Refitting and Rebuilding Progress (cont.) - Capricorn Dancer

Refitting and Rebuilding Progress (cont.) - Capricorn Dancer: Wow! Doesn’t time fly when you are having fun!I didn’t realise how long it has been since my last instalment until I sat down this evening to write this. As you will discover later, we have made significant strides towards the internal fitout of the Cockpit and, now have the Continue Reading

Refitting or Rebuilding - Capricorn Dancer

Refitting or Rebuilding - Capricorn Dancer: When you purchase a second hand vessel, whether it’s sail powered or engine powered, there comes a point in your repairing of existing (known) problems that you must make the difficult decision about whether you are Refitting or Rebuilding! We came to that decision very early in the process, but Continue Reading

Refitting and Refurbishing - Capricorn Dancer

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Remembrance Day - Capricorn Dancer - Capricorn Dancer

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An Open Letter - Capricorn Dancer

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Running for Fun and Injury Prevention

Fun Runs; Running for Fun; when they hear these phrases, the cynic in most people immediately think “oxymoron”.  But why?  Running, at least when we were children, was something we enjoyed and literally did for fun!  It seems that as we get older and our bodies succumb to the rigours of daily life, and our failure to look after our health, we become less able to cope with the physical stresses that running imposes on our bodies and running becomes less “fun”.

I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest that more than 80% of the adult population, who currently don’t run for fun or fitness, could begin doing so with little or no risk of sustaining an injury, save for the occasional rolled ankle or blister.  The reason I feel confident in making such a bold statement is that most people simply don’t know how to run safely and efficiently and need to be taught.

Ok, didn’t I state in the opening paragraph that we all used to run when we were children?  If that is true, how can I suggest that so many of us need to learn how to run?  It’s really quite simple.  As children, we begin running in the same manner that we began walking, in the best way we could manage, given the physiological imperfections that every single one of us carries with us.  The thing is, as children we manage to cope very well with minor physiological challenges because we are naturally more flexible and able dynamically adapt to changes in balance, centre of gravity etc.  As adults, not so much.

The primary reason most people stop running is usually reported as the onset of a chronic injury or an inability to recover well from a training run, or race.  More often than not, these chronic injuries and a failure to fully recover after a run can be attributed to poor running form.  There are exceptions, some athletes to genuinely break down despite being an efficient and well trained runner and each case requires careful investigation and diagnosis.

The key factor in being able to run well and without injury is your form or, to put it another way, the way that your hold your body, move your arms and legs and, how and where your foot strikes the ground.  According to barefoot running expert, Professor Daniel Libermann, up to 75% of runners today are heel strikers, that is their heel is the first part of the foot to strike the ground and the design of modern running shoes makes this running style comfortable. 

The danger inherent in this running style is the impact on ankles, knees and hips caused by the braking effect that occurs when the heel drives into the ground.  All of the force of that impact is driven through the ankle, knee and hip and has a major compression effect on those joints.  The effect is cumulative and over time, can be very debilitating to the extent that arthritis and cartilage breakdown can occur.

A good running technique as one that allows an individual to draw from their free recoil energy, which is the momentum that is created when muscles stretch and recoil as the foot hits the ground. Flat footed or heavy runners don’t have a lot of free recoil and so rely on their global muscles, such as their quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes to do all the hard work.  This style of running consumes a lot of energy and causes individuals to fatigue faster than someone with good recoil would.

A common mistake people make is to have the foot strike too far away from the centre of gravity.  Good running technique should feature the following:

• Head in neutral alignment looking straight ahead.
• Shoulders relaxed with minimal rotation.
• Arms relaxed and gently swinging.
• Neutral spine.
• Core engaged, supporting a normal lumbar curvature of the torso.
• Hips slightly tilted which creates horizontal momentum by utilising gravity.
• Strong pelvis, with no upwards or downwards tilt.

During recovery, the heel should be tucked under the hamstring, with the toes on the striking foot up and the strike should be close to centre of gravity.  That is the centre of gravity both laterally and along the direction of travel.  The runner’s weight is carried through the mid-sole more so than the heel.

