Exercise and heart disease

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Aliveandrunning2013 November 17

Cambridge  parkrun 5K yesterday morning. It wasn’t as cold as expected (around 6-7C) although for the last 4 years since I had my heart attack, I am much more sensitive to low temperatures than before. I presume this is due to the side effects of medication. This is a manageable problem if I wear appropriate running gear. This means I might have a heavier duty running jacket, long sleeved running top, heavy duty gloves, beenie and track bottoms. No wonder I’m slower at the moment. I can look like an Arctic traveller. It’s also highly likely I will be standing next to someone who has vest and shorts when it’s below zero. I think these types of runners should have their own separate race where they are free to run naked in the snow if they choose. Anyway, the going was soft to muddy and the degree of traction wasn’t great so I didn’t get under 24 minutes. In the finish tunnel there’s an occasional holdup and I can always be easily identified because I am doubled over with exertion and lack of breath. This egregious state of affairs doesn’t last long because I recover quickly but not before someone asks me if I’m OK. I gasp “Yes, yes” but deep down I know I’ve never been the same since Cream broke up in 1968 and Jimi Hendrix died in 1970. And don’t get me started on excellent magazines which are now defunct. Particularly The Listener, invariably described as the ” official organ of the BBC.” Not glossy, not full of celebrity froth but crammed of interesting, explanatory articles and the text of talks and discussions from 1929 to 1991, weekly. So, when I finish exhausted, it’s hard for people to realise there is an additional component of loss, anger, unfairness, bewilderment and wistfulness  to my presentation. Probably they should ask if I needed counselling rather than help for my temporary physical state.

Anyway, there were 372 finishers at Cambridge yesterday. The fastest ran 5K in 16 minutes 19 seconds and the last person’s time was 39 minutes 6 seconds. Peter the oldest park runner (80-84 age category) is not actually running at present but has taken to walking the course IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION and greeting everybody he knows as they pass. Long may he do so. Here’s the link :     http://www.parkrun.org.uk/cambridge/

Is there an equivalent nationally organised, weekly free race, run by volunteers (no pun intended) happening in the USA ?

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Aliveandrunning2013 November 9

I haven’t run for a full week. I’m not injured but the weather does interfere with my motivation. Autumn, I have accepted, is really here. More rain, less sunshine and lower temperatures. Rain’s OK but cold and grey skies certainly do have a negative impact on my mood. I’m probably a very mild case of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). It doesn’t help that I’m more susceptible to cold now compared with  much greater tolerance of it prior to my heart attack four years ago. I think it’s due to the effects of the medication I take. The same medication that regulates my heart beat, keeps me well and STOPS ME RUNNING FASTER. Today, I ran Cambridge parkrun which featured plenty of mud and large puddles. I felt good running but the time was inevitably slower than usual because of the conditions under foot. Poor traction always makes for greater effort and slower times. I was around 20 seconds slower than last week’s slow time but overall I was happy with my performance. Last week I was still coming back from injury so my displeasure is on the meagre side. My arch rival Mike easily beat me again. I need to choose some less fast arch rivals and install them into my mind. Then I can relegate Mike to ordinary running dude and friend rather than evil competitor.There’s clear need to get some trail shoes to negotiate muddy and  wet conditions which are a regular autumn/winter feature of both Cambridge and Wimpole Estate parkruns. At Cambridge, in particular, there are lots of tight muddy corners and it’s easy to come a cropper.

Interesting article in New Scientist November 9 2013 concerning the benefits of exercising. Current research is suggesting a correlation between consistent exercise and maintaining cognitive health including a lesser risk of developing severe cognitive impairment through dementia. Research also points to the importance of physical activity in the development of a range of cognitive abilities from childhood. Increasingly, exercise is linked with a number of health benefits including lowering the risk of heart disease and certain cancers and preventing the onset of type 2 diabetes. I did have a heart attack but my general level of fitness, as a result of running, has greatly helped in my recovery with no real loss of running ability. It’s left me with few obvious deficits in my overall health (except the medication STOPS ME RUNNING FAST).

