I met up with the WFDBWGUA group again this morning. John, Pauline and Mark were at the barn when I got there and Gordon caught up with us later on at Healey Nab.
John wanted to do the same route as last week so he could do a direct comparison and I was more than happy with that as I really enjoyed last week's run.
Not far into the run, it soon became apparent that I was struggling though. I felt quite sick and put it down to having eaten a huge bowl of porridge an hour and a half before running, which I'm not sure is long enough, given the amount of porridge.
I've only run with Mark twice and both times I've had a terrible run - honestly Mark I'm not always that bad!
When we reached White Coppice I really wanted to turn back and go home but the guys encouraged me to stay with them and that it didn't matter if I was slowing them down.
Climbing up out of White Coppice heading towards Great Hill was the worst bit of the run. I felt so bad that just walking was too difficult. I was going dizzy and my left eye was blurring. I had to stop completely a couple of times to pull myself together before continuing. John was great and kept with me all the time even though he could have carried on at a decent pace with the others.
I just can't believe how different I felt this week from last week. Last week I motored my way up Great Hill and felt amazing.
As an example of the difference between last week and this, here is my Strava segment comparison of the run from the Cricket Club at White Coppice to Great Hill. http://www.strava.com/segments/3512201?filter=my_results Bear in mind that last week's time involved me being the one waiting around so the time doesn't accurately reflect my ability last week, however this week's time does reflect it (and it doesn't look good). The segment is only 1.7 miles and i did it 7 and a half minutes quicker last week, which is a huge difference over such a short distance, especially seeing as it will have actually been more than 7.5 minutes!
You beat yourself up trying to work out why you feel so bad when you're having a day like this but, truth is, there probably is no real reason, it's just an off day. I just seem to have an awful lot of them! It got me to thinking, when one of the 'fast lads' have an off day, would the rest of us even notice, or would their off day just involved doing a 6.5 minute mile instead of a 6? I'm pretty sure they wouldn't resort to walking anyway.
I was pretty relieved once we got to the top of Great Hill as I knew most of the return journey was downhill, save for a couple of minor bits here and there.
When running in towards the barn a great weight lifted off my shoulders as I could see the 'finish line'. I've never been so pleased to see the beige mobile in my life, sat there waiting for me in all it's golden glory.
When we stopped running I went so dizzy that I had to squat down on the floor for a minute. I don't think it was the heat as I had drank plenty of water before and during the run.
Last week, the night before our run, I had a couple of glasses of wine and I felt great so perhaps that's the answer :-)
Thanks for keeping me going guys, even though it was a terrible run I did it and have the miles under my belt so thanks again.
Total distance - 10.9 miles (slightly shorter than last week but the only thing I did different was that I stayed on the flags off Great Hill, rather than going cross country like I did last week, which takes you a bit further out)
http://www.strava.com/activities/171036678/overview
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