Number 5

Can you remember Short Circuit with the robot called "Number 5"? .... (Number 5... Alive!) Well, I've been feeling like him lately... no, not necessarily "Alive" (hey... it's nearly winter, what do you expect?), more the whole "Innnnnpuuuuuut" thing. I just want to read everything I can and glean as much info as I can at the moment... the more input, the better. This has even transfered to my job, where I was required to read one article about physiology/anatomy of the ear, etc... but ended up reading all 3 articles! (oh well, it's all CPD points I suppose)!

I read a brilliant book called Running fast and injury free, by Gordon Pirie, which really made me think about the way I run. One instance was the arms... do you "use" them to your advantage, or do they cause you a disadvantage? No, I'm quite good with my arms I thought. Well, you know what "thought" did!
I began my run on Wednesday as I would normally do and decided at the mile point to see exactly what my arms were doing. To my disdain, I realised I was one of those 'floppy, not doing much with them' runners. I always thought that they were bent at an acute angle... no, they were 90 degrees +. I always thought I used my arms to help propel me forward... no, they just hung in the balance doing nothing!
So, I moved them to an acute angle for the remainder of the run (another 3.45 miles) and used them instead of letting them hang there. I have to say, it was quite tiring. I wasn't exactly forcing the issue, (didn't use them like pistons or owt!) but it definitely made me wonder if the position of my arms are indeed the cause of my hands swelling up. (This happens within 6 miles these days... I always blamed it on drinking too much, but it can happen before I've even had anything to drink!)

There was also interesting stuff on trainers, which I'll not delve into now. I've asked advice on this as it made me think I possibly gave up on my Newtons far too easily!

Swimming went well yesterday, I'm getting faster all the time. It seems to be happening slowly... the odd half a minute here and there (as with all of my training), but that is the way it will be I think. I don't suppose you can expect to all of a sudden be tons better without a helluva lot of work being put into it. Some people just aren't naturally talented and have to work hard at it.

I read a fantastic quote this week, can't remember the exact wording, but the gist of it is... "Everyone is born equal... it's just that some are more equal than others"... how true!