Have to admit I was rather happy to go into the gym last night and discover the only working treadmill was being monopolised by a spanish adonis running faster then Seb Coe and giving the me perfect excuse not to use the contraption. Instead I used a stepping maching where the force required to do the left step was about 3 times more than that needed for the right step, so needless to say I gave up and decided to run outside.
Unfortunately I had only taken my ipod instead of my phone so didnt have the lovely Laura to keep me motivated. Instead I had Adele crying over her ex boyfriend as my 4 minute warm up followed by 40 minutes of Abba, Boyzone, Cher, Annie Lennox, Westlife, Atomic Kitten, Sonya and Kylie, followed by a cool down to Isabel Pantocha (the spanish shirley Bassey for those unfamiliar with La Diva). I ran through the back streets of Gran Canaria with surprising ease though did have to stop for water for about 20 seconds. All in all I managed to run for just over 40 minutes and was rather chuffed with myself.
Tho on stopping to stretch I felt my heart beating in my head - I kid you not, I thought my whole head was pulsating like my heart and that it was going to explode. It wasnt that warm, maybe 14 or 15 degrees most of the way round but thats the warmest I've run in and my body seemed to go into shock when I stopped, which is rather wierd as the actual run was probably the longest I have ever managed and it wasnt that hard. I then came over all dizzy and as soon as I drank some water, well it got worse. Not quiet a Paula Ratcliffe London marathon moment, but all I can say is the water didnt stay in for long. Think I should have planned to hydrate more on the way round, but the good news is five minutes later I was fine and buzzing and into a nice brisk 5 minutes cool down, and today I feel great.
Think today resting at pool may include a quick google check on how to run and keep hydrated. No more treadmill for me today, back to road running tonight though might try to download some better music.
Tom