Can you have a ‘Runversation’?

The Airtel Hyderabad Marathon is only a few days away. And if you haven’t been getting yourself in shape for it, here’s a simple way to test how fit you are: If you can have a conversation while running with someone without running out of breath, it means your fitness levels are good!

A “runversation” is essentially a way to see where you stand on the fitness scale. “For some people, running a 100m or climbing a small hill is easy, but it isn’t for others,” explains Dr Murali Nannapaneni, race director for the Hyderabad Marathon, “These people require a lot more oxygen.”

“If someone who is training has adapted his muscle composition to learn how to produce energy, the oxygen requirement for that particular activity becomes normal.”

It essentially comes down to this: “If somebody can have a conversation while they’re running, it’s a sign that they haven’t peaked their exertion level.”

Elaborating on the concept, Dr Murali says that the body produces energy for physical activities from three sources: Glucose in your bloodstream, glucose that’s stored short-term as glycogen and glucose that’s generated from fat. When you push yourself to run fast, you burn up the first two quickly, leaving you with no energy left since glucose from fat takes longer to process, leaving you tired, out of breath and with cramps — something they call “hitting the wall”.

“If you’re fit enough that you’re able to breathe normally, then your body’s energy requirement is not so high,” Dr Murali says, “So it optimises the amount of glucose and oxygen you need. So for endurance running, your body starts using energy from stored fats,” adding that pacing yourself is a way to train your body the right way for longer runs.

Uma Chigurupati, a seasoned marathon runner, says that pacing is something only experienced runners should work on, since they know how much energy they need for the time they want to achieve. “The requirement depends on the pace you have right now,” she says, “A slow runner can’t suddenly want to finish the marathon in a faster time.”