The simplified version of this description is to run so that the foot strike is close to the leading edge of the hips and on the midsole rather than the ball of the foot or heel.  This action will result in a shorter stride, a more upright posture and faster turnover rate.  Don’t underestimate the amount of work you will need to do to develop this running style, it will take expert coaching and dedication to the task.  The end result will allow you to run easily, quickly and enjoy it.

If you have lost the “fun” in running and really do want to get it back, it is not such a difficult thing to achieve.  I periodically run ‘Learn to Run’ clinics on the Sunshine Coast and I know that there are a number of other coaches and trainers around Australia who are able to teach you these techniques.

Copyright © 2014 by Drew Dale

All rights reserved. This article or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

Why Australia's Priorities are all Wrong!

The past couple of days have been a sad and tragic episode in Australian history.  We have now experienced, first hand, what terrorism can do after witnessing the hostage situation in Sydney and the subsequent pointless deaths of the terrorist and two innocent hostages.


I was not "on the ground" in Sydney, nor was I privy to the Police tactics or any discussions between the Authorities and the terrorist, so I am not qualified to comment on the conduct of the incident from the Police perspective, nor can I make informed comment on the terrorist's motivations or the outcome of the incident other than to say how sad it makes me feel that terrorism has reached our shores.


Notwithstanding the tragedy of the situation that unfolded overnight in Sydney, it serves to highlight just how wrong we, as a nation, have got it in terms of how we view the importance of domestic issues.  Do not be mistaken, despite the perpetrator's professed links with international terrorist groups and the obvious connections we can make to similar actions in foreign lands, this is a domestic issue.


The question I would like to pose is: When we refuse to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our Constitution, after 200 years of combined history, how can we expect "new Australians" to embrace our culture and become part of our society?  If you migrated to a foreign, non-English speaking, country and discovered that their Indigenous population were not recognised as part of that nation, were denied the opportunity to practice their own traditions and culture and, also play a role in the development of that nation, how confident would you be that you would be treated as an equal and be given the opportunity to build a new and prosperous life for your family?


I believe this is exactly what new arrivals in Australia see and this creates major security concerns on a number of levels.

1. For the disenfranchised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are made to feel like second class citizens, or even interlopers in their own land, this can open the gates for them to be enticed into a world of crime and seduced to join terror groups who offer them the sense of belonging and chance to do something to grab the attention of the rest of the world.  Disenfranchised citizens are prime targets for terror groups and they make zealous followers.
2. New arrivals to Australia are pushed away from mainstream society and seek out the familiar and groups with similar backgrounds and language.  This can isolate them from the rest of society and, once again, disenfranchises them.  The adults who made the decision to escape to Australia are not the problem.  It is their children and grandchildren who do not clearly remember the horrors they escaped who, when isolated from society, create their own version of society and become open to influence and emotional control of criminal and terrorist masterminds.

This is not a story you read in a Robert Ludlum novel, this is our reality, in Australia, in 2014.  We can no longer stick our heads under the blankets and pretend that the rest of the world does not exist.  It is out there and it is becoming a part of the Australian landscape right now.


The key message I want to send out today, is that we can protect ourselves from home-grown terror but we must act now!  Give Constitutional Recognition to the First Australians and provide the Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islanders the opportunity to genuinely participate in the building of our nation.  Give them the rights and opportunities that non-Indigenous Australians and Migrants automatically receive and make them truly equal under the Constitution.


This simple act will take an enormous step toward Reconciliation and removing the prejudices that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have come to expect, but not accept, over the past 200 years. 


How will this end the terror threat on Australian soil?  If we eliminate the breeding grounds of terror groups, i.e. disenfranchised youth, poverty stricken and/or unemployed youth and people who are racially vilified and isolated from mainstream society, by giving them hope, opportunity and a sense of belonging, the terror group recruiters will not have a willing audience for their sick, demented railings against western society. 


I am absolutely astounded that fellow Australians become outraged at any sign of racial prejudice or mistreatment of asylum seekers (Boat People) or any "new Australian" but will turn away, or simply ignore, similar acts against our own Indigenous population.  This double standard must be stopped and it all starts with you.


We can beat the terror threat together.  But we will never be "together" until the inequities within our own nation have been satisfactorily resolved.

Copyright © 2014 by Drew Dale

All rights reserved. This article or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.