Monday 19 January 2009

Running is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel of monkeys

Posted by speedygeoff on Monday, January 19, 2009 with
Overweight Non-Runner (incredulous): how far did you say you ran today?
SpeedyGeoff (speaking more distinctly): 27k
ONR (concerned): how are your knees?
SG: my knees are fine.
ONR continues to adopt a sympathetic stance.
SG: I mean, I have never had knee trouble, not in 47 years of running.
ONR (disbelieving): but running must put a lot of pressure on the knees?
SG: No. Look, I have suffered from tight and sore back, glutes, hamstrings, calves, achilles, but my knees are fine. Really.
ONR is unmoved, as if he didn't hear me and is waiting for a confession which mentions knees.

Every runner has met one: a person who thinks running eventually and inevitably stresses the knees. It just isn't true! But where do these myths come from? It's beyond me. Or, is it from contact sports? Running shouldn't be a contact sport! The rules say so!

Running strengthens the muscles around the knees. Use it or lose it!

My plan for week 4 of 2009: 95k in total, including
Monday 19th: An hour's stretching, the 4:30pm run at Parliament House followed by speedygeese training at 5:30pm.
Tuesday 20th: A longish run in the morning. I won't be training at Stromlo this Tuesday.
Wednesday 21st: An easy run from home.
Thursday 22nd: Race 1500m and/or possibly the one hour run.
Friday 23rd: A recovery run from home
Saturday 24th: Stromlo intervals 9:00am, 3x1km.
Sunday 25th: I nearly forgot - ACTMA monthly handicap at Campbell Park; starts at 8:30am. I will have a jog in the short handicap race.

Transformation.
"Full of hope, anticipation and awe, knowing the future is malleable and that you can intervene to achieve worthwhile goals, you employ directed self-talk to get yourself onto the desired track and to keep yourself there, while staying dissatisfied, even frustrated, with where you are now. Instead of saying 'I have always done it that way', be prepared to let go of some good things so that you can grasp some better things. Remove the limits you have placed on yourself and on others, because you need to be led on a ‘wild goose chase’ that carries you beyond your limited perspectives."

Next thought: Broaden your horizons. The past does not determine the future. We don't always see everything. There are always more possibilities than we know or are capable of knowing. Forget the "if only"s, grasp the "what if"s.

"Anything is possible if we have the imagination to visualise it." Nearly everything...

Let your imagination run riot.