Why run at all, instead of hitting the gym or picking up a sport?

It comes to us naturally. We crawl, we walk and we run. Then, somewhere down the line, we lose our way. Skip a few years and track and field sounds like that obscure sport reserved only for the gifted. And just like that, on a Sunday morning, we pick it up again. It could be Eliud Kipchoge’s marathon feat in Italy (unrecorded but fastest at 2:00:25) that brings us back on track, or a neighbour hollering about a running club. Or maybe just a new layer of fat around the waist. Most of us can pick up running as easily as we leave it. The challenge, then, is to take it beyond that one perfect morning.

But why run at all, instead of hitting the gym or picking up a sport? Especially if your end goal is just to maintain an active lifestyle. I caught up with a lot of beginners, athletes and coaches to get the right answer. The gist of it is as accurate as it is philosophical: if you don’t run, you will never know.

Running can be anything between the absolutely banal and the most liberating feeling of your life. And you can find more than one reason to do it. “I run because it’s the simplest form of exercise,” says Reeti Sahai, who has been running regularly for the last seven years, but is also a trekker and a cyclist. She has run the Berlin and Chicago marathons and is now preparing for Boston.

Rajat Khurana, Managing director, Asics India

I run to clear my head. But it is through my experience of running more consistently that I figured how running can help build physical and mental endurance that applies to everything. Physiologically speaking, running helps strengthen and build lean muscle, lose fat, build stamina, correct posture and breathe better. You don’t have to be passionate about running to start it. Your passion evolves as you go. The focus should be on getting out and getting it right.

Even as primal as running is, every runner can tell you what they wished they knew when they had just started out. Surabhi Yadav, 27, a digital marketing manager in Delhi, started running in January 2017 and in about two months she was averaging 15 km. “I tell everybody today, consistency doesn’t mean doing more every day,” says Yadav. She suffered from planter fasciitis in her left foot, which means that the bone that connected her heel to her toe was brutally inflamed. “I would go on a run and limp for the next two days and think that it was just fatigue,” says Yadav.

Running as a sport is very different from running as a one-off activity. If you have developed a taste for it and would like to do more and better, you need to start with a few checks and balances in place.

For example, the right posture should have your shoulder blades slightly retracted and chin up. It protects your back and helps you take in more oxygen. “Your elbows should be slightly pushed back, too, and should not hug your rib cage,” says Arjun Saraswat, a marathoner who is also a brand manager at Adidas. “For your hands, keep your thumbs up and pretend you’re holding a potato chip between your thumb and index finger, and make sure it does not break or fall.” It’s a good distraction disguised as a good tip.

Reeti Sahai, Captain, Adidas Running Community Delhi Chapter

Sahai says that consistency for beginners should mean running every alternate day and increasing the distance by a maximum of 20 per cent by the end of each week. She’s the captain of Adidas Running Community’s Delhi chapter and conducts workshops three times a week. “But that does not mean just running every day,” she says. Sahai explains how it’s a process that involves warming up before every run followed by a cooling down, and strength and flexibility training on every alternate day. “Running drills are also a mix of speed, long distance, recovery and tempo runs,” Sahai says. Each is different in intensity for different groups of runners divided on the basis of their experience.

“My fast is different from your fast and so is my distance,” Sahai echoes an important advice that coaches often give.

A safe target to start with is a kilometre without braking and then gradually covering more distance. Speed should not be a consideration in the first few months.

Strength training, coaches will tell you, is an indispensible part of running. The amount of strain, especially on your knees, heels and your ankles during a run is akin to shock for your body. Lunges and squats to strengthen your glutes, calves, quads and hamstrings are survival essentials. Yet, a lot of people who run tend to ignore them.

This is why being part of a running community keeps you covered. “The training is free for all,” says Sahai. All major sports brands have communities and training centres and conduct workshops. There are multiple running groups today in every major city in India. Running with people also keeps you motivated.

Yadav had started running alone but she was soon part of an independent Delhi-based running group called Game Changes. It was the group that helped her realise that she might have an injury — and might be flat-footed. The group of 35 meets on most Sundays for leisure runs together.

Nutrition is the next most important consideration. Modern diet fads will tell you to eliminate carbohydrates. It may work if you’re not exercising or if your focus is on heavy weight-lifting, but it doesn’t work for runners. “While protein is important to build muscle, a runner’s carb intake should be equivalent or higher depending on how much one runs,” says Sahai. The amount of energy you burn on a long distance run can have you zapped in minutes.

Gear begs another big question, especially because a good running shoe will cost you a bomb. I was pleasantly surprised by the modest answers I got from brands on this one.

“You don’t need to invest in a special running shoe when you’re just starting out,” says Rajat Khurana, managing director of Asics India, who runs for 11 km every morning and half marathons every weekend. Adidas was of the same opinion and both stress the need for a well-cushioned running shoe when you are more consistent. “You exert four times the weight of your body on your feet, and subsequently on your knees, while running,” says Khurana. 

But before you can select a shoe, it is also important to understand your gait. Most amateur runners have a normal (neutral) pronation; overpronators rotate their feet (inwards) too much and supinators too little.

Asics stores have a gait analysis machine, which basically makes you run on a treadmill to map your gait pattern. Adidas does it at running clinics it sets up temporarily at events and plans to introduce this at stores, too.

“It’s important to buy shoes you can comfortably move your toes in,” says Khurana. Sahai of Adidas says that a running shoe is better a half size bigger because running can slightly swell your feet. For neutral pronators who are new to the sport, Asics recommends the Gel-Kayano (starts at 10,799) and Adidas the PureBoost Go (Rs 7,199). More advanced shoes like Asics Gel-Nimbus 21 (Rs 13,999), Reebok’s Floatride Run Flexweave (Rs 15,999) or the Adidas UltraBoost 19 (Rs 17,900) are for more experienced, long-distance runners.

For apparel, the rule is simple: minimum clothes are maximum comfort, given the amount you sweat. A sleeveless, dry-fit upper for men and a good sports bra for women coupled with split shorts work the best. A good, thin nylon or polyester running socks is also a must to keep blisters away.

There are excuses and then there is pollution, the real city monster that keeps people from running outdoors. But around 46,000 people pounded the roads at the Mumbai Marathon in January and over 18,000 who will be running at the New Delhi Marathon next week think that the tireless strides are necessary and fun in equal parts. Running in circles is not as banal as you might think. But you will not know until you begin.