What a bunch of shits comprise this coalition government and principally, the Tories. They are very skilled in creating an atmosphere of public loathing and condemnation of certain groups of people whom it is in their interest to demonise, those they would describe as  benefits scroungers or work refusers, and highlighting people taking  benefits on medical grounds which are supposedly insubstantial or non existent. The non working mentally ill, NHS “tourists”, housing benefit claimants and anyone who isn’t a hard working tax payer, all come in for a drubbing. There is a cruelty and a lack of humanity about their policies which is more obvious when you understand how they are implemented. See Polly Toynbee article http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/08/duncan-smith-poverty-benefit-sanctions-easterhouse

More dusting yesterday including cobweb removal. Dusting is not particularly interesting but dust itself is ! There’s so much of it and each, occasionally visible individual speck makes its own individual journey before its final resting place (unless you blow it elsewhere). What tales dust could tell (or not), what lessons could be learnt from history if dust had a voice. What a noble substance ! Don’t mess with it.

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Aliveandrunning2013 October 2

No available car to drive to Cambridge and Coleridge AC, so no road running for me with the club yesterday evening. Instead I went for a routine 47 minute run which took me to the banks of the River Cam at which point I turn around and run back. Calf feels normal but will it hold up for 2 hours when I do the Hoo Haar half marathon on Sunday, October 6 ? Should I do an hour’s run  tomorrow ? And what about parkrun on Saturday ? Good sense suggests I should cut out at least one of them. I’ll definitely do parkrun, however.

The media is reporting a meta analysis finding in the British Medical Journal which looked at 304 research papers concerning the role of exercise and medication in heart disease and stroke. The conclusion identified exercise as on a par  with medication in terms of continuing good health outcomes. It identifies diuretic drugs as most important for heart failure and exercise as important , or most important, in stroke recovery. It looked at trials involving nearly 340,000 patients to assess the merits of exercise and drugs in preventing death. Such was the extent of exercise in reducing death rates, the findings suggested that exercise should be added to prescriptions. This is good news and will encourage people to take some responsibility for their own continuing health. Unfortunately so many of us seem determined to sleepwalk into substantial health problems by willfully ignoring sensible eating patterns, not sleeping sufficiently, drinking too much alcohol and not taking any regard for the nature and quality of the food we consume, particularly the refined stuff.

At Birmingham Crown Court, a 23 year old man pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of a 16 year old girl on a bus by stabbing her, He has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, a severe and enduring mental illness which when appropriately treated and care supported, can be well managed. He was previously assessed by a psychiatric service in prison where he was serving a short sentence for threatening his mother with a knife. On discharge there was no treatment or care plan presumably because they didn’t identify a treatable mental illness (although prison staff had identified a number of problem behaviours). That’s the most charitable explanation. Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust have Assertive Outreach teams, a medium secure forensic service and a contract to provide a psychiatric service to the prison system. I find it difficult to accept that the assessing personnel didn’t identify an illness that their services could successfully treat. Paranoid schizophrenia was apparently diagnosed after the fatal stabbing which occurred about 3 months after his discharge from prison. Are their specialist Assertive Outreach teams working at full capacity? Have there been cuts in the provision of such services ? How could he not meet the criteria ?

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Aliveandrunning2013 August 24

Parkrun went well today unlike my Garmin which failed to locate the satellite. Lorna has picked up an injury which will require weeks, if not several months, of rest. She volunteered and gave out finishing tokens as runners completed their 5K. This was less anxiety provoking than last week when she recorded times as they ran past the finish line into the funnel. Those naughty runners do insist on coming in as a tightly grouped bunch. Afterwards we had coffee with our friends where I fought a losing battle to get a word in edgeways. Very enjoyable way to spend Saturday morning.

