Jogging and Safety

[Ancalagon]

Safety how? Cars or muggings?

Either way, I am armed when I go out. I do also wear reflective stuffies to make sure cars can see me.

Armed? With what?

Um probably mostly worried about muggings. I'll run on quiet streets in the early morning, towards traffic. So not too worried about cars.

If you do Parkruns, you do want to tick of a 10km and at least attempt a half-marathon (which I found super tough, despite having done plenty of 10k's below 50min).

Depending on where you live, running after 6am on main-roads against traffic in the emergency lane becomes a constant struggle with taxis and especially cyclists - nothing worse than having your pace interrupted and you forced off the road because someone decided to jump into the emergency lane....

Woah woah woah running is starting to sound like a gateway drug! Start on the 5kms and before you know it, you are doing half marathons! I'll have to see, I don't really have any desire to do longer distances. Plus, I'm also worried about injury. I'm 1.86m tall and weigh 88kg, so I'm on the big side. I'm worried about the long term impact that running longer distances would have on my knees. All of my serious runner friends are injured all the time. One has IBT, the other has something with her foot, etc etc.

Agree

My wife shared a great wisdom about running. Running is an introvert sport. And that is why so many people love it and other people can understand why. Introverts get energized being by themselves. Running is therefore the perfect sport for them. There is no better feeling when your mind switches off, your feet and breathing are in sync and all you want to do is keep running. It is only you and the road.

Yeah, I'm morbidly curious to see what it is like running alone in the early morning. I mean, when I do parkruns, I feel like I am living in a communist state and this is our state mandated exercise. I mean, I am making a little joke and I don't mean it seriously. I just mean, it feels weird for me for 700 brightly coloured people to run the same route every Saturday morning. It's like group exercise time. I enjoy it though, don't get me wrong.

At OP (and any other hobby-runner wanting to track progress) - I suggest SmashRun for running analytics - it's free and syncs with pretty much anything (join me as a virtual running partner - http://smashrun.com/magicdude4eva/invite -- currently on a 180day streak and wanting to do a full year of hobbling around the neighbourhood).

Thanks, might look into that. Do you need a device to sync your running stats with your cellphone, ie a fitbit or whatever?

 

[froot]

Armed? With what?

Um probably mostly worried about muggings. I'll run on quiet streets in the early morning, towards traffic. So not too worried about cars.

Well let's just say I hope your funeral plans are up to scratch if you try to mug me

But that's just me. There's a bunch of useful things you can carry with you that's practical, weighs little, and useful.

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

Woah woah woah running is starting to sound like a gateway drug! Start on the 5kms and before you know it, you are doing half marathons! I'll have to see, I don't really have any desire to do longer distances. Plus, I'm also worried about injury. I'm 1.86m tall and weigh 88kg, so I'm on the big side. I'm worried about the long term impact that running longer distances would have on my knees. All of my serious runner friends are injured all the time. One has IBT, the other has something with her foot, etc etc.

I found that injury is due to wrong equipment and not taking enough time. If you are a heavy runner (in my mind if your BMI is over 28) you need to look at shoes which absorb your weight. Anyone starting to run (even if it is just a casual 2km per day) should check first if they overpronate. Pronation is part of your walking-/running-dynamics and is supposed to protect you from injury (i.e. the arch of your foot collapses against the ground to absorb impact). Your pronation is comparable to a car's suspension - so it can be either neutral, too stiff or too soft.

When it's neutral, your foot naturally rolls inwards during the heel-to-toe transition. I read somewhere than only about 30% of runners are neutral. Over-pronation is when the foot rolls excessively inwards and the arch collapses in a way that not enough impact is absorbed. Under-pronation is when your foot does not roll inwards enough and also does not assist well with shock absorption. It's quite easy to test via a "wet foot test". Once you know how your body's suspension works, get the appropriate shoes.

