I'm trying to get back in the swing of indoor after getting really really sick and today during striders I was going as hard as possible and going pretty damn slow. Last year (when I sucked even worse than I do now) I could only run a 400 in 68 and 800 in 2:23 (19:00 5k). My speed is just awful, and though it improved a ton from striders every day in the summer, I have never seen someone's arms swing like mine (except maybe my brother who somehow manages to run 15:00 5k). When my arms go back, my elbows simply don't lock and my arms thrust in 180 deg angle backward. Then they swing forward, hugging my bicep with NO side-to side motion. I can do 40 push-ups in a row and about 14 pull-ups but my chest is always dead by the end of any fast run. How can I fix this? I'm a sophomore who did awful in xc and ran 18:40. I built up mileage to 2 solid 40 mpw weeks then got sick for 2 weeks and now am trying to get back in the swing of things. My 2nd day back we did a 9x300m workout with 90 sec rest and 3:00 after eace set of 3 300's, and I ran 54-56 on each. I feel like this means I am in awful shape. How can I get back in the swing of things?