First off, don't go Googling it or looking in medical books as you are sure to come back with a range of near fatal problems! Take it from me, I'm a card carrying hypochondriac!

When we exert ourselves, we're putting our bodies into an out of the ordinary situation. As everybody's physiology is unique, this state of exertion affects us all in different ways and this symptom may be normal for you. Last week, I did 16 x 400m on the track with a minute recovery between each rep. At the end of the session I got stiffness and difficulty moving my hands. I warmed down and everything was fine when the blood began to flow back to them. When I first started running, I used to get tingling in my hands after a speed session. My coach gets a pain in his left arm which can be a sign of an M.I. but that's normal for him. If you get it when you're not exercising then I'd visit your doctor but otherwise I'd say it's your body's normal reaction. It may disappear as you get fitter.

Regarding training, if you want to get better at running then just run. Build up to 6 days per week with one rest day and sack the gym. If you want to be toned up and body beautiful then go to the gym.

A.

ok, cheers... i haven't had any problem with the last few days so i don't think it's anything... but tbh i don't really want to get rid of the gym... cross country season has now finished so i don't really have anything to train for now and i honestly don't really think i need to push myself anymore to train 6 times a week... that would be mental!... it is not like i'm marathon training here !!!

i must be doing something right though... i have only done 3 races but i got my 5 miles time down from 37:30 (i got it wrong before - my first race wasn't 36 minutes) to 33:30 in just over two months... that was quite a surprise to me because i never record how far or how fast i run (so i didn't really realise i was improving)... but tbh, i think i prefer it that way... i spend too much time in the gym (where you are surrounded by numbers, distances, gradients...etc.) and i wanted to escape from all that... i'm not really that bothered with how fast i run... it's fun doing it for races and seeing how you have improved... but when i run i go running it's more to clear my head and destress in the mornings... i'm also a bit of a perfectionist (which is a hassle because life is never perfect!)... so i'm the type of person that would get paranoid with times and distances (thinking that i should go faster, higher, longer, stonger...etc.)... in the end of the day progress is slow and i don't notice any differences from day to day (it's more of a long term thing)... and tbh i think my performance on the races has reached a peak for now... so my aim now is just going to be trying to maintain my fitness over the summer by doing 3-4 short runs a week... i'm also thinking of having a break from races until the summer and then entering a couple of 10k races...

if you are just started running like me then my advice would be don't train with a stop watch or km measurer...