Get proper socks - your regular work- or gym socks will not work. I use Falke L+R running socks (similar to those: http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.co.za/falke-pronator-running-socks-sizes-7-9.html) which have padding at the heel and have "ventilation air-pockets" - socks like those rock, as they do not move and cause blisters/chaffing. (If you treasure your man-hood, get Under Armour sports underwear and for long runs you might need one of those Glide anti-chaffing sticks cyclists use).

You can prevent injury if you run on grass/soft surfaces and do not increase your distance by more than 10% per week. Most runners injure themselves due to wrong footwear or starting off with 5km on a new pair of shoes.

Yeah, I'm morbidly curious to see what it is like running alone in the early morning. I mean, when I do parkruns, I feel like I am living in a communist state and this is our state mandated exercise. I mean, I am making a little joke and I don't mean it seriously. I just mean, it feels weird for me for 700 brightly coloured people to run the same route every Saturday morning. It's like group exercise time. I enjoy it though, don't get me wrong.

I have given up on Parkruns (especially the Lonehill one as it is more a walk than a run with dogs/babies/strollers) as it typically takes me 1 hour in driving and then 20 minutes to run. I can leave the house at 5am in the morning and in the same time do a proper 16km on weekends. I think Parkruns are great if you want to socialise or if you want to get your 5km baseline properly measured. I prefer my runs alone in the morning, but I do enjoy the 10km races - the vibe is just great and once you have broken out after the first 5km it becomes very motivating.

Thanks, might look into that. Do you need a device to sync your running stats with your cellphone, ie a fitbit or whatever?

They sync with Nike+ and Garmin. They also support the import of GPX/TCX files - i.e. most running apps allow you to email the files and you can email it straight to your smashrun email which then gets imported automatically.

 

[hellfire]

So, last year I bought myself a pair of dumbells, so that I could exercise at home. What I've been doing is going to the gym for a bit of cardio, and then coming home to do weights while watching TV. There is a surprisingly large variety of exercises that you can do with just a pair of dumbells, so I can do enough to work out all or most of the muscle groups. Plus I plan to acquire one or two other things, such as a medicine ball.

Recently I've started thinking that I am still paying all this money for gym, and I only use it cardio. Nothing else. I don't even need the Discovery Vitality points - the points I get from buying healthy food from Pick n Pay and from doing Parkrun every week will be more than enough to get me to gold again this year. Because I was bad with gym attendance most of last year, it is costing me R370 per month. Even if I can get it down to say R200 per month, I just don't see the point.

So I want to start jogging during the week, but I'm concerned about my safety. Those of you that do jogging during the week, are you concerned about safety? What precautions do you take? What time of day do you go?

Obviously I'll wear high vis gear, and will buy a head torch for winter. I live in Bryanston, if that helps. I'm not female, so although it isnt impossible for me to be raped, it isn't likely.

Is morning better than afternoon? Evening?

I run with a SWAT brand direct stream pepper spray.
It's honestly more for dogs than anything else, but it can obviously be used on an aggressor.

Be vigilant and cautious in dealing with traffic, even when wearing high vis. Remember that right-of-way means nothing when it's you versus the bonnet

 

[Stevi]

Woah woah woah running is starting to sound like a gateway drug! Start on the 5kms and before you know it, you are doing half marathons!

It's true, i did my first half marathon April last year after two 10ks, did first marathon November last year, and doing Comrades this year

 

[creeper]

It's true, i did my first half marathon April last year after two 10ks, did first marathon November last year, and doing Comrades this year

The addiction is strong with this one ^^

Doing my first 1/2 marathon in a month. Did about 6-7 10km races last year. Now I train 10kms on a slow run. I might skip the marathon and switch over to trail running.

 

[Rocket-Boy]

I have been looking out for runners in the morning, and I see a few at around 6AM. Some running along a major road actually.

Am I silly for not wanting to run with anyone else? I just want do it alone. I don't want to join a club or anything. I don't know why.

I am interested in shorter distances such as 5KM. I'll never be a long distance runner - I don't want to. My goals are to improve my fitness and lose weight. Improving my time in Parkrun would also be nice.

