeply depressed for several months. I managed a minute before I had to walk, but, I told myself, a minute was a start. I went every day and, as the weeks passed, I ran further, for longer. The impact was immediate – even after that first jog I felt a rush of achievement, of hope. And it was cumulative: every run that followed made me feel stronger, physically and emotionally. Then, one day, many months later, I realised I was not depressed any more.

As the years passed, I gradually branched out from short jogs into runs of more than two hours. I went to circuit classes and step classes, interval training and personal training, core sessions and legs, bums and tums sessions. I dropped two dress sizes and developed stomach muscles.

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