It’s four years exactly since I had my heart attack. I’m feeling fitter and running better than I have ever done! I don’t seem to have any physical deficits except those I attribute to the medication. For example the beta blocker regulates my heartbeat and acts like a limiter preventing me from running faster. Anyway that’s how it feels. Do I need to take four lots of medication daily? NICE says yes, my GP says yes, the cardiologist says yes, everyone says yes! So I take it and will continue to do so religiously despite not feeling a need to continue with it.

We had a lovely break in Rye on the South coast. Rye is one of the original Cinque ports but the sea has receded and is now over two miles away. We stayed opposite a police station and overlooked their car park. The station is open only 4 hours daily to the public. They seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time washing their police vehicles (hoping to make a clean sweep?). Anyway, the vehicles appeared to remain in the pound for long periods. I suppose this is a better outcome than hurtling around, blue light flashing and siren wailing, on some flimsy pretext which they don’t have to justify, endangering the public needlessly.

The Parish Church of St. Mary in Rye was built around 900 years ago and has the oldest working clock tower in the country. You can ascend the clock tower and view the bells on the way up. There are marvellous views of the surrounding areas and a complete and healthy disregard for modern safety standards as you navigate around the limited space at the top of the tower. Forget paying the worthwhile entrance fee if you are claustrophobic, have a high BMI (very narrow corridor) or don’t like steep wooden stairs or heights.

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Aliveand running2013 August 9

I’ve only got four weeks to the Grunty Fen half marathon so I need to do some training. It’s a flat, open course and last year it was both hot and windy. I did just over an hours run today which included the footpath of the River Cam. It’s always pleasurable running near water. Rivers. lakes, seas and streams all have their own personality. You almost feel you are in close proximity to something which is alive and has its own sense of self. Although we are mid summer now, I haven’t seen many boats, neither narrow boats nor the white fibreglass cabin cruisers. I’m a narrowboat man! The cabin cruiser owners tend to be smartly dressed, look smug and their boats appear immaculately clean. They have the air of traditional Conservatives. Not that I am being judgemental of course. Invariably a male is at the wheel looking superior. Anyway, as my runs get longer I will get nearer, and eventually into, Cambridge. On the weekends I will see the rowing eights practicing and when the colleges return there will be many more eights on the river.

I’m still swinging my one 8 kilo kettlebell around on a daily basis. I do think it’s helping to improve my core strength. Is it really? I don’t know for definite but if I think it is then I can be assured that the placebo effect certainly is leading to improvement. Even as we speak, men and women in white coats are providing hard evidence that the placebo effect is a powerful psychological force and competitor for physical treatments with drugs or surgery. For depression, for example, some studies have found that placebos are as effective as anti depressants and without the side effects. Furthermore even if the person is aware they are taking a placebo, research has shown that improvement in some conditions take place compared with a control group that is given nothing. All you need is to believe or want to believe! And this would apply to most people, of course.

I went shopping to Tesco today and was forced to make a citizen’s arrest on a parent who, unbelievably, took two Krispy Kreme doughnuts out of the cabinet of shame and placed them in his basket because his son declared his love of them! I explained that I was taking this action to protect the health of his child which was being jeopardised by the consumption of high fat, high sugar, over refined, nutrient depleted pseudo food. His mouth dropped open and his eyes bulged. He violently knocked away my hand that I had placed on his shoulder. I hastened to explain that my actions were intended to be a little instructive drama to emphasise the unhealthiness of the product and lead him to question the wisdom of purchasing it. I didn’t want to take it any further. I hoped I had made my point. He reacted by bellowing out to the nearby security person. Despite my best efforts to offer further explanation, I was firmly escorted out of the store. As he left me by my car, the security man said “Best not do that again, sir. People have every right to buy Krispy Kremes. I sometimes have one at lunch time and I know my lad likes them.” He had forced my hand and I wasn’t going to back down. “OK,” I cried, placing my hand on his shoulder,”I’m making a citizen’s arrest for the same reasons I gave that other negligent father.” He laughed, gently took away my hand and said “Go home,sir, make yourself a nice cup of tea, sit down and read your Saga magazine. You’ll feel a lot better.” As he walked away I didn’t feel I had got my message across very effectively but I will return. Oh yes! I have a new strategy. I’m going to get some tee shirts printed and merely stand by the Krispy Kreme cabinet. I’m not fully decided on the large bold text but it will be along the lines of KRISPY KREMES ? A WISE CHOICE FOR TYPE 2 DIABETES or TUCK IN AND DIE EARLY or OBESITY…..IT’S THE NEW THIN.