If you dont want to join a club then that is fine, I find that quite a lot of my local parkrun are part of the same club and we run the parkrun route in the week sometimes, helps with getting your times down.
Either way a bit of running(intervals help) will improve your time greatly.
I got down from around 30 mins to 23 mins doing that.

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

It's true, i did my first half marathon April last year after two 10ks, did first marathon November last year, and doing Comrades this year

Seriously - you jumped from a 10km into a marathon? I found the half-marathon (Nike Soweto) tough - I breezed through the 2km uphill around the 16km mark - but around 19km the wheels came off (mostly due to not hydrating enough) and I was glad to finish it at 1:59. I somehow don't find myself in the headspace of being able to do twice that much for a marathon or 4 times for a Comrades. Goal for this year is to mentally get myself through a marathon though.

Out of interest: I was surprised that at longer races here in SA such as the 21km they only serve water/flat coke past the 15km mark - did you just run on water+gels or how do you keep the electrolyte level up - I doubt water/coke would do it for me.

 

[Stevi]

Seriously - you jumped from a 10km into a marathon? I found the half-marathon (Nike Soweto) tough - I breezed through the 2km uphill around the 16km mark - but around 19km the wheels came off (mostly due to not hydrating enough) and I was glad to finish it at 1:59. I somehow don't find myself in the headspace of being able to do twice that much for a marathon or 4 times for a Comrades. Goal for this year is to mentally get myself through a marathon though.

Out of interest: I was surprised that at longer races here in SA such as the 21km they only serve water/flat coke past the 15km mark - did you just run on water+gels or how do you keep the electrolyte level up - I doubt water/coke would do it for me.

No big jump, after two 10ks did about 7 half marathons before attempting the Soweto Marathon (Tough hills )
Nearly every race that I ran just serve coke and water at the water stations. For half marathons I can manage on coke (Mix half a cup of coke with water so your sugar levels don't spike too quickly).
For anything over two hours I need to use gels,sweets, chocolates to keep going.
You can find some cool training programmes on the Runners World SA website, used them to train for the 21ks and 42k

 

[Stevi]

. I might skip the marathon and switch over to trail running.

Trail running is fun, although much tougher. Gives your ankles a good workout too

 

[creeper]

Trail running is fun, although much tougher. Gives your ankles a good workout too

I have done it before. Just not at the fitness level that I'm at now.

 

[Ancalagon]

I found that injury is due to wrong equipment and not taking enough time. If you are a heavy runner (in my mind if your BMI is over 28) you need to look at shoes which absorb your weight. Anyone starting to run (even if it is just a casual 2km per day) should check first if they overpronate. Pronation is part of your walking-/running-dynamics and is supposed to protect you from injury (i.e. the arch of your foot collapses against the ground to absorb impact). Your pronation is comparable to a car's suspension - so it can be either neutral, too stiff or too soft.

When it's neutral, your foot naturally rolls inwards during the heel-to-toe transition. I read somewhere than only about 30% of runners are neutral. Over-pronation is when the foot rolls excessively inwards and the arch collapses in a way that not enough impact is absorbed. Under-pronation is when your foot does not roll inwards enough and also does not assist well with shock absorption. It's quite easy to test via a "wet foot test". Once you know how your body's suspension works, get the appropriate shoes.

Get proper socks - your regular work- or gym socks will not work. I use Falke L+R running socks (similar to those: http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.co.za/falke-pronator-running-socks-sizes-7-9.html) which have padding at the heel and have "ventilation air-pockets" - socks like those rock, as they do not move and cause blisters/chaffing. (If you treasure your man-hood, get Under Armour sports underwear and for long runs you might need one of those Glide anti-chaffing sticks cyclists use).

You can prevent injury if you run on grass/soft surfaces and do not increase your distance by more than 10% per week. Most runners injure themselves due to wrong footwear or starting off with 5km on a new pair of shoes.

Yeah I'll need to look into that I suppose. I bought thicker socks especially for running, and they seem to have stopped the blisters (I got one the first time I ran, but not again).

