Hmm, sometimes I amaze myself at my own stupidity, although I understand others find it somewhat less amazing, but those people are just rude
I'm too embarrassed to mention that I made the same treadmill/incline mistake twice in succession, so I won't. Suffice to say that after an initial
difficult start to the run, the rest of it went very well!
However that was two days ago, and this morning's run was even more troublesome. It's a glorious day here in Adelaide (where I'm spending a week) and currently a delightful 25 degrees - the air is crisp and still and full of the sound of galahs and lorikeets and a squillion other parrots feeding in the eucalypts. The creaking in my knees and the rasping in my lungs tells a different story however. Forced into an early morning run by hot weather and other committments throughout the day, and still restricted to "soft, level" surfaces (and having neither treadmill nor beach at hand), I took to the local Athletics Club grass track for what should have been 21 gentle laps for a slow 8.4 km, as scheduled.
Well that was the plan at least. There's a gazillion reasons why I couldn't complete this run, but I concluded finally that I had badly underestimated my hydration levels and in combination with a slow, wet track yielded only 10 laps before I pulled the plug. My heart rate was way above normal levels, so whilst I considered resting, hydrating and maybe continuing after a breather, I didn't consider it for long. Sometimes you just know when the game is up, and while yes, I may have got through it ultimately, it was going to be a miserable time in doing so, and so I took an unscheduled "step back" week instead.
This is the third time I've run on that particular track, and each time it has resulted in an aborted run. I think it's jinxed. Certainly it seems to be almost a self-fulfilling prophesy of aborted running now. Next time I'll try elsewhere.
Still, the consolation is that I did actually get out of bed early in the morning and attempt it. It might not happen again for a while, mind
January Jollies
