‘Lung-distance’ running: Runners, cyclists battle poor Mumbai air quality

This is a quandary of the cardiovascular kind Runners and cyclists who take to their heels and wheels early morning are struggling with whether to shelve their trainingearly morning fitness exercise with deteriorating air quality or simply soldier on A glance around on city mornings sees the doughty fleet of foot and pedal pounding our roads Nevertheless ldquothe pollution factor is a significant concernrdquo said all runners cyclistsBreath takingP Venkataraman running coach and running evangelist said ldquoRunning is usually about length the distance run Today though the talk is all about breath How do we breathe through our daily runs Is being outdoors actually detrimental rather than beneficial These debates are a big part of the communityrsquos conversation todayrdquoRavi Agarwal is one with his machineThe coach said ldquoThere are parts of the city where the AQI Air Quality Index is very high One way to tackle this is to run near the seahellip the Marine Drive or Carter Road promenade or the Shivaji Park Worli promenade to some extent But having said that one has to accede that not all runners have access to these places It is especially concerning since there is a propensity to intake higher pollutants with every breath while runningOne may try to wear a mask and run but not everybody is able to run masked Those with respiratory problems like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease COPD may be better off running indoors on a treadmill in a room with good filtration airconditioning We need to adapt in small waysrdquoVenkataraman revels in the joy of running PICSBY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTWe have the cityrsquos marquee longdistance running event mdash the Tata Mumbai Marathon TMM mdash on January 18 2026 There is some humour amidst the haze Longdistance running should be lsquolungdistancersquo running quipped some SoBo runner Suresh Rathod said ldquoWearing a mask may interfere with the breathing pattern of runnersrdquoWheel wishersBhuleshwar resident Ravi Agarwal founder of SoBo Cyclists said ldquoPollution while pedalling is certainly top of the mind for regular cyclists This is also high season for the twowheeled fleet so people are asking themselves lsquoDo we go out and cycle for endurance or do not go out at allrsquo Thatrsquos the situation most of us are inrsquoSuresh Rathod is about medals and mileageAgarwal emphasised ldquoPollution exists outside Mumbai too and I am not talking about Delhi I was cycling near Lonavala passing some villages and experienced the same foggy hazy conditions If there is one small thing in our control it is to ensure that all those lsquobonfiresrsquo that people huddle around especially during early mornings in buildings etc should not be allowed as these too contribute to the problem Instead of leaving everything to the government we need to reduce dependency on cars For short distances like up to 2km one can walk For a little further those who can must think about cycling and try to use public transport as much as possiblerdquoSteam spiritSantacruz runner Nihar Mehta who is set to run the 21km in the TMM in January said ldquoLots of advice is also being dished out by nonexercisers Some of them who tell people not to go out and run may be wellmeaning Yet I find it hilarious that those who are advising runners at times warning them against pollution are smokers themselves In the end I think it is about a balancing act Maybe when back from running one can do a longer steam inhalation Even a treadmill in a gym may be helpful but then again several gyms do not allow members to run for more than 20 minutes on a treadmill at peak hours as there are waiting linesrdquoMehta concluded by summing up the sentiments of a community that believes running is the healing soup for the lsquosolersquo pun intended