Hey! Jogging is easy

[In this 3. excerpt from his Hey! Jogging is easy! Winni Mühlbauer focuses
attention on the heart. It will bring you one step further on your way to health
and joie de vivre.]
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We know what a heart thinks when no demands are put on it. Now let's listen
to your heart pondering the fact that you've taken up running. The first few
runs left it disgruntled and confused. "What's going on here?" it asked in
indignant protest. "Why is this guy suddenly tormenting me and the other
muscles? Just when I get used to monotony and routine I'm supposed to hop
into action, lickety-split. No way, buster, you can't do that to me! I like me the
way I am."

A few runs later the tune is different.

"Okay, I'll give the thing a try. It'll probably stop soon enough anyway. It's too
much for him, especially since I'm not pitching in." Then it slyly rubs its hands
together and snickers: "Ha, ha, ha! If only he knew that I could adapt to the
higher load!"

So, the heart waits to see what will happen.

"For the moment," it decides, "I'll stay as I am and do things the way I've
always done them. The heartbeats may come faster, but the volume of blood
I pump per heartbeat will stay as small as ever."

This game goes on for a while until the heart finds it too stupid to play along.
"Curses! He's not as lazy as I thought. He's already into the third week, and
he's running regularly and a bit longer each time. Blast! He's actually taking
the thing seriously. I'd better start doing something before this gets too much
for me. Why should I go on working myself to the bone when I could make
life easier for myself. I'll just grow a bit. I can pump the same amount of blood
with fewer heartbeats if I thicken my muscle walls and widen the inner ventricles.
I'd be a fool to let this guy get me down for long. Better to adapt, work efficiently,
like I used to do when I was a young sprite. Then I can recover better at night
when he's asleep. I'll even have an easier time climbing stairs. Not bad. Things
seem to be looking up."

Thanks, heart, the message has come through loud and clear. Not forgetting,
of course, that the adaptation of the heart is only one of many highly beneficial
forms of adaptation caused by running. Your metabolism, your muscles, your
consumption of oxygen, and a good many other things also benefit from the
effects of endurance training. I'll have a few things to say about them below.