Stop the bus, I wanna get off...

Now it may sound like I'm making excuses but I wasn't feeling too clever after Wednesday night's 10 miler.  Bit of a sore throat, headache, sore legs, sore back,  just general shitness really.  I think I made the right decision to give Thursday a miss.  On Friday morning I woke up with a sore throat and spent all morning contemplating whether to play catch up.  Anyway, before I knew it I was on the Greenway.  It was a very pleasant day and it was quite nice not to have any roads to cross. Despite feeling pain from my shin splits when I first set off  I did a steady 5 miles and felt ok afterwards. 

Come Saturday and my sore throat had gone but I still had the pain in my legs, back etc. The plan was to do 18 miles at race pace (I still haven't decided what that's going to be yet!) We set off around 10am and 5 minutes in I got a stitch, not a great start! I have to say I was feeling very, very uncomfortable but decided that I would have to grin and bear it until I reached the magic 6.

When we go to the top of the Greenway and turned round we had done 6.5 miles and I was still struggling.  My legs were incredibly heavy and they wouldn't bend where I wanted them to. I felt like the tin man!  I still had a terrible stitch (I don't even know whether that's what it was) and my lower back was aching.  It's a bit of a cop out to say that the Greenway is uphill in one direction, because there is only a small gradient.  But when your in physical and mental agony (oh the drama!) you really feel the benefit of even a slight downhill stretch.

We had hidden a bottle of water and an energy gel at the point at which we got on the Greenway so that we could fuel up on the way back (11miles) and I just kept telling myself that I would feel better once I'd had a drink etc.  After a couple of bad experiences with energy gels my neighbour Sally had given me a raspberry flavoured gel to try.  It had a much nicer flavour than other gels I've had.  It tasted like the jam you get in a cheap doughnut and wasn't at all snot-like!  I can report that it didn't give me any digestive problems or make me want to barf and I actually think I noticed the boost it gave me (if only for a few miles!) I would highly recommend them http://www.highfiveonline.co.uk/energy-gel-plus-orange-flavour-i51.html

By the time we got to the end of the Greennway and joined the road we'd covered 13.5 miles.  There was a slight uphill section and then a downhill into Dewsbury.  We both put our foot down a bit here and for a fleeting moment I thought I was going to run the last 4.5 miles relatively pain free.  Sadly that wasn't to be.  The gel wore off, the pain set in, Bozza disappeared into the distance and my head dropped.  I am too embarrassed to even admit what pace I slowed down to at the end (call it what you want, but don't call it running!) There wasn't a single shred of me that was enjoying this run.  Oh fuck it I had to walk the last 1.5 miles and felt like collapsing into a bush outside Tesco and screaming "I can't do this anymore, it's too hard!"

I seem to remember feeling the same way at this point in my training schedule for the Edinburgh Marathon last year, I just hope it doesn't last.  Anyway with a few words of encouragement from Bozza, a chocolate milk, 4 brews and an ice bath I decided not to beat myself up about it and move on.  Hmmmm I wonder if I'll be alright for next weeks Spen 20 race?.........Course I bloody will!!



I've looked better!