I am still on holidays this week, and revelling in the lack of plans and obligations I have to attend.
Rhi and I agreed to move onto "Week 7" training this week, which, at a quick glance looked horrifying. No more interval training?!
I suppose this means that we are now at a point when we should be able to run for a decent amount of time. I wanted to feel confident about that, but all I could think of was that I had yet to actually complete a full run yet without rests. Ha.
Tuesday's run was straight into it - a 5min warm up and then run for 25 minutes. After my run on Sunday through the burbs in my area, I had already psyched myself up for an "easy run".
With the path planned out in my head, I visualised my run route and gave myself a rest-point to run to. Just make it back to the main road without stopping. That has got to be almost the entire run, surely. It is not that far, surely. Just to the road.
I set out on my run, taking the shortcut paths through the burb 'green areas' and back alley paths, behind the high school and past the dog park. You are already half way!
C25K tells me I am half way. I knew it!
I keep running through the reserve, jump across the suspicious-snakey-grass-looking-creek like a fucking olympian and then keep jogging with exertion regret. I am not a goddamn olympian.
I run to a dirt road in the reserve which takes me back to the burbs and as I pass through the gate to the street, I can see the main road. Just make it to the main road!
This run is the first that I have experienced what some people have described as a "running high".
I am unsure as to whether I was actually having heart palpitations, suffering heat stroke and exhaustion, or if I was genuinely experiencing some kind of natural dopamine release, but half way through that reserve, I felt this rush of excitement through my chest and a burst of energy and genuine happiness.
Like I had just been given a free holiday. Or chocolate.
That rush stayed with me right to the main road and I just kept running. That "1-minute left" announcement is going to sound any second now. Any second now.
That beautiful "1-minute left" sounded and I pounded the pavement for the last 60 seconds absolutely euphoric because I had actually done it. I ran further than I could and further than I told myself I would. I seriously pushed my limits to achieve what I needed to achieve.
Now comes the scary part.
As soon as I stopped running, I realised how exhausted I was. My legs didn't want to slow down and I struggled to walk straight. I was overcome with dizziness and my body was covered with intense ripples of goose-bumps. And I wee'd a little.
My point is, that I almost lost complete control of my body and that shit is scary when you are still a good kilometer from home, your walking on white hot pavement and there is not a tree in sight for shade.
I almost wanted to keep running because it felt better. What the hell?
Thankfully, I made it back home, walking slowly, without any mishap. I downed a big bottle of watered down Staminade to hydrate and replenish electrolytes and sat in front of the fan until I felt human again.
Lessons learned: Don't run when it's hot if you can help it. If you can't help it, wear light coloured clothing (not black, black and black!). If you start to feel overheated, take it easy! Take water with you always (I didn't). Listen to your body.
Websites like Runners World and Marathon Guide will tell you that if you experience chills or goosebumps while you are exercising, it is your body trying to cool itself down. If you experience this while running, you should walk for a while and let you body cool down a little. If you are getting these symptoms while you are walking, you need to seek shade and water immediately or you may have to seek medical attention as you are suffering from the early signs of heat exhaustion which can lead to heat stroke. Scary shit dude!
After I recovered, I rewarded myself with a surprisingly good smoothie. So good in fact, that I thought I should share this amazing Banana and Spinach concoction. So easy. So breezy. So fruity.
Wednesday meant that I had to actually leave the house to meet with Rhi to do our usual Bike Ride. Since we didn't have to go to work today, we opted to meet early in the morning to get it out the way and decided to go in the opposite direction to what we usually do to see how far we could go in the hour.
40 mins later and we had reached the end of the line. What?! So, not even tired or puffed, we turned our bikes around and made our way back home. We exercised for about 90 mins and yet when we approached the finish line, we both agreed that we felt we should of kept going because it didn't feel like it was enough. I don't even know.
Thursday was a rest day (of course) and Friday morning I had slept in past my 'ideal running timeframe'. In other words, when I finally crawled out of bed at midday, it was friggen hot. Happy New Year!
I spent most of the day hibernating in my computer cave and drank far too much beer to attempt to complete my run that evening, so I decided I would swap Saturdays cross-training for a run instead.
Saturday morning, I actually managed to get up at a reasonable hour and quickly chucked on my trainers and slipped out the door even with the heavy regret of last nights beer and pizza night. So bad, but oh so good!
I struggled the entire way through the run, but to my surprise, still smashed it!
Even though my lips were more shrivelled than an old woman, and I could feel my dehydrated brain bouncing around in my brain. Beer and Pizza = BAD.
But WHO CARES! For the second time that week, I had finished the allotted 25min run without stopping!
Rhi and I agreed that we would meet down at the Beach to do our Sunday run so we could have a sneaky café breakfast afterwards, but I was almost out the door when I got a text from Rhi saying she wouldn't be able to make it.
Old me: Awesome! Takes clothes off, jumps back into bed and into blissful sleep.
New me: Awesome! I can just run around the burbs and my run is down super early so I have so much more time today to do stuff!
I sometimes freak myself out.
Even though I was a little sore from yesterday's run, I was in a GREAT mood. I am clearly on runner's crack.
This positivity obviously assisted me with my head space while I was running because I blitz the run and even made 10mins on yesterdays time. Virtual high-five, Rhi!
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Back to work tomorrow, which I am only looking forward to for two reasons:
1. I can regain some kind of routine which makes such a difference when you are trying to watch what you eat and fit in exercise 5 times a week, and
2. When I start work, I feel like this year has finally begun. And this is the Year of the Wedding Planning!
I am now officially getting married "next year" and can finally have some real conversations with suppliers and vendors and people might actually take deposit money from me now! Who wouldn't want to take my money?!
This year is also the year that Rhi, Chris and I will be running a Half Marathon! I was casually reminded of that when Rhi quietly mentioned that the marathon is only 8 months away now. 8 months away?!