Running may or may not be your favorite way to exercise. If you already enjoy running, there’s potentially the “runner’s high” to experience. If you dislike running, there’s the “runner’s low,” which may be basically every time you run. But with the COVID-19 coronavirus putting many other types of exercise on hold, running may currently be one of your best options to keep physically active.
After all, running doesn’t require teammates, a field, a gym, or any special equipment, except for perhaps appropriate shoes and clothes. Wearing leather shoes and no clothes won’t quite fly in most places. Otherwise, as long as you have some kind of sneakers and something to wear, you can get going. Regardless, you still have to take precautions with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) continuing to spread. Here are 10 of them:
Precaution 1: Stay at least 12 feet away from others.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), social distancing means staying at least six feet from other people. However, six feet is a minimum in general. As I covered previously for Forbes, a study showed how simply saying the words “stay healthy” could spew forth droplets from your mouth. Typically, you breathe faster and harder when you are running than when you are standing or sitting, unless, of course, you are watching pictures of melted cheese while sitting or standing. Such panting may mean that you exhale respiratory droplets in greater quantities and project them farther. Therefore, you may want to at least double your distance when exercising or watching melted cheese. Two Denzel Washingtons away from others, which is 12 feet, assuming that Washington is six feet tall, will provide more of a safety buffer.
Precaution 2: Keep your eyes ahead on the path to anticipate who or what may be coming.
This isn’t the time to daydream about Gigi Hadid riding a Segway or BTS making pizza. Keep your eyes scanning forward, and keep planning where exactly you will be running next. View your running course like you would a football field, where you have to avoid getting too close to others. Pretend that you are Lionel Messi or Alex Morgan weaving down the field. If you are running along a narrow path and someone else is coming the opposite direction, one of you will have to yield and get off the path early enough to avoid a collision of respiratory droplets and faces.
Precaution 3: Be very clear with your communication with others.
When you do appear headed for a direct encounter with someone else, this is not the time to play a game of chicken. Instead, signal very clearly who should move where. Typically, it is best to do this with both your voice and gestures with your hands and arms. After all, the person may not be able to hear you, especially if you are wearing a mask. Your gestures should be clear. Don’t turn this into charades. Eleven words, first word rhymes with “sweat,” is not the way to communicate when you want to say, “get the heck out of the way, I am coming though.” Semaphores or smoke signals are not very practical because then you have to carry flags or kindling wood while running.
Precaution 4: Don’t wear a mask or face covering that prevents you from breathing.
Running requires oxygen. If you do not realize this, you should not be running. In fact, there are many things that you shouldn’t be doing. You probably should not leave your house, ever, at least, not until you have taken the course “Basic Things Required to Live 101.” If you are going to wear a mask or face covering, don’t use one that prevents you from adequately breathing like a pair of skinny jeans wrapped around your head. Keep in mind that your oxygen requirements tend to increase while you’re exerting yourself. So just because you can breathe easily with a mask on while sitting in a chair thinking about puppies, doesn’t mean that you can do the same while running. Before running with your chosen face covering, experiment by trying to breathe progressively faster and harder through the covering first. (To induce yourself to breath faster, just imagine some melting cheese.) If you end up passing out, that would be a sign that your face covering is not allowing enough air through to your mouth and nose.
Precaution 5: Consider wearing a mask if you are going to be anywhere near people.
You know when you say, “it’s not you, it’s me,” when you break up with someone? Well, the purpose of wearing a mask or face covering outside is not to protect you, but to protect others from you. Unless it’s an official N95 mask that’s worn properly, a mask is not going to really protect you from the virus. But a face covering may block at least some of the respiratory droplets that may spew from your mouth and nose. Make sure that the face covering is dry and not wet. Few things, in general, are better to wear wet than dry.
One possibility is wearing a buff. No not a buff person. That would not be social distancing. Rather a buff, which is a tube of light, breathable, stretchy material that can be readily worn over the face.