HM Revenue and Customs have reissued photos of high profile tax dodgers including large scale tobacco smugglers. It’s a case of the biggest drug dealer squeezing out the smaller ones.

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Aliveandrunning2013 August 5

I’m running a half marathon in a month’s time so I need to do some training pronto. I then have another half the following month in October. The second race is undulating and will be tougher. I may use my new secret weapon (walking at intervals) if the hill sections prove too challenging. I ran for over an hour today and felt fine.

I just listened to an Assistant Police Commissioner make a televised apology to the Tomlinson family for the conduct of the Metroplitan police officer responsible for the death of Ian Tomlinson whom he struck with a baton and then pushed to the ground. This occurred in London in 2009 during the G20 protests. The “apology” was intoned without feeling or conviction. The Assistant Police Commissioner looked bored and slightly spaced.

Her performance was outrageous and a calculated insult. The police didn’t reveal that he had also been bitten by a police dog because they wanted to avoid further distress to the family. They announced he had a heart attack as he made his way home and maintained that their officers were pelted with bottles while they were ministering to him. Lesson to be learned? The police will lie, dissemble, deny and apportion blame  to others to avoid taking responsibility for their own criminal actions.

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Aliveandrunning2013 August 3

I took part in an evening inter club race at a Newmarket horse racecourse a couple of days ago. Temperature around 30 C. Running in the heat seems to suit me although it’s important to be properly hydrated before and after running. It was only a 5K and I took it relatively easy but I still did a reasonable time. I think I’m running more efficiently and therefore a bit faster than in the recent past. That’s reassuring ! I was fit before my heart attack four years ago and I’m now running better than ever. I’ve been swinging an 8 kilo kettlebell around for a couple of weeks and running less mileage. Perhaps this has been helpful.

Yesterday I did a beep test and got 9.5. Again it was very hot and surprisingly hard. Never done one before and I enjoyed it.

Today I ran in the Wimpole Estate parkrun 5K and knocked 1minute 19 seconds off my personal best. This is run over rough parkland grass and includes a short, steep hill which I decided to walk up. I was able to catch up and pass all those who passed me as I walked so my run-walk-run strategy worked on this occasion.

I see the Metropolitan police are near to making an offer of compensation to the family of Ian Tomlinson,  the paper seller, who was caught up in the G20 protests in London in 2009. He was hit with a police baton and then pushed violently to the ground by a riot officer. He had been trying to find a way out of the police “kettle”, a strategy to keep groups of protesters from moving around by hemming them inside police lines. Tomlinson collapsed and died a short while afterwards. Initially it was considered to be a case of death by natural causes and this was supported by an initial incompetent postmortem which gave the cause as heart failure.

But six days later the Guardian published video footage, shot by an American on business in London, of a riot officer striking him with a baton and then shoving Tomlinson violently to the ground. He was hit from behind and pushed as he walked away from the police line. An inquest decided that he had been unlawfully killed by  a police officer but a jury in a subsequent criminal trial found police constable Simon Harwood not guilty of Tomlinson’s manslaughter. The family then decided to launch a civil action against the Metropolitan Police.

The video is in the public domain and is a truly shocking example of gratuitous police violence by one of their inhouse psychopaths.