I
have realized now that Biscuit (he needs no introduction, but, for those who do
not know him yet, he is my 7 year old Labrador!) sells. I have this from a
careful analysis of number of ‘likes’ the facebook post featuring him gets as
compared to other mundane stuff like my running. To pander to his fan
following, I have an interesting episode to narrate;
Biscuit
normally has a peaceful stroll in the mornings as he is the king of all he
surveys, the stray dogs look on enviously at his bright red leash and make way
before he even looks in their direction. Any new challengers are quelled with a
raised tail and a deep grunt, the maximum use of force he is called upon to
show is baring of fangs. Today, Tiggy (his Rottweiler neighbour!), was having a
restless night. Tiggy, paced his enclosure in the balcony on the first floor
while Biscuit walked majestically right under his flat. What ensued was nothing
short of the flag ceremony by the Indo-Pak soldiers with both showing elaborate
war antics, Tiggy restrained by a iron grill on his balcony on the first floor
and Biscuit firmly restrained by the leash with both my hands. Pity there was
not much audience for the wonderful performance put up by the two but for a few
disinterested stray dogs. They seem to be mouthing, ‘Nautanki Saala’.
Biscuit
having had his reel space, let us now turn to the item on the agenda today! I
will talk about the importance of breathing properly for running efficiently.
Most people who come up for advice about running long, the latest being a
gentleman who ran a little along side me before thrusting his visiting card on
the beach yesterday saying that he wants to run long like me and that he would
get in touch later. I stopped and said we can talk now. I asked him what makes
him to stop his run. He thought a while and said that he runs short of breath.
We
can enough food to last a marathon and with training even enough water to go
for a marathon without a break. But, what we cannot carry is oxygen the life
breath without which the fuel cannot be generated. There is lot of doubts on
whether one can breathe with mouth open. I follow the principle that for
something as essential as oxygen, it is not important how you get it, what is
important is that you get enough of it.
What
used to happen with me during a run in the initial days was that in my
concentration to get the form, stride and cadence right, I used to be sometimes
irregular in breathing or be shallow in breathing. When this led to shortness
of breath, to compensate, I used to go full steam into breathing forgetting the
other basics of running. Over time the synchronization of breathing and stride
happens and then running becomes natural. I told the gentleman to concentrate
on breathing long and from the tummy (like Baba Ramdev says for pranayam!) and
see if he can increase his period of run. For recreational runners, the run
should be measured in time and not the distance covered. If one starts
increasing the period of run, speed and stamina build up over time. This is
like a Over The Counter prescription, runners wanting to be professionals are
requested to seek guidance from good coaches!
There
is another significance of deep breathing, it is said that each one of us is born
with a certain number of breaths for life. One’s longevity depends on how
deeply one takes each breathe. Dogs pant
in short breathe and they last only 1/7th of a human life on an
average. I keep advising Biscuit to take it easy and breathe long. I am sure
with even the PM of the country popularizing Yoga and Pranayam, Biscuit would
get it right soon.
Last
two days I had the usual quota of run and now timing has stabilized, today I clocked
3:18 for the 32K, slightly faster than the 3:21 yesterday. My mental exercise
from tomorrow is to visualize myself in the 24 hour run which is just about a
week away.
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