Thursday, April 23, 2015

Reboot

I did a double take on the weighing scales Tuesday morning. I had not weighed myself for a couple of weeks. I usually put on a couple of pounds during the weekend and especially the week after a target race, so was expecting something like 148 pounds, hoping for it to be under 150. It was 141.8! That's the lowest weight in years, the only other time in my adulthood I have been so light was 7 years ago when I had pneumonia and been unable to eat for a couple of weeks.

I'm sure the stomach upsets I had 2 days before Turin are a major contributor to that unexpected weight loss, which now makes me wonder if they indeed did have a negative effect on my race - up to now I had thought that I had gotten away with it, if only just.

Whatever the circumstances, I am reasonably pleased with my performance in Turin. It was a tough course on a tough day and I gave it everything I had - I could not have asked for more, and neither could the team. Before the race I probably would have been slightly disappointed with 215.7k but afterwards it seemed a perfectly reasonable performance. Not outstanding and not entirely what I would have hoped for but easily good enough to justify my place on the team.

As I sat there on the sofa the other night with a glass filled with alcohol, a mountain of chocolate half eaten, watching the football on the telly, I thought to myself, so this is how the Normals live. I guess I could get used to that - better start running before I do!

And with that, we move on. Another target race done, another cycle begins. I'm not ready to retire from competitive running just yet, so this will go on for a while longer. I started on Tuesday morning with a very slow 5 mile jog, starting with my tried-and-tested recovery protocol. Usually it's not quite as slow as that, but after running 134 miles my legs aren't quite bouncy yet. I will still be able to feel the lingering effects from Turin until August if previous experiences are anything to go by. At least it's already getting better.
21 Apr
5 miles, 47:06, 9:25 pace, HR 144
22 Apr
5 miles, 45:48, 9:10 pace, HR 143
23 Apr
5 miles, 47:59, 8:48 pace, HR 144

1 comment:

  1. That's surprising. You must have lost weight and been weak going into the race. More couch potato living is needed ;-)

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