No wonder I felt knackered after the Wokingham Half. The results show
that I did the race twice. Someone with my name, race number and club
finished in 1:50, then apparently went back and did it again, this time
trailing home in 2:18. I feel better about my performance now.
I’ve been wondering about my falling energy levels. Is it a hideous
portent of my nightmarish appointment with the Grim Reaper….? Or a
lack of carbohydrate?
I’ve decided to pile my money on the latter hypothesis. I’ve not
mentioned that I’ve shed about 20 pounds in the last couple of months.
I’ve not starved myself — far from it — but perhaps I’ve been a bit
carb-averse. Thinking about it, I’ve eaten little but fruit and veg.
And not very carby veg at that. So not much running fuel, and not much
protein either.
This week I’ve hit the problem head on by pigging out at every
opportunity. Meat, fish, pasta and rice have been stuffed into every
appropriate orifice.
On the downside, I’ve run only twice: a casual 3½ miles on
Tuesday, and a more testing 5 or 5½ miler with the club on
Thursday. I dripped in last as usual, but it wasn’t a bad outing. After
3 days and nights of compensatory over-eating, lubricated with plenty
of beer and wine, this was never going to be easy. Sure enough, after
200 yards, stuck at the back of the straggly field, I was puffing and
panting, and preparing to discover some mystery injury that would
justify my wimping out of further torture. I hung on for a bit, then
hung on some more. Eventually, the usual running miracle worked its
wizardry, and instead of sinking further and further into self-pity and
weediness, actually started to feel better. By the time I finished,
more than 5 miles later, I’d almost caught up with the rump, and felt
stronger than when I started.
Five miles is one thing, but tomorrow, there’s a 20 mile race to
absorb. The Bramley 20 is one of those events I’ve meant to do for each
of the last 4 years. I’ve always managed to find some excuse to duck
out, but alas, not this time. It’s two laps of a 10 mile circuit, and
the event offers the chance for inadequate weeds to limit themselves to
10, or hold out for the glory of the whole enchilada.
There’s every chance that I’ll turn out to be an inadequate weed, but
we’ll see. If I managed to do the Wokingham Half twice, who says I
can’t polish off the Bramley 10 at least a couple of times?
