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Wednesday 25 September 2013

I woke up with RAMBOBB ...


I woke up with DOMS. That’s Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness - not a new boyfriend. In fact it was worse than DOMS. I rechristened it RAMBOBB. Really Agonising Muscles - Brought On By Boxing.

And it was all thanks to the boxing circuits class yesterday. Not only was the class the equivalent of doing school PE in my pants due to forgetting my kit, my legs now REALLY ached.

I had a 22 miler scheduled for today. Luckily I was sensible and postponed it until the RAMBOBB wore off.

The end.

Um... no. Not quite. What actually happened was I woke up with achy legs and thought “Meh, this will ease when I start running. I’ll RUN the agony off. That sounds like a sensible plan and in no way a recipe to injure myself.”

So I drove to Pitsford which is a 7 mile loop around a reservoir. The weather was grotty. It was rainy. It was windy. I should have twigged that pathetic fallacy was trying to tell me something.

Maybe I should have taken more notice when the clouds formed “Do not run” over the lake. Nope. I also ignored the sheep bleating “reeeeee-st”, “reeeeeee-st”. (Amazing how they do that without human lips right? It’s those haunted sheep again) I thought – and quite sensibly – what do sheep know about running?

I had decided on this loop as I really didn’t want to run the 22 miles. But it was in the schedule. And the schedule should be strictly adhered to at ALL times. I had sore, tired legs and it was only 4 days since I’d done 2 races plus a 20 mile run. I decided that this would be a good route as after 2 laps I would be on 14 miles and this wouldn’t be far enough for me to call it quits, whereas on my 4.5 mile loop I might decide that I was tired at 18 miles and give up. This way I would be at least 1 mile within the target. Sensible? Of course. (Cough)

The aches DID ease after a few miles, but I found I was more tired than I expected and that the run took more energy than I’d expected. Plus with the faffing around in the morning and messing about finding the right carpark change, I worked out that I was going to be 15 minutes late for an appointment unless I really quickened my pace up. So I did.

This is where warning bells sound for the normal person.

Nope. It seemed like sensible planning. However, my lack of foresight and utter uselessness at maths caught up with me on my second mile of sub-8 running (about 17 miles into the run) when I realised that I STILL couldn’t make it back in time. So I stopped. I was still a few miles away from the car. I couldn’t get back in time so I stopped and rearranged the appointment. I should have twigged that I was in trouble then when my legs seized up.

Nope. Of course not. Blindness to anything other than target and stupid bloodymindedness to finish the 22 miler at any cost saw me running 5 laps of the bridge to make up the distance.

However, after the run I did all of my stretches and I did them properly. Possibly the only other thing that could have helped me at this point would have been to jump in the cold reservoir and let the freezing water soothe my legs. Nope. I decided a nice sit down (and a packet of sweeties) and then a 45 minutes drive back home would be the best bet.

Having to walk on tiptoes and not being able to put my heels down on the floor is normal, right?


Distance: 22 miles
Time: 3:07:40 
Avg Pace: 8:32 min/miles

6 comments:

  1. Well done for getting it done. I've never done a 22 miler! :-) 20's enough... I like the new name - RAMBOBB inventive :-)

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    1. Thank you! I really didn't want to do it but was glad I'd done it. And I'll be glad when I'm standing at the start line of the marathon! :)

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  2. "I'll RUN the agony off". I love it. Lady - you got balls!

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  3. Well done. Us cyclists have a set of rules to adhere to and rule #5 is MTFU. You certainly done that!

    Have to say, I've only just come across your blog after googling for reviews of the Paris Marathon that I've signed up for next year. One hell of an inspirational story, so well done. I've got a similar one. My blog at http://www.studentofpain.com is a similar one, was fat but a damn sight fitter now but am nowhere near running marathons at your speed just yet! :) BW, John.

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  4. Evening John! Thanks ... but now I want to know what the Cyclist's Rules 1 - 4 are!! Thanks for the blog link - will nip over and have a read! :)

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