Sometimes the inverse law doesn't work. Somehow today I just
knew this was going to be a bitch of a run, and it was. Someone once said, "
sooner or later, we all sit down to a banquet of consequences." I think today I at least had the entree. This follows several days of too much of everything bad and too little of everything good, and it culminated this afternoon in a "I'm never
ever going to do this again" type of run.
Well, actually I exaggerate (purely for impact of course). It was the first 5km that killed. The second 5km? Well, that killed too, but in a slightly less nasty way.
I ran the mountain trail that I mentioned earlier. The "Pipeline Track" runs on a gentle 1:60 gradient through fern glades and eucalypt rain forest along the flanks of Mt.Wellington. It's a great place to run. Graded for cyclists, it's a good surface, there are relatively few people using it, and those that do are all friendly and considerate. But I only ran it because the brand new super you-beaut flashing lights and gizmos that go "ping" treadmill that was delivered on Friday travelled an astonishing 240 metres before dying in a hail of software errors that same Friday evening - grinding to a halt and obstinately refusing to yield to any kind of prodding and poking and nosing around in its innards. And does the supplier work on Saturdays? No, the supplier does not. Bang goes my training program, with no option but to hit the real world outside.
Oh well, worse things happen at sea. Or so I'm told. Why they should particularly happen on the oceans blue is beyond me. And what do they mean? Do they mean that treadmills not only don't work at all, but somehow are injurious to your health? Or perhaps this is not meant to be taken literally and actually refers to
any kind of fitness equipment?
Anyway. I digress.
So hit the trail I did, and immediately was in trouble. Intent on taking it easy, I was none the less disappointed to pass the 1km mark in 6:37 - crikey, I'm going to be here all day, I thought. As there were no more kilometre markers until my turn point at 5km, I settled in as best I could, but failed totally to find any rhythm, resulting in the dreaded "why am I doing this?" and "God I never want to do this again" type thoughts. It was something of a pleasant surprise therefore to stumble across the 5km marker at 31:21, as I felt I had, if anything, slowed down and would be looking at closer to 34 minutes for the 5kms.
I had promised myself a walk/drink break at 5km so I about faced and chugged some isotonic stuff for a minute or so before trotting off again. Another new thing for me today was to run with a water belt. This was far less uncomfortable than I feared, and in the circumstances, a bloody excellent idea.
The downhill run was of course less troublesome, and I even began to feel good around the 8km mark, thanks to Rammsteins "Du Hast", perhaps a slightly negative choice of music, but actually it imposed itself on me and in any case did the trick. I ran the last km in a relatively blistering 5:11 (which, running the other way had taken me 6:37 at the start of the run), for a total time of 60:56. Perhaps a little disapponting not to break the hour, but I was just bloody glad to get back again in reasonable shape.
Apart from the scenery, the run was made more tolerable by the appearance of several wallabies along the way - that's the cute little furry hopping creatures, not the big ugly rugby player-type wallabies of course (see examples of both below if unsure). Though there are naturally plenty of sporting bods running and cycling about the place. Seriously fit looking people they were too. Not good for my self esteem if I let that sort of thing bother me, which of course I don't. No really, I don't. Never give it a second thought.
Honestly!
So after limping back home and applying ice to those bits of my legs that don't normally have much to do on the flatness of the treadmill, I let the endorphins kick in and changed my mind about never wanting to do that again.
In fact I can't wait. A funny thing, this running game
Fab Feb
