All posts tagged: marathons

I’m addicted to running marathons — they’ve changed my life

I’m addicted to running marathons — they’ve changed my life

Published by Sam Flores

I had just turned 30, started a new job and the weight was beginning to pile on. The scales were approaching the 18-stone mark and I was veering dangerously close to couch potato territory. My friends were beginning to couple up, get married and have babies, yet I was coasting. I decided I needed a holiday and, crucially, to start looking after myself. Then, an epiphany! Why not kill two birds with one stone? I went in hard and began searching for marathons in European cities I’d never visited. Was I an experienced marathon runner? Absolutely not, but with hope, determination and plenty of ignorance, I thought, “Why not?” Source link

A man who was hospitalised with life-threatening sepsis before doctors discovered cancer is now doing marathons

A man who was hospitalised with life-threatening sepsis before doctors discovered cancer is now doing marathons

Published by Sam Flores

A man who was hospitalised with life-threatening sepsis before doctors discovered cancer on his spleen has gone from being unable to “run 100 metres to now doing marathons”. Yves Renuixen-Mencel, 32, a former ticketing supervisor at Heathrow, who is originally from Poland but now lives in London, said he had “absolutely no symptoms” before he was diagnosed with a cancerous mass on his spleen in May 2019, aged 26. Source link

I’ve run 63 marathons – these are the 10 best Garmin watches for running, hiking and everyday wear

I’ve run 63 marathons – these are the 10 best Garmin watches for running, hiking and everyday wear

Published by Sam Flores

The Garmin Vivoactive 6 strikes a winning balance between fitness-tracking firepower, simple style, 24/7 wearability and smartwatch smarts. At just 36g, it’s light, compact and comfortable. The vibrant 1.2-inch AMOLED display is on the smaller side but still does a good job of bringing a huge range of daily insights to life. Activity tracking is excellent with your core health and activity insights including sleep tracking and coaching, steps, stress, body battery (a kind of energy level metre) and breathing rate. Beyond that, the Vivoactive 6 is a pretty serious training tool, too. It has more than 80 sport modes, run-tracking tools, fitness benchmarks like VO2 Max estimates, fitness age along with daily suggested workouts and recovery time recommendations. The battery life impressed for a smaller, AMOLED watch. I got six days of general usage and 8.5 hours GPS training on a single charge, which is significantly better than many smartwatches. There’s no accuracy-boosting dual frequency GPS tech but in my tests, it tracked well against much pricier watches. Heart performance was solid, too, though …

Commentary: China’s marathon boom needs a second wind

Commentary: China’s marathon boom needs a second wind

Published by Sam Flores

China’s sports obsession survived the pandemic, with some determined marathoners running circles in their living rooms during rolling lockdowns. While marquee events like the Beijing Marathon were cancelled for two years, some races were allowed to go ahead – leading to a disaster in 2021. That year, 21 ultra-marathoners, including some top champions, died from hypothermia after extreme weather struck a trail run in the northwestern province of Gansu. More than two dozen officials were punished for being negligent and allowing the runners to go on a mountain race without adequate gear. Races gradually resumed three years ago. But a series of unrelated incidents last year involving an underage runner, alleged rule-breaking pacers, and complaints about crowd control seemed to push the authorities to prick the marathon bubble by cancelling races. In October, the Chinese Athletics Association released new rules reminding organisers of their legal responsibility for enforcing safety regulations and applying stricter vetting to smaller-scale runs. HURDLES REMAIN Setting up sports events can require significant resources, including public services. On Sunday in Hong Kong, …