Inexplicable

   The hills have been beating me up this week!
   Since I changed my 5K route in order to perhaps better prepare for a trail run I've signed up for at the end of April I've found that running the entire way without stopping had become impossible. Initially, on the first run, this didn't bother me as it was a new experience and I was getting used to an unfamiliar route. Subsequent runs, however, ended up becoming increasingly more difficult, rather than easier. I found I was needing to stop and walk anywhere from five to eight times in the course of a relatively short run.
   To say the least, it was a little disheartening.
   Yesterday, I set out to give the route another try. I basically told myself I was simply going to run more slowly and pace myself a little better. It worked like a charm! I used shorter strides and made self-corrections  whenever I found I was reverting to the longer strides and quicker pace I'd accustomed myself to while running the flatter course in my neighbourhood. The end result was that I was able to complete the new course without walking. I found this difficult to believe and totally inexplicable at the same time, given the difficulties I'd been having.
   One of the biggest differences I found was that yesterday I was running on dry pavement. Here in London, we have had a dramatic January thaw which has greatly cleaned up the streets and sidewalks. Last week, I was running through slush and snow and was trying to do this at the old pace. I also believe I may have made a mental error or two around ensuring I'd consumed enough to eat prior to runs. Out of all of the things I've learned since I started this running adventure, pre-run nutrition is the area in which I likely need to pay the most attention. The fact that less than forty-eight hours before my last disastrous run I had made a blood donation may also have had something to do with the lack of energy.
    The inexplicable can sometimes be accounted for if you are able to do a little bit of detective work on your own body. Back in the summer, I was downtown with my Learn to Run group and we were out running the streets after our learning session. We had gone less than a block and all of the sudden I felt like I would be unable to continue. My breathing was laboured, I had no energy and I felt like I was at the end of a run, instead of the beginning. I basically had to slow things down to almost a walk.
   I had no idea why this was happening. I began going through all the likely reasons for my inability to keep pace with the others. I had had enough sleep, I had had a decent breakfast, I hadn't played any sports in the past couple of days, and I wasn't ill or injured. Then it occurred to me. On a daily basis, I take a low dose diuretic for blood pressure purposes. My prescription had run out and I had gone for four or five days without it. Essentially, I believed, my body now had a fluid buildup that was compromising its ability to let me breathe enough to run. In the spring, I had experienced what a fluid buildup due to congestive heart failure had done to my Dad and his ability to simply walk at the time. The idea that a similar situation might be making it difficult for me to run made total sense. Once I was back on the diuretic (that same day!) things got back to normal.
   So now I have an ever-burgeoning checklist for all my running ailments, aches and pains. I am sure that it is by no means complete yet but it at least gives me somewhere to start when I find myself needing to explain the inexplicable!