This time the inverse law of running didn't work. I felt pretty awful going into today's long run and as the run progressed I slowly and steadily felt ... even worse.
The previous evening I had felt crook and then I slept badly and so wasn't in good shape for this morning's run. I couldn't afford to skip it however, and in any case I had a date with Next Door Andy to join him on his favourite 18km run through Lane Cove National Park, so there was nothing for it but to tough it out.
It was already warm when we left at 0700, and no amount of positive thinking was going to allow me to escape the fact that this going to be very hard. It's a hilly route, this one, but net downhill on the way out with the last 9km being a devastatingly awful 9km climb back home, with some short brutish hills that really do make you question the wisdom of all .... this.
However it must be said that it was great to have someone to chat with (albeit at a rate of one syllable per gasping breath on my part), and even though he is a vastly better runner than I (generally around 1:34 for the half mara) he was keen to learn all about this (to him) strange concept of "long, slow runs" to build endurance without risking injury, and so he chatted happily and easily and enjoyed the scenery while I laboured heavily throughout all of the second half of the run.
We returned home for a total time of 1:56, some three minutes slower than last time I ran this route and I was well and truly spent. As in 'collapse on the ground and do nothing but re-hydrate for several minutes' sort of spent - too out of breath to even communicate with Mrs MLCM about anything. And endorphins? Nada. Nothing. Zippo. Not even a glimmer of feel-good-ness to compensate. It was just a bad, tough, nasty brute of a run.
However the good thing about brutish runs is that while they may be disappointing, at least they train you to deal with and get through the bad times when nothing is going well, such as in the last 10km of a marathon, for example.
And it is another 18km in the spreadsheet and more strength in the legs. So, was it worthwhile? You bet it was.
Deadish December 2012