Check to see what your community, town, or city is requiring. They may be asking you to wear a face covering in any public area. You don’t want to be faced with a situation where you didn’t realize that your face needs to be covered.
Precaution 6: Don’t run immediately where others have just run.
The wind outside can help disperse respiratory droplets so that they are less concentrated. That can make transmission of the virus less likely outdoors. However, respiratory droplets with viruses may still hang in the air for a bit. So treat a person’s exhaling while running sort of like a fart that’s been released. While there may be occasions when you should “run towards the light,” rarely should you “run towards the fart.” Similarly, avoid those areas that people have just been running. Of course, don’t be paranoid and overdo it. Darting around muttering, “oh, my goodness, people here, yikes, people there, jeez. what am I going to do,” could be overdoing it. The likelihood of transmission outside in the open air without close direct contact with another person is still relatively low.
Precaution 7: Avoid touching any shared objects.
This is not the time to hug a statue and say, “someday we will be together, my love.” This is not the movie Mannequin. Even objects bathed in the wind, sun, or rain can remain contaminated with the virus if someone contagious previously touched, coughed on, sneezed on, or panted on it. (By the way, try not to pant on statues in public.) If you do touch something that may be contaminated, clean your hands thoroughly and immediately. The chances of you inadvertently touching your face during running is very high.
Precaution 8: Know when and where to run.
Pay attention to local warnings and regulations and follow them. Yellow “Police Line Do Not Cross” tape does not mean “Jump Over This” or “Use This As A Limbo Bar.” Don’t go anywhere that has signs with skulls on them. That’s typically a bad idea. Even though fewer people are outside, continue to avoid running in areas and during times that are typically not safe. Always keep in mind where you would go if you needed to seek help immediately.
Precaution 9: Ease into running.
If you haven’t been running regularly, your body may not be used to it. Don’t think that you can immediately go from the couch to running marathons. Start very slowly. Each day you go out, gradually increase your distance and speed. Listen to your body. If your body says, what the bleep are you doing, slow down. Make sure that you stretch before and after running.
If you were already a regular runner before the pandemic, the New York City Road Runners (NYRR) still recommends reducing the intensity and effort of your running and “consider running by minutes rather than miles so you can go at the pace that feels best that day.” That’s because stress, anxiety, and altered schedules can affect your body in many unexpected ways. Your body may be less flexible and your exercise tolerance may be down.
Precaution 10: Mix it up and have fun.
With fewer options available, it may be more difficult to cross train, to work out different parts of your body. Constantly pounding the same parts of your body with repetitive motions could lead to injury and over-development of some body parts and underdevelopment of others. To prevent this problem, consider mixing things up every now and then with different ways of running such as incorporating high-knees (running so that your knees go as high as you can), skipping, side-stepping, and Gangham Style. Consider interspersing some push-ups, sit-ups, juggling, and other ways to work the rest of your body. Be creative.
This ain’t the time to be self-conscious. Heck people have been hoarding toilet paper, attending business meetings without pants, and going weeks without haircuts. Don’t worry about how you may look while running. As the NYRR website recommends, “know that not every run will be perfect and that is okay. It will take time to understand the role running now plays in your life as you learn to balance it with your new routine.” This is your chance to get outside after being cooped up all day on Zoom meetings wondering if everyone else realizes that you are not wearing pants.
Even though you have to keep physically separate from other people, you can still stay connected with them. Organizations like the NYRR can provide ways of connecting with others and the running community virtually. This may even be an opportunity to “run” with some of the world’s top runners like Jenny Simpson, former World Champion and Bronze Medalist at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio in the 1500 meters:
Think positively. The current situation is inspiring people to do things differently, which in the long run could be a good thing, a really good thing. So if you want to sing while running. Do so. If you want to dance while running, dance like no one else is watching. View running as a new way to express yourself. This pandemic will continue to change life as we know it. Might as well make the changes positive.
Source: www.forbes.com
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