In my younger years, I used to try and out run my dog. It was always a disappointing exercise because my dog easily caught up with me. Even when I had a big head start, Soxie could simply turn on the jets and over take me in seconds.

When I got older and started to run almost every day, I had a new dog, Ruthenium, who I would take with me. Her running style was different than Soxie’s. At the start of the run she would burst into a sprint. It was all I could do to hold the leash as she dragged me sprinting for the first quarter mile. But then she would slow to a reasonable pace for the next mile plus. She steadily slowed until at the end of the run (say the last half mile) it was me that was pulling her to finish.

Ruthenium, it seemed, had different running abilities than me. She was built for quick, short bursts of speed. I was built for endurance.

Running man

According to this article about the Running Man Theory of the evolution of man my observations are in line with some of the latest scientific thinking.

Researchers have hypothesized that long distance running was an important activity to ancient man and was responsible for many of our physiological adaptations. For instance our heads evolved to stay steady while running. Our feet and knees evolved to absorb the impact of hours of steps on the ground. And our lungs and heart evolved to allow us to keep running for hours.

We may not be the fastest mammals on the planet but we can definitely run for the longest amount of time.
The theory of the Running Man is still a bit controversial as some scientists think it is not supported by data. However, the theory is gaining supporters as more information emerges about the activities of ancient humans.

It seems reasonable to me. It also explains my experience with my various dogs over the years. They can certainly run faster than me, but they would never have beaten me in a 50 mile race.

Now, I wonder when we’ll find the science that demonstrates humans evolved to juggle.

I’m not sure if I get a runner’s high while running and juggling but I must. I certainly feel different so perhaps that’s what people are talking about when explaining a “runner’s high.”

According to this research, runner’s high is the result of endocanabinoid signalling of the brain’s reward center. They had a theory that a release of this chemical is what was responsible for the development of high endurance humans.

In their study they looked at the effects of endocanabinoid on different animals including humans, dogs, and ferrets. Ferrets are a low endurance animal. It turns out that ferrets did not produce as much endocanabinoids as humans or dogs. This adds weight in support of their hypothesis.

Interesting enough.

I wonder if jogglers experience the runner’s high faster than regular runners. I’m not a good candidate because I don’t even recognize runner’s high but perhaps some of you other jogglers are. What do you think?

I saw an amusing article in the latest issue of Runner’s World about beer drinking and running. They did a pseudo scientific study in which a group of men and women runners were required to run a long run one night, drink a beer, then run an exhaustion run the next morning.

The idea was to test whether having a beer after a workout would reduce your recovery the next day.

The participants were tested twice, once where they drank an alcohol containing beer and once where they drank a non-alcohol containing beer. The runners were blinded as to what kind of beer they were drinking.

Beer running results

The results from the study were interesting.

1. Having beer after the run did not make runners feel worse the next morning.
2. Having an after run beer does not affect carb levels.
3. Men who had beer performed worse in the exhaustion run. Women performed better.

One of the things I liked about this study is that it recognizes that with only 10 people in it, you can’t make any real conclusions. Everything is just suggestive.

So the bottom line is that there isn’t enough evidence to say whether drinking beer after a workout will make the next workout tougher. It might for men but might make it easier for women.

Other interesting things from the article.

- Coaches used to give athletes alcohol before races because they thought it would improve performance.

- Most runners go slower if they drink before running.

I don’t mind having a beer after a run but I can certainly believe that it makes future runs tougher. While joggling is my typical hang-over cure, it also feels awful when I’m doing it after a night of drinking. Maybe some day I won’t drink any more. But it’s tough to give it up because so many in my social group do drink.

Here was an interesting article in the New York Times about how exercise boosts your brain.  According to the latest scientific research when you exercise, your brain requires added energy.  After all, your brain needs to fire a bunch of neurons to keep your legs and arms moving.  And when you add joggling to the mix, you need even more energy to keep track of the balls.

If you are concerned about keeping your brain healthy (and who wouldn’t be) it’s hard to beat daily exercising and of the types of exercises available what can be better than joggling?

Now, it’s time for me to go jolt my brain with a joggle around Key West.  This will be my 1192nd day in a row.

In my post about robotic jugglers, Joe Salter humorously quipped that he wanted to know when they would develop a robot joggler.  To that end, I found this video about running robots.  They are really working on them.

But then Matt directed me to this event, the robot marathon. Very cool!

