fitness
Why it pays to run slowly
Running shouldn’t always be about top athletic performance. Even a moderate pace is enough to do something good for your health.
© dbunn / Adobe Phopt
Nobody has to break records and run until their lungs burn. Because when it comes to running, the pace doesn’t matter. Much more important for health is a completely different factor.
Since switching from basketball to running, I’ve had a problem. I just don’t get any faster. This is mainly due to the fact that I lack the discipline and desire to do a proper and structured training. Instead of planning a long time, I just put on my shoes in the morning and start walking. I don’t want to have to think or follow any rules, I want to clear my head. I enjoy this wonderful lack of commitment. Exercise should be fun and not just another item on my schedule. So I’m happy to be more of a hedgehog than a rabbit.
I know that many now consider me indisciplined again. But I am not at all, only my everyday life is multi-layered enough. The number of commitments and decisions is enough for me. I just can’t use any more. Running is my meditation, my me-time. I don’t want to be rushed. That’s why I’ve long since come to terms with the fact that much older and thicker runners overtake me. I’m doing my thing. After all, it’s all about my health.
As has been shown in numerous studies in the meantime, I’m exactly right. Because running is by no means about speed, exercise is already effective in a surprisingly low dose. For example, even 30 minutes of moderate exercise in the morning will lower your blood pressure for 24 hours – even if you are inactive for the rest of the day. The difference in systolic blood pressure, i.e. the value that measures the elasticity of the vessel walls in the large arteries, was quite comparable to the effect of a high-pressure drug. That’s great.
Much doesn’t help much
Scientists now assume that there is a kind of plateau in athletic performance and its effect on health. So that you don’t get even more positive effects through more training. The old sentence: “More helps more” seems to have had its day.
The most important factor that determines the effect of sport and exercise is probably a completely different one: it should be about exercising regularly. Then the effects are greatest. Half an hour a day or every other day at the latest is ideal. Nobody has to break records. As a rule of thumb, everything counts that makes the pulse noticeably rise for 30 minutes.