Paranoia postponed

I've been training on my own too long.

Met up with Patty early this morning for our first run together for months. It's been so long that in the meantime she's become a US Masters national cross-country champion and clocked a near national record indoor 1500. Like I said, I knew her when she was nothing :)

My last few months have been "comparatively unsuccessful" (heh heh), to the point that I was beginning to suspect that the virus and low iron stores double-whammy had damaged my heart muscle. Or something. Because as well as feeling tired a lot of the time, I've been unable to get my heart rate up past 70% of max level, making "threshold" training runs a bit of a joke.

Well, I have now given Patty, to add to her honours, my Training Partner of the Year Award (and I do know it's only March!). First, she coaxed some proper sustained speed out of my legs and then pronounced me in good shape. Second, she gave me some honest feedback about my training so far -- and I was delighted to hear that it was enough to make anyone tired, not just me. And third, on a nice long pick-up she pushed the pace enough so that, at last, my heart rate got to 161/162 -- just where it "should" be for that level of work.

It's a lesson for me about what can happen when you train in isolation. Yes, we've been having regular milers' group tests, but they pushed the paranoia a bit more as I always seem to run them when I'm tired, ill or both. And yes, I know a lot of elites train alone, otherwise they end up doing someone else's training, but, to twist a phrase -- I need to get out more. The Boulder trail runners group have recently introduced a long Sunday run that has seen numbers steadily increasing to around 20... I'm making a determined effort to get out with them this weekend.