Headphones or no headphones, that's the question!?

Headphones?

Or no headphones?

When I set out last week to write a piece on running with headphones versus no headphones, my stance was always going to be (as a convert), to find a reason toward no headphones. That was until this weekend past. 

As a brief background, I’ve always run. I enjoy it, I like the fact that if I want to get out I can. The longest I’ve run to date is 30K or 18.64 miles. Up until a couple of years ago, I was a big proponent of music while running, listening to extended mixes by DJs such as Sasha and Max Graham. However it was chatting to my brother and then getting a dog, that I started to drift off the music. Primarily due to the dog if I’m honest, as I needed (and still do) to keep aware of where he is and when. As it happens I’ve come to enjoy it, especially living in the countryside as we do, hearing the tread on gravel, the birds tweeting etc I find it quite cathartic and easy to get lost in the run, and by that, being at one with nature….

All that said however, along with a group of friends met on Instagram, I participated in a 100 mile ultra marathon relay this weekend past, each of us running 16.8 miles (2 miles shy of my current distance record - which I did 10 years younger). We were all in different parts of the country running at set times, so our distance was run on our own, unaided. I set off headphone-less, and was quite happy for it, 8 miles in however, and the sound of the camelbak on my back sloshing about, while initially rhythmic, got really annoying and at times disheartening, especially when my running didn’t feel in time with it. So, I donned the headphones that I’d taken along, (no lie, with a view to writing this up)…

At that 8 mile point, after having my energy gel and with the headphones in, it gave me the gust of wind that I needed at the time. My only criticism was that the mix I chose had more mellow tunes on it than I recalled, and they didn’t help, but otherwise running with music was a help than the hinderance I was expecting to argue. Those tunes that where upbeat and motivational really kicked in nicely and I forgot about the burning sensation on the souls of my feet for a while. It was only at the Avebury Stone Circle that the headphones had to come out due to some weird interference (for another post I am sure), before going right back in once I was through.

I think off the back of that run (having not run a decent distance in such a while), that my view has adapted to being more in line with, running long distance; headphones, shorter training runs; perhaps not. Obviously this piece was never going to break the internet in its topicality, but more spurns my nosey curiosity in what people prefer when running… Which leads nicely into the below part:

Before writing this piece and actually before signing up to the #lockdownleg, I put a couple of questions onto instagram stories and these are the responses I got in return:

The questions where: “What do you think about when running? Or do you listen to music?” and “What music do you listen to?’

I only had a few responses, but all where quite interesting, the majority clearly favour listening to music, what I found interesting is the listening to podcasts while running. I personally listen to podcasts on the train or in the car when I can concentrate a little more, while running I think I would find that rather hard. The other fascinating response was a chap who had just finished 100 marathons in 100 days… Listening to white noise on one or some of those days, when I guess your body was in quite a physical space, I guess the best thing to listen to was noise just to air out the aches and pains.

My conclusion to this ‘fun’ post is that for me, I quite like, on shorter runs, to have just the natural noises and being at one with my thoughts; what’s on for today, what matters do I need to attend to, what blog posts do I want to write, why does my dog love poo so much and so on. Though on longer runs as you’re pushing your body harder, having the music to hand is, and was, welcome relief. I could of course delve more into the science of running with headphones versus not, and there are articles that have been written by people far more learned than me, but this was more about how others run than whether you should or shouldn’t listen to music, podcasts or not. I may revisit this again, but for now, run well, run hard and enjoy the tunes.

A Practitioner not a Physio

My current weapons of choice! The Vibram V-Alpha Five Fingers.

I am happy to say, that over the last few weeks of lockdown, (in-between home schooling) I have been able to devote some time to The Barefoot Daddy, and consider/ develop what it is or shall become. In that time though I have been fortunate to engage with a few people who have reached out and asked about the style, either because they are interested in barefoot running, trainers of choice or are curious why I run in this style.

In considering the next blog topic to cover, it therefore seemed natural to perhaps tackle my reasons for barefoot running; not to dissuade people from reaching out by any means, more to cover my why’s and wherefores.

Some medals.

As a broad background, I am not, nor ever have been a pro athlete in any measure what so ever. I have always loved running, be that with my father growing up, cross-country or athletic meets at school or more simply, as a leisure pursuit, and whilst I was OK and got into teams, I was never the top jock. The maximum running distance I’ve completed to date is 30 kilometres (18.64 miles), running in the Around the Bay race, a qualifier for the Boston Marathon. I’ve always been fairly proud of the 3hrs 17 mins time I did it in whilst a 20-a-day smoker, but that pretty much sums up my level of sportsmanship.

Other than school athletics on grass tracks where barefoot seemed the best style, I had always been a shod (cushioned) runner. However around the time I did the Around the Bay, (c.2009), I was in the market for a new trainer and asked in a shop where I was living in Toronto, and happened to enquire into a shoe that I liked the look of. That was the New Balance Minimus 10, basically, I gave them a go. I can’t remember whether I ran the Bay Race in them or not, but that was the blood in the water for me. I was not guided into them, I was not medically advised to take them, my gait was OK ish, and didn’t need correction particularly, (I think I was close to neutral or was underpronating), I just thought they were cool, and it would be “edgy” to try them, that was 11 years ago. I have had one falter and bought a shod trail runner that I wore for a couple of months 2 years ago, that have since been confined to lawn mowing trainers, but that is it.

