One good run...

One good run is all it takes...then the world is suddenly a better place.

And today was the day. A five-mile time trial I had been dreading. Another key piece in coach Bobby McGee's assessment of us sub-5 milers, the instructions for this one were to go out and get steady state heart rate data. Not an average heart rate; Bobby wants to know where our heart rate settles when we are committed to good pace cruise mode.

Lately I've been feeling tired and grungy. I'm flying one day, wiped out another -- and there's no pattern to it. I gave a pint of blood on Thursday (or that's what it felt like) to fuel some tests to see if we can find out what's going on. Meanwhile, I have cut back training to just every other day, in a bid to help my recovery from whatever it is that is bugging me.

I've been worried. I've started to question my own abilities, my coach (gasp!), the training plan (horror!) AND my stupid goals.

So I didn't feel ready for the 5-miler. I put it off all day, finally waiting until the sun had dipped behind the hills and the temperature had dropped. Silly. Some of my team-mates have told me they were doing the test on a treadmill. I can't run on treadmills; they do my head in. So I suited up and toddled off into the snow and slush.

Within half a mile of hitting a good pace I started to feel good. After two miles I was feeling GREAT! And it only got better. In the final mile I let rip and used my arms to claw my way up to the top end of my route in Percy Cerutty style For the frist time ever I felt a surging connection between my arm action and my legs. It was like the whole "diagonal line" of connective tissue I've read about in my bodywork books suddenly powered on.

I'd chosen a rolling course, half on clear road and half on snow and ice. I "knew" I was going to have a hard time hitting 8:30 pace, Huh! I did the 5 at an average 7-minute pace. It doesn't sound fast, but for me it was like being reborn! I was ecstatic with it. Of course I can run; Bobby knows what he's doing and the program's right on; hey, I CAN meet my goals...AND I can shake off this mystery fatigue thing. I'm back on track...

One good run. That's all it takes.