6. HEALTH | | Chill out, lights out
"Modern life is rubbish" said the Brit band Blur. And they have a point. For all our advancements, we seem to have lost our way.
The reality for most people:
Constant stress.
Lack of fulfilment / depression.
Breakdown of relationships.
A future of chronic diseases.
Is this what we aspire to? Is this the best modernity can give us?
Unless we learn to manage technology and most important, our own minds.
And minds need certain things to function properly.
Right up there is sleep.
I find the bedtime stories on the Get Sleepy app really useful to calm my mind after (a rare) stressful day, or to get back to sleep when I wake up during the night. It's a gift to humanity. It is free, with bonus content for paid supporters.
Give it a try, and let me know how it goes? | | 7. TRAINING | | Better pacing, faster running
“I record all my training runs but I never look closely at them. How can I use my training files to improve? What am I looking for?” Nadine
Firstly, it is great that you’re recording all your workouts Nadine. There are so many benefits to doing this. It can answer questions surrounding your weekly and monthly running mileage, the life-span of your running shoes, and acts as a training diary, along with so many other benefits.
In my last seven years of training runners as a dedicated career, I’ve learned that there is no one-size-fits-all equation to train a runner. Every time you think there is a magic technique you find an exception to the rule shortly after. Everyone’s body works differently, and responds differently to training stresses.
Read the rest of the article by run coach Sean Tait as he addresses the benefit of analysing your run pace to improve your pacing and achieve faster run times. | | 8. PLANET | | GROW YOUR HEALTH
An offline sideline project I'm doing is to encourage friends and my local community to nurture Nature in their environment, for them and the local wildlife.
Nearly everyone has a yard, or access to a patch of soil somewhere. No matter how small, this area can be utilised and turned into a food-producing dynamo.
The fundamentals are easy to learn. If you studied biology at school, it will make perfect sense, and you'll know many of the concepts already.
The major challenges to newbies are: access to plant material (seeds, cuttings, tubers) lack of confidence, which stalls them starting with anything planting in the wrong environment for that particulare species.
There are nearly 400,000 known species of plant. An estimated 20,000 of those are used regularly by humans globally.
But with industrial agriculture favouring just a few crops grown at huge scale, knowledge and access to this magical 20,000 species has dwindled in the mainstream. According to some scientists, these species may provide up to 10 million phytochemicals, most as yet unidentified.
Eating our highly processed diets, so far removed from their wholefood origins, is it any surprise that modern human nutrition has suffered as a result?
I'd like to take you on a journey each issue, introducing you to some ideas that will encourage you to consider growing some of your own nourishment.
Nature is amazing: there is a plant for every habitat and every man-made challenge.
To start, read this article I wrote for my local newspaper about the remarkable chaya (Mexican tree spinach).
Photo above from Gardening Soul (no connection to me). | | | 9. LETTER | Runners need clean air!
Besides falling prey to wayward drivers, there is a health risk when making use of the highways and byways when running which many are oblivious to.
The carbon monoxide and other emissions from truck, taxi, and car exhausts have significant health risks.
You may think that running through your leafy suburb after a hard day's work is completely healthy and natural, but be aware that vehicles passing by are emitting highly toxic fumes.
I'm not saying don't run on the road. Just be conscious of how much traffic there is around the time when you feel like taking your exercise to public roads.
But is there a way to avoid this?
Yes, by taking your runs to a natural arena, by trail running!
In nature, our lungs are less exposed to air pollution which is the long-term killer.
I also find that being in nature creates a greater sense of wellness after completing a run when I cool off in a natural spring pool or shower under a waterfall.
I'm fortunate to live near an Upper Highway nature reserve hidden amongst the houses. I lived in these suburbs for four years without realising half of its hidden treasures.
It was only when I put on my running shoes and pushed past the boundary of my routine daily lifestyle that I found so much natural splendour, hiding in plain sight... away from the pollution.
Christopher Venter
Hillcrest, Durban
Ed - for an idea of air quality in your area, visit IQair.com.
(Map above taken from their World Map page). | | | 10. COMPETITIONS | | #1: LAST CHANCE! Black Diamond SPOT 400-R
This competition closes on Sunday. You won’t know how valuable a good headlight like the Black Diamond SPOT 400-R is until you try it for the first time.
The SPOT is a high quality rechargeable choice for adventurers who value all-around performance and features in a small package.
Win one, valued at R1,299. Enter before it closes this weekend. Do it now! | | #2: SCARPA Kima Golden Gate
Competition starts Monday 1 August. I've been walking, hiking and running in this shoe for five weeks. Within minutes of putting it on, I realised the Kima was likely going to be the best fitting and most comfortable trail shoe I've worn yet, or at worst in the top three.
(But feet differ widely, and there is no thing as a perfect shoe, so be sure to fit and move around in any pair of running shoes you're thinking of buying for the first time.)
Win a pair of Kimas valued at R3,599. Enter from Monday. | | #3: Bridgedale Trail Run Socks
You still have time to post your top July pic to this week's Bridgedale giveaway on Facebook. Do so before Tuesday and be sure to enter the next one on Monday 29 August too. You could be running in four pairs of Bridgedale worth R1,000 or more.
Tune into TRAILza on Facebook every Monday for the latest Trail Trophies adventures from South Africa's runners. | | | | THAT'S IT... FOR NOW. HAPPY WEEKEND! | | | | |
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