I think now, if you asked me to wear a cushioned trainer I would rather the alternative than wear them. I am not a militant barefoot runner forcing people to follow the same path (not that there are any of those), but for me, I couldn’t think of another style of trainer, and will gladly bestow the virtues to anyone prepared to listen. The more I have run barefooted the more I like it. I get pains and injuries as any runner does, but I feel the benefits far outweigh the negatives, to the point that I now also wear a barefoot casual shoe, and would consider a barefoot smart shoe if I could find a pair that I like. I like the feeling of the style. Yes, it is a pain in the butt when you land on a stone, rock or stick, but you adapt to it, you become almost impervious to it.

From a science perspective (I thought it worth throwing some of that in), a study done for the National Institute of Health in the US concluded: “that at 70% of vVO (2)max pace, barefoot running is more economical than running shod, both overground and on a treadmill.” A nice article written a couple of years ago by a fitness instructor in St Louis called Tom Kelso, summarises some of the study’s (albeit limited ones) and the general perspective is that: “Kinematic and kinetic analyses show that even on hard surfaces, barefoot runners who forefoot strike, generate smaller collision forces than shod rear-foot strikers.” (ie. less injuries - is how I’ve taken that).

I admit, I have drawn out the benefits of the style to make myself feel better, but there isn’t anything I can find, both personally and in studies, that suggest this running style is “dangerous”, typically quite the contrary. Most of what I have read also states, and I would agree, is if you are going to switch, then take it slowly. I have been doing this (listen to me, I sound like an expert), for 11 years, it takes time to retrain the body to this style before gleaning the benefits. I wouldn’t equally get barefoot trainers, or sandals, or even go pure barefoot, and nail a full marathon, but if you are interested, ask around, engage in chat on social media with those that are practitioners, ask your medical professional, and above all, you know your body, if it hurts, or doesn’t suit your style, don’t do it! (It is better though 😜)

There will inevitably be more from me on this subject, but I hope this is a good starter for 10, in case people were interested in my path to the barefoot side. Until next time…

Why does my dog eat crap!?

Mmmm, delicious! My lab, likely after a field snack.

My dog is Jasper, he is a 4 1/2 year old black lab. He is a delightful animal. Loyal, energetic, fit, healthy and protective, he is an addition to our family that my wife and I are quite proud of, as well as love very much. However, he is not, sadly, perfect… he has a small ailment that frankly drives me mad, and that of eating poo, excrement, crap, dung, droppings or any other word you prefer.

Generally he eats any; he is not discerning, (or so I thought). Where he and I run, there is a fair array of choice for him, horse manure, cow dung, sheep droppings, presumably badger, fox, and the rarest and sweetest poos (in his mind) of all…. the emergency human poop!! The human variety, for me, is the most foulest (pun intended) of all. I’m always caught off guard; he picks up the scent and goes off (funnily enough), like a rabid dog, that takes an inordinate amount of screaming to vaguely claw him back from the brink. Why I miss this I will never know, perhaps it’s because it’s such a rare situation, that when he does smell it, I’ve totally forgotten about the last time it happend, but the smell and the look of both guilt and glee in his face is both priceless and projectile vomit inducing.

My frustration at this has caused me to look into it a little, and as it transpires there is a name for this condition: Coprophagia. Having learnt that there is a name for this “condition”, I decided to slip down an internet hole - which I quickly regretted, however on the crawl back out, found this interesting article from a chap called the Doglistener (https://www.doglistener.co.uk/dogfood/dogs_eating-poop-poo-coprophagia.shtml) who breaks down the three levels of poop eatery:

Types of poop eating

1. Autocoprophagia: eating its own faeces (disgusting)

2. Intraspecific Coprophagia: eating faeces from within its own species (also disgusting)

3. Interspecific Coprophagia: eating faeces from another species (cat, deer, rabbit, horse, etc) (weirdly manageable, but still disgusting?)

Jasper, is Interspecific… which doesn’t make it any better!! That said however, since learning a little more and in the build up to writing this piece, I’ve been watching him more consistently on our daily runs, and oddly, he is in fact discerning about which crap to eat. (Honestly if he ate all he found, my rubbish running pace would be so much worse trying to pry him away from the bloody stuff every 2 minutes). What I’ve come to learn though, is that he doesn’t like it fresh, and he doesn’t like it too old. It seemingly needs to be just right…. He’s like the bloody goldilocks of the dog poop eating world!!

From this internet hole I intentionally fell down, my best guess is that its not nutritional, we feed him a good brand of working dogs dry food. He goes to the vets every quarter (which he hates), and his weight is bang on. There is always someone at home with him, so it’s not attention seeking, and he isn’t stressed. It could very well be from his mother (he was raised on a farm), and so learnt it from her, but having watched him more intently recently, I reckon he’s just developed a taste for the bloody stuff!

What does this mean though and how can I resolve it? To be entirely honest, I hadn’t been that concerned about the horse, sheep and cow poop generally, because they eat grass and hay etc, but upon reading more there are possible health implications if the crap he is eating comes from an animal with health issues. As it stands this is even more prevalent with the human sh*t, (especially in this new COVID world), add to this also, that we have an outdoor cat that is a vicious predator of small vermin (good), but he needs worming every 3 months because of it, and the dog seeks out his crap too. So, I think, in the first instance, I need to talk to my vet, and then from there see whether it is a course of training or pills, (there’s a flipping pill for everything!), or both.

When I set out to write this it was more as an amusement piece, than anything too serious. But the more I’ve dug, the more it’s opened up areas that I probably need to look further into about the behaviour… so to conclude, there is no conclusion, yet. First stop, (once Covid 19 lockdown is over), the vets and we’ll see where that takes us…. The quest of the poop eating dog is ongoing, stay tuned!