Debbie does North Queensland
It's perhaps ironic that as the rain eases here in Sydney for a couple of days (but is forecast to return with vengeance tomorrow), in north Queensland they are suffering one of those monster storms that everyone dreads in the form of Cyclone Debbie. A category 4 cyclone packing winds of over 260kmh, it was made far worse by being both slow-moving (causing greater destruction as it lingered over regions for longer), and astonishingly wet. Now that it has moved inland and disintegrated into a low pressure system, it continues to dump hundreds of millimetres of rain and so even as areas that took the full force of the winds are counting the cost, greater swathes of Queensland and even northern New South Wales are preparing for possibly catastrophic flooding.
Last time a cyclone of this magnitude and destructive force hit Queensland (Cyclone Yasi in 2011) I was sent up there to help local staff who were, unsurprisingly, under the pump. The ramifications of these weather systems reach far further than the immediate impact zone, and as the 'emergency broadcaster' for such eventualities, we were stretched even further than usual. I'm not sure that will happen again on this occasion (due to changing circumstances), and I'll just have to wait and see, but I get the feeling I'll be staying put this time. At least not going won't curtail my training program, as it did six years ago, so for purely selfish running reasons, I'd prefer to stay here, if possible.
And speaking of training, today's run was a tad unusual. I've covered an awful lot of distance in recent weeks, leaving me somewhat generally fatigued. So this morning, feeling very drained and wondering if I'd really be capable of much once in the running kit, I postponed the session as long I could and finally thought I'd cut the session short, perhaps just putting in a half hour or so. I've plenty of runs in the log and am on the verge of over-training, so this wasn't really too much of a tough decision. In fact, it seemed perfectly sensible.
So why then, I now wonder, did this run turn into one of those inexplicable rippers that emerge out of the blue and leaves you feeling fantastic, but very, very puzzled? Almost as soon as I was under way, energy came flooding back, and I not only finished the full, scheduled session, but crunched out a hard, (relatively) fast-paced 13km with such a wave of adrenaline and endorphins that if I hadn't had a train to catch, I probably would have gone on even further and seriously risked an over-use injury. Where all that came from I have no idea, but it was a blast, and left me feeling pretty much on a high for the rest of the day.
I'm sure I'll never fully understand why this sort of thing happens, but I'm glad it does. Completely unexpected, and 100% positive, it's just the kind of boost when things are getting a little difficult that shoots the motivation even higher into the stratosphere. You don't get this from sitting around watching telly (or I don't, at least) or working out which pizza to order (well, maybe just a bit).
No, this feeling is most excellent. Do try it for yourselves.
March Too Much
