smog, pollution, and running

so, i used to love to go for a run from my apartment to the large park in the middle of the city (retiro), run around it a bit and then back. it's an hour+ run, which is great. plus i pass through some of the major sites of madrid (which is great fun).

but recently, i've begun to discover an unfortunate pattern (which began sometime last year and has repeated itself this year). often when i go running (at least in the winter months) in the morning - early morning to just normal morning (both of which are during rush hour), i get home, feel great, plan to do it everyday and then inevitable with in a day or two start to have flu-like symptoms.

it doesn't happen when i go at a different time of day, or on the weekend. it doesn't happen in the summer. nor does it happen when i go up to a park closer to my house and run around the almost mile long circuit. it seemed inexplainable and that surely it was all in my head. last year it meant i'd run for a week and then be sick and then repeat the cycle several times. this year, i've begun just to go to this track/park (which is really pretty, with a driving range in the middle, a 9-hole golf course, soccer fields, fountains,..., so i don't actually feel like i'm running in circles, which i kind of abhor). i go with my ipod & nike distance measurer and run for as long as i want. the added bonus is there are drinking fountains, i can go anytime of day and feel safe, and it's easy. the disadvantage is it's the same route everyday and, even if it doesn't seem like it, i am running in circles.

so, last week i decided to head to retiro yet again with one of my roommates. it felt great. as we were running i told her about a few years ago when i was in santiago, chile, for the summer. jason and i went running fairly regularly. i had run a marathon a couple months before and he just liked to run far distances, so it was great. in santiago there are a million dogs that chase you or guard you (from the other dogs, from the taxis, from other pedestrians,...)

this was also the summer that we ran through tear gas. only after we had run fully through it and realizing that both of our eyes, nose, and lungs were burning did we, after consider running across 7 lanes of traffic, turn right back around and run back through it. (it just happened that we were right by the university that protested class costs all summer, along with protests, riots, and much tear gas).

so, i was telling anna about this summer and mentioned how bad the pollution was - so much so that we rarely could see the mountains (which were just outside the city), there was a ton of visible smog, the entire summer when i blew my nose it was fully black (really), and that for the first two weeks i felt like i had a bad cold, with some flu-like symptoms.

it was only after i got back (and later started to feel a bit sick) that i began to think that maybe it isn't the best thing for my health to run in rush hour traffic, breathing in all the car exhaust and also the smoke from the majority of pedestrians i pass (which are quite numerous). looking some stuff up online, i have since found that madrid (which not obviously very polluted) apparently has exceeded maximum air pollution limits for the past eight years. and, it is due to the excessive traffic of cars (and my running path goes along one of the busiest streets for car traffic in madrid).

Additionally, it said that:

According to a European Commission’s recent study, air pollution causes in Europe 350,000 premature deaths per year, of which 16,000 correspond to Spain. In this country, due to air pollution, die more than 3 times more persons than in traffic accidents and almost 11 times more than in industrial accident.

The main air pollutant agent in Madrid is the vehicle, due to its structure of city of services and its little industry. The most problematic contaminants in the capital are carbon dioxide, NO2, and the suspended particles, PM10 (which were nearly 3x the max).

Ecologists In Action actually have filed a lawsuit against the city.


bad news - i don't think i'm going to continue running this route, at least not during morning rush hour - i think even if and when i get a car, i need to make an effort to not add too much to the pollution problem - and i guess it looks like the local park/ driving range/ track will continue to be my running buddy.

good news - i may have figured out what is going on and how to run but not make myself sick. in the meantime, i need to go visit my local health food store lady tomorrow for some stuff to boost my immune system and get me feeling better, i need to look into (sad) working out a bit more inside (at least part of the week), and it gives me a good incentive to be a bit more proactive in taking vitamins and such that will counteract some of the pollution's effects, as well as, work on building up my lungs so they can endure the pollution (if that's even possible).

all this said, i still have a theory (i seem to have many unproven theories). my theory is that while, yes, running in rush hour traffic is probably not the best, that if i build up my lung capacity and immune system that it won't bother me quite as much. (although even as i write this, i am not sure that it makes too much sense to try out this theory. although i still want to. i want to train on the mile long track for awhile, building up my mileage (eventually to run a marathon) and, while it not being the majority of my runs, on the long ones (and maybe another one here and there) return to the streets, or go searching for a less polluted trail. maybe i can find a way to run to casa del campo, which is probably about a thirty minute run just to get there. hmm... i'll let you know how it goes.