With those words Dr Howard Hurst of University of Central Lancashire sports science dept finally crushed all the preconceptions I’d been building up for years about how finely tuned and extraordinary my running body really was. All those hours of training. The merciless interval sessions. The early mornings through the dark and wind and rain. The lung bursting hills. The death or glory killer workouts. And for what?

Ordinary.

Average.

Normal.

I’m in UCLAN for some physiological testing and playing ultra runner guinea pig. Specifically this involves sitting in a sealed space capsule being hydrostatically measured, (body composition, weight via air displacement) having blood drawn (is it really good stuff in there?) and gurning and grunting on a treadmill, (run at set speed, incline increases incrementally as oxygen intake and use is measured – then we keep going beyond your max point just to see how big your cojones are).

After the disease-ridden December we had in our household I finally caved in as January approached which has meant gentle activity at most for the last few weeks. It shows. I’m appalled to find I can’t exceed a predicted max heart rate on the test as I have done previously, and flounder pathetically off the whirring belt knowing it hasn’t been a 100% effort. Quite small ones, today then…

Ah well, at least we have an accurate starting point.

The good doctor, is however, a mite intrigued…

‘For someone who is clearly very fit and performing at the top of their game, your values – and I don’t want to upset you(!) – are very good, but not as high as we would have expected. Which means that there’s something else in your make up that makes the difference to your performance…could be related to economy in some way, could be lactate clearing, but I’ll have to have a think…’

Well, my mum would say I’m just a stubborn so and so, but that’s another story. Or is it?

Because what we have here is the science saying that there’s a gap between what I should be doing, and what I actually am doing between the start and the finish line. And what I am doing is in excess of what the science predicts.

Performance Is Emotional then, dontcha think?

This then, is good news for all us ordinary mortals: Having the physical capacity is important – but it doesn’t have to be off the scale and it’s not the be all and end all. It’s what we do with what we’ve got which is the key, and on this evidence, you can do a lot with what most people have - as long as you have the wit and motivation to do so…