18 miles of rain, sun, blood, sweat and tears
Today is the first day of my "holiday" - I say this in inverted commas as I am not exactly sunning myself for 2 weeks or putting my feet up.
As usual any time I take a break in Britain it's raining and today is no exception - it's heaving down so I am catching up on my reading after my wee spree the other day and trying to bring order to the chaos that is our blank video collection and just generally trying to chill after yesterday's mammoth effort.
I had been dreading the arrival of my 18 miler, no idea why I as I went through both 14 and 16 with no problems, I guess there was something about the idea of being on your feet for 18 miles that was sending my brain into panic mode.
As it was heaving with rain yesterday (as it has been most of the week in fact) I decided we may be safer taking the bike on the back of the car to the local canal and running out along the canal for 9 miles and then back. My theory was that the canal path drains well and given the weather it would be light on traffic. I was wrong about the traffic, it seems I am not the only nutter in the world.
Despite raining really heavily it had stopped by the time we were set to depart and was actually boiling hot when we left the house.
We parked in a quiet spot and set off westwards, I got about 2-3 miles along when I lost it, I have no idea why as usually this is not that bad, granted the first 3 miles are the worst but once you get through them it usually cools off and you find your "mojo". Not yesterday though, I was losing speed rapidly and in pain. I had to stop and I did stop. The other half asked me if I wanted to quit and try again the next day but the thought of being alone for 18 miles immediately put me off not to mention the fact that the training plan would be completely out of kilter.
I walked on for a few minutes and decided to try the 5min run 1 min walk method for a few miles and see how it went, well it went REALLY well. I was faster run/walking than I had ever been walking - at one point I managed a 10 minute 4o second mile (for me this is fast ok). There were a few set backs to it though as we had to cross a aqueduct which was cobbled so I walked over it despite it taking longer than 1 minute, it was painful enough to walk let alone attempt running, it was also very narrow and there was 2 -way traffic to boot.
We also hit a problem about 6-7 miles along, there had been an overflow of the canal and it was gushing today (thanks to the week of rain we have had) fast and deep, the other half offered me a backie on the bike but the side was a bit steep as it flowed down into a gorge, somehow I just didn't fancy taking us both to our deaths on that particular day so I waded through it and came out with soaking wet and freezing cold feet.
Just after that it started to rain really heavily - painfully in fact. The other half again offered to quit and turn back but we were barely another mile to the turn point so it seemed pointless - we would get just as wet turning back as we would if we continued so onwards we went.
The rain stopped again after only a 5-10 minute shower and the sun came back to beat down on me once more, drying my feet off just in time for me to wade over the overspill again and give them another soaking.
As I continued on the way back it got harder and harder to start running again after the breaks and I found myself needing a 2 minute break as opposed to 1 minute. As I approached the final 2 miles I had a major wobbly moment and wanted to cry. Unfortunately I had to walk the last mile entirely - I had nothing left to run on, I was feeling incredibly hungry and getting a headache. I tried a couple of times to run again but I could barely manage a power walk.
When we got home I felt sick and dizzy and had a smashing headache, as the other half was in a non cooking mood I relented and went for a curry at the local Indian - it was divine as usual but not so good for the weight management. The other half said I deserved it though.
As usual any time I take a break in Britain it's raining and today is no exception - it's heaving down so I am catching up on my reading after my wee spree the other day and trying to bring order to the chaos that is our blank video collection and just generally trying to chill after yesterday's mammoth effort.
I had been dreading the arrival of my 18 miler, no idea why I as I went through both 14 and 16 with no problems, I guess there was something about the idea of being on your feet for 18 miles that was sending my brain into panic mode.
As it was heaving with rain yesterday (as it has been most of the week in fact) I decided we may be safer taking the bike on the back of the car to the local canal and running out along the canal for 9 miles and then back. My theory was that the canal path drains well and given the weather it would be light on traffic. I was wrong about the traffic, it seems I am not the only nutter in the world.
Despite raining really heavily it had stopped by the time we were set to depart and was actually boiling hot when we left the house.
We parked in a quiet spot and set off westwards, I got about 2-3 miles along when I lost it, I have no idea why as usually this is not that bad, granted the first 3 miles are the worst but once you get through them it usually cools off and you find your "mojo". Not yesterday though, I was losing speed rapidly and in pain. I had to stop and I did stop. The other half asked me if I wanted to quit and try again the next day but the thought of being alone for 18 miles immediately put me off not to mention the fact that the training plan would be completely out of kilter.
I walked on for a few minutes and decided to try the 5min run 1 min walk method for a few miles and see how it went, well it went REALLY well. I was faster run/walking than I had ever been walking - at one point I managed a 10 minute 4o second mile (for me this is fast ok). There were a few set backs to it though as we had to cross a aqueduct which was cobbled so I walked over it despite it taking longer than 1 minute, it was painful enough to walk let alone attempt running, it was also very narrow and there was 2 -way traffic to boot.
We also hit a problem about 6-7 miles along, there had been an overflow of the canal and it was gushing today (thanks to the week of rain we have had) fast and deep, the other half offered me a backie on the bike but the side was a bit steep as it flowed down into a gorge, somehow I just didn't fancy taking us both to our deaths on that particular day so I waded through it and came out with soaking wet and freezing cold feet.
Just after that it started to rain really heavily - painfully in fact. The other half again offered to quit and turn back but we were barely another mile to the turn point so it seemed pointless - we would get just as wet turning back as we would if we continued so onwards we went.
The rain stopped again after only a 5-10 minute shower and the sun came back to beat down on me once more, drying my feet off just in time for me to wade over the overspill again and give them another soaking.
As I continued on the way back it got harder and harder to start running again after the breaks and I found myself needing a 2 minute break as opposed to 1 minute. As I approached the final 2 miles I had a major wobbly moment and wanted to cry. Unfortunately I had to walk the last mile entirely - I had nothing left to run on, I was feeling incredibly hungry and getting a headache. I tried a couple of times to run again but I could barely manage a power walk.
When we got home I felt sick and dizzy and had a smashing headache, as the other half was in a non cooking mood I relented and went for a curry at the local Indian - it was divine as usual but not so good for the weight management. The other half said I deserved it though.
posted by Running Queen @ 11:23 AM
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