The shoes I wear are Asics that I bought a few years ago in the UK. No idea what they are, I think they are general purpose cross country shoes. They have a higher instep, which I need because my arches are quite flat. Specifically, my left arch is almost non-existent, and I sort of have a right arch. I wore shoe inserts as a child and they helped the right foot, but not the left. Still, as long as the shoes I wear have adequate support, the arch doesn't cause me pain. I just can't wear completely flat shoes for too long.

Regarding pronation, I have no idea what my style of running is. It doesn't feel quite right to me, it feels like I take shorter strides as I get tired, and considering the length of my legs, doesn't feel right. I also feel that I am landing too heavily. I should probably see a running coach, but then, I doubt I will ever want to run more than 5km. Maybe it is worth it all the same.

I have given up on Parkruns (especially the Lonehill one as it is more a walk than a run with dogs/babies/strollers) as it typically takes me 1 hour in driving and then 20 minutes to run. I can leave the house at 5am in the morning and in the same time do a proper 16km on weekends. I think Parkruns are great if you want to socialise or if you want to get your 5km baseline properly measured. I prefer my runs alone in the morning, but I do enjoy the 10km races - the vibe is just great and once you have broken out after the first 5km it becomes very motivating.

The two major reasons I do parkrun are the 500 discovery points that you get, as well as the fact it gets me up early on a Saturday morning. Otherwise I feel like I have wasted time.

 

[Stevi]

Ancalagon, try find a running shop called The Sweat Shop near you. They will analyse the way you run and check how your older shoes have worn away.
From this they can show you which type of shoe will suit your running style

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

The two major reasons I do parkrun are the 500 discovery points that you get, as well as the fact it gets me up early on a Saturday morning. Otherwise I feel like I have wasted time.

If you run 4km+ every day with a fitness tracker (GPS watch) you will get 150 discovery points - that gives you more than 4000pts per month.

 

[Ancalagon]

Ancalagon, try find a running shop called The Sweat Shop near you. They will analyse the way you run and check how your older shoes have worn away.
From this they can show you which type of shoe will suit your running style

Thanks.

If you run 4km+ every day with a fitness tracker (GPS watch) you will get 150 discovery points - that gives you more than 4000pts per month.

I don't need the points actually. As I said on the other thread, I'm at 26000 already, and if I do parkrun for the rest of the year, I'll easily make it to 45k. All that a fitness tracker will do is get me there a lot faster. Not worth R1000.

 

[Mila]

This time of the year I'm less wary. But it is already not that light when I get up at 4:45 than it was last month.
Come April / May I do not like running on the road. If I do not go early enough I get the Maniac Mommys on the school run. WTF. Why do you drive like a hooligan?! And early it is dark. So that is when I drive to gym and run on the treadmill.
But I use the gym for Yoga and Spin classes as well.

 

[drkev]

I have run around 6000km in the last 3 years 99% on the road. Never ever had a safety issue. Only danger in my opinion is running on very dark roads where you might trip on a pothole.

My golden rule: run facing oncoming traffic. You are asking for trouble if you assume people will see you in your high-vis. If you can see the guy snoring and veering towards you, you have a chance to get out the way!

Lace up your shoes. Not too tightly. and go run! Enjoy

 

[STS]

Speaking of jogging and safety

a guy tried to rob me today with a knife, holding my hand, while i was sitting in the car
i managed to grab the hand with the knife, and started driving

i let go after awhile because i didn't want to kill anyone on my way to pick up my son from school, but he got a bigger fright than me

 

[froot]

Speaking of jogging and safety

a guy tried to rob me today with a knife, holding my hand, while i was sitting in the car
i managed to grab the hand with the knife, and started driving

i let go after awhile because i didn't want to kill anyone on my way to pick up my son from school, but he got a bigger fright than me

Lol

That happened in the Pretoria CBD.... it was caught on camera and Metro caught the guy (the mugger).

 

[Ancalagon]

Well I went for my first solo jog yesterday morning and I didn't die. I wasn't shot, mugged, raped or hit by a car.

Going again on Tuesday afternoon I think.