These robot “run” the entire 26.2 mile distance. The winner came in at just around 54 hours. I think most everyone could beat them but give them a dozen years. Human marathoners may be slow in comparison.

I’ve previously reported on studies that showed how juggling can make your brain grow and also on studies that demonstrate that you can probably live longer if you eat less.  But this latest study suggests that not only can eating less make you live longer, it keeps your brain younger.

In the study, researchers put mice on a calorie restricted diet and found a molecule in their brain that triggered longevity genes.  Basically, the mice that ate less had younger brains.

The one hitch in my plan to live until I’m 107 years old is that my brain will start to get old.  I don’t so much mind the rest of my body parts aging but the mind is where the essence of person hood is located.  If that degenerates then so does everything about you.  It would be devastating to me to succumb to something like Alzheimer’s or dementia.  The only plus side of getting those things is that when you have them you don’t really know it.

Anyway, this is just more evidence that I need to start eating less.  Of course, this is just a mouse study and these things are often more complicated than we know.  However, it really wouldn’t hurt me to eat a bit less and if it keeps me smart and lets me live a long time…why wouldn’t I do it?

Joggle on!

It has happened in almost every marathon I’ve run. Somewhere between mile 18 and 22 I start to feel so exhausted that I don’t want to continue. Of course, I do continue but it’s hard.

Well, it seems that it is not really my muscles that are wearing down but rather my brain. According to this research, muscle fatigue starts in your mind.

In a series of studies published in the European Journal of Neuroscience, researchers demonstrated that nerve impulses from the brain (thalamus and insular cortex exactly are what is responsible for making your muscles feel tired. It is not a signal from the muscles which was the prevailing theory.

So, maybe in addition to joggling hundreds of miles to train for my next marathon, I should start trying to reprogram my brain to better withstand the pain.

Or maybe not.

When I first started running back in 1992, I only went 15 minutes a day.  There were a few reasons for this.  First, I wanted to be healthy and live a long life.  Second, I didn’t want to spend money on a gym membership.  Running outside was free and you can do it whenever you want.  It didn’t matter much that I didn’t like running.  The positives outweighed the negatives.

But how did I end up with 15 minutes as my time?

Well, this came from a book called Fit or Fat which essentially said 15 minutes of running was all you needed to get the health benefits that running would get you.  I never saw any good reason to go farther (at least until I learned to love running).

How much exercise do you need?

It looks like Covert Bailey was right, you don’t really need to do hours of exercise a day to be healthy.  According to this research, you can get the benefits of exercise by doing only 10 minutes a day.

I’m not going back to my 15 minute a day routine but it’s nice to know that if I did, I could still be healthy.  What is everyone else’s excuse for not exercising?

It turns out, the reason that people are shaped the way they are shaped is primarily because they started running.

According to research published in the November 18 issue of Nature magazine (a prestigious science magazine), humans evolved from ape-like ancestors because they had to run long distances to hunt animals on Africa’s large savannah.

Specifically, it is our human ability to be excellent long distance runners that convinces scientists that running is what made us who we are. Evolutionarily, humans have a perfect blend of endurance and speed.

Our excellent hand-eye coordination also makes for the evolution of excellent jogglers.

Anatomy of a runner

From the article, here are some of the most useful features that made humans better runners.

1. Skull is designed to help prevent overheating during running.

2. Head is desigend to be nicely balanced while running.

3. Neck ligament that acts as a shock absorber when running.

4. Head can rotate so it can stay forward while running.

5. Tall body enables more cooling during running

6. Shorter forearms makes balance easier.

7. Big butts. Enables stabilization for running

8. Large heel bone for better shock absorption.

An interesting theory. Now I wonder what people will say in the future when runners have evolved into jogglers.

In a study published in Nature back in 2004, researchers discovered that elderly people who learned to juggle could grow their brain. It actually increased grey matter in the motion sensitive area of the brain.

But subsequent studies showed that if you stopped regular juggling the brain growth would recede back to where you started. And if you merely juggled the same three ball pattern each time, the brain benefits didn’t continue either.

How to grow your brain

To grow your brain, you have to keep juggling and additionally, keep learning new tricks.

Fortunately, in juggling, there is always a new trick to learn. If you are getting tired of bean bags, switch to clubs, diabolo, yo-yos, or balancing things on your nose.  All of these can help build your brain and keep it young.

One great way to grow your brain is to figure out juggling siteswaps.

Math + Juggling = Brainiac