Ouch! (first one for a while)

Well, I learned a valuable lesson in respect tonight.

Ate a lot of crap food this afternoon then went out for dinner when we got home to maintain the domestic equilibrium, had a very ordinary chicken schnitzel meal (figured I’d be right for my 21km about 1½ hours later).

Out I went at about 9:40, only planning on 6:00 pace and that’s what I got. No leg problems, no soreness, etc. At about 12km, all was not well with the world and I knew I was about to get a spanking!

Through 14km, I was feeling decidedly unwell (legs were fine though) and by about 18, I was positively nauseous. Pulled the plug at 19km and had a 50m walk. Finished km no. 20 and walked in the rest. Legs were great and so was I almost the instant I stopped running.

Contributing factors?

• I’ve had three solid months of training following Brisbane with GH, Mt Mee and GC thrown in, so obviously there’s an element of fatigue.
• Diet yesterday was a major factor (loads of sweet rubbish from a conference we had) as I’ve been very well behaved with it in the last few months and it just didn’t agree with me
• Was back in the gym for the first time in three weeks on Monday (it’s been closed while students were on holiday) and had a pretty tough session.
• Big meal at a time I never usually have one, certainly not 90 minutes before a long run!
• Here’s the biggie, the main contributing factor … total complacency and lack of respect for the distance. 20km is 20km. I think this happened just in time to prevent me from becoming an ultra snob (a real one!). Here endeth the lesson!

My heart rate didn't get above 145 all the way around and was only about 135 at my worst. I could have just finished and was digging in but as my watch beeped at the 19km mark, I just thought, "nope, nothing to gain here." (12 months ago it would have been "gotta finish, gotta finish"). I calculatedly made the decision to walk but it was my body telling me to stop.

Gym again today along with 12km tonight. See how we go