January 2011

[Sweder]

Another excellent outing this morning with the Brighton/ London Marathon hopefuls. Fourteen rough, tough, blustery miles over chilly, sticky hills, last Sunday's Snake route with added double-back to Rottingdean via the reservoir, the cruel verticle challenge of Windmill Hill and an exposed blast home along the cliff tops. Good to see Stevio, Adi and Simon out and about, racking up the mileage and sharing pearls of wisdom with the Newbies.

At last my lack of midweek training has reared its' ugly head. I'd been waiting for a signal, a reality check in the form of a tweek or a twinge, and here it was. Turning west onto the clifftops at St Dunstan's (two miles from home) I felt my calves tighten. I can't remember this happening over such a short distance before. The feeling of warm muscle turning to twisted lead was unmistakable. I used the Chris McDougall's technique of shutting off sensory information from the area - in other words I ignored the pain and plodded on. The twin spasms eased after half a mile or so but the warning was pretty clear, as was the keen ache in both legs when I stopped.

Hydration may be a factor. I fell off the wagon in spectacular fashion on Friday, joining SP and Captain Tom for a few pints of Tanglefoot washed down with a few pints of Pickled Partridge. My usually fastidious approach to drinking plenty of water every day has slipped of late. From now until Sunday I'll drink a lot more water and hope nothing flares up in Almeria. With another heavy workweek ahead I doubt I'll get many chances to run, though a gentle local plod would probably do me the world of good over the next couple of days.

Underprepared? Most certainly.
Bothered? Do I look bothered?