I had the greatest intentions of doing a weekly blog following the format of the first one with daily logging of the miles and the events of the runs. But to say the second and third week hit me like a ton of bricks would be an understatement.
Improvise adapt overcome is what Bear Grylls says right. So here we are improvising by sleeping more adapting Mmmmm probably not I can agree wholeheartedly say that the model of stimulation followed by periods of recovery is 10000000% accurate, that is, if you wish to make performance and fitness gains. Overcome well I'm still going so that something right.
So far, I haven't missed a single day and have been hitting all 10miles every day. So I'm on track to finish as I set out too.
10km in 1hr 5mins - previous split of 5.45km ( booms the voice interrupting my audiobook, which I'm a little bit pissed about because it turns out Bill Bryson's Short History of nearly everything is a great running audiobook.
(Did you know that if you stood directly in a meteor's path, you would not be killed by the impact. The compressed air in the path will heat up to 60,000 degrees Celsius, making you instantly vanish. It turns out compressed air gets very hot. If you've used an old bike pump, you'd have felt the compression chamber heat up while using it.)
Anyway, let me get back on track; I'm 10k into this particular run im on the return route coming back through Beirton with roughly 4km to go. Boom💥 who the hell pulled out the plug 🔌. Running gait instantly becomes sloppy, feels like my arms weigh a ton, and they sort of just flop to the side, and it feels like I've just done 30 tequila shots.
I've hit empty, but this is like not empty I have ever experienced before. I'm all over the place. I can no longer take in any information from the audiobook; if anything, it feels like it's making it worse. The words have become confusing and disorientating, so I pull the headphones from my ears. Now all I can think about is getting home as fast as possible. I've depleted my glycogen stores and need carbohydrates now.
So with my arms flopping around out the side running down the road like Mr fucking Tickle, I suddenly remember 14 peaks and Nims saying that when you think you're done, really you're only 45% done. So I'm repeating out loud, you've got 55% left; keep going, and I say this over and over until I eventually make it to the front door.
Getting the key in the door is a challenge within itself. But I need water and food fast. Stumble Like im three bottles of whisky deep into the kitchen and grab the pans. Now I'm looking at it heat up, wondering why the oil is black. Staring into the black simmering void, I try to understand why the oil has turned black.
It turns out im simmering concentrated black currant juice and drinking olive oil as cordial. Glycogen Depletion isn't your friend. It will hit you with a wall of fatigue. Your brain turns to mush even basic decision making is compromised and difficult.
After this day, I now to make sure that I have readily avalible sources of carbohydrates within arms reach.
A lot of people have been asking about the Achilles and general pain. Honestly, it's just become the norm—you become too numb to it. It's just a constant, but it's bearable. I have been doing a lot of compression and stretching, which is helping, but each run takes it back to square one. So I predict a little bit of rehab style training when this is all said and done.
Going back to the first little quote - Are you willing to be uncomfortable for 2 mins? I ask this because this is the little question I ask myself before every run now. I do not want to go out and hit the road. My body is tired and sore; I much rather skip it or take a nap. I have zero motivation to do it. But the reality is after a few minutes, when the body and joints warm-up, it isn't that bad. So I only have to suffer for a few mins.
So the next time you're lacking motivation, just ask yourself, are you willing to be uncomfortable for 2 minutes? If the answer's yes, then get on with it.
"You may not feel outstandingly robust, but if you are an average-sized adult, you will contain within your modest frame no less than 7 X 10^18 joules of potential energy—enough to explode with the force of thirty very large hydrogen bombs, assuming you knew how to liberate it and really wished to make a point."
― Bill Bryson
Jordan
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