What a difference a week makes

The week after my last post, I headed out for a Sunday LSR in hideous conditions.  It was freezing cold and raining the whole time, with a wind that meant at times it felt like stones were being thrown into my face.  Honestly, being out in the rain in those temperatures for over two hours was incredibly hard (it had snowed the day before so you get the idea) and I found the run probably tougher mentally than I did physically.  At one point, in the University grounds, I stopped to let a car go past and the lady pulled over to ask me why on Earth I was out running in that weather!  It made me laugh but she really did have a point!  Anyway, I did 10.5 miles, and I only really stopped because I couldn't bear the cold any longer, I felt like I had more left in my legs.

A week on from that, and the sun came out.  I know, really!  Not when I first started running admittedly, it was freezing cold and the type of fog that means you can only see the path you are on and not a lot else when I first set out.  But by the time I was about 6-7 miles in, it was a glorious spring-like day.  I felt great, and added loops here there and everywhere, finishing with a total of 12.25 miles under my belt.  I was dancing around the kitchen afterwards, I felt on top of the world!  I had taken dextrose tablets with me to sort out refuelling on the go, and I did notice the difference they made.
I took this photo out on the run, with the comment that I wished it was a mile marker rather than mph.....

And so last Sunday, I was feeling really good about my run.  I was tired, from being out at one of my best friends 30th parties the night before, however having not touched a drop of alcohol I expected that having a bit longer in bed and going out a little bit later would do the trick.
How wrong could I have been.  I can't actually conjure up the words to explain how tough I found that run.  Every step of it, my body didn't want to do it.  I feel quite emotional about it even looking back now, almost a week on!  I had planned on doing 14 miles, but things were against me from the outset.  It was absolutely freezing, and on several occasions it snowed quite heavily.  I hadn't been able to eat a banana before my run as we had run out, there was my first mistake. I had forgotten my gloves, there was my second mistake.  I felt pretty wiped out but decided to add on loops early on anyway, there was my third mistake.  I got home in just over 13 miles.  I clocked it as 13.2 as my phone crashed as I unlocked it running down the road so I could stop the app (see what I mean about things being against me?!).  I had to walk a fair bit in the last couple of miles, more than I would have liked.  I was so exhausted when I got in the house that I couldn't summon the energy to speak, or even to swallow the glass of water I was trying to get down my neck.  It was as much as I could do to remain upright, and I found myself sobbing and blabbering about how I would never be able to do a marathon if I couldn't even run half of one.  Pete had been a star once again and already had a hot bath running before I got through the door, and I got straight into it whereupon I managed to calm myself down - in fact I almost fell asleep.

An hour or so later, clean, warm, fed and watered I was able to look back on things rationally.  Running that far on a pretty much empty stomach is a bad idea.  When I thought about it, I had only had one full proper meal the day before, and it was a late lunch.  I had a busy few days, and was tired before I started.  I hadn't taken any water with me - I don't tend to for runs up to around 10 miles, but this was an almost 3 hour run, so why I thought I didn't need water and could function just on sugar tablets I don't know.  And battling against the weather adds an element of difficulty that should not be underestimated!

In one week, mainly due to lack of preparation and lack of rest, I had managed to up my distance by just one mile, but up the difficulty level ten-fold.  The main thing is, I have well and truly learnt a lesson from that run.  Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.  And I will never, ever again underestimate how hard this is going to be.