Tired!

the retired tyre swing, a photo by ultraBobban on Flickr.

37 miles in the last 3 days and I've not been home from work too late....although I have brought work home so have been going out later than usual. I should get another 23 miles in the next couple of days, then a rest day, cross country on Saturday and the Tanners on Sunday. inadvertently I have quickly upped the mileage without thinking.

The Thames Trot 50 mile is just 3 1/2 weeks away so subliminally my body regards this as good peaking mileage before I have a week mini-taper to allow the glycogen stores to refill.

The experiment of one continues. I have in the past attempted a number of different pre-race strategies based on my scientific knowledge. As a Masters-educated Biologist I would like to think that my understanding of body performance was above say, the man on the street. Not that i am a fan of fads and whimsy, but carb loading does not work for me at all. One successful strategy I employed when I ran the 3FM 2 years ago was a morning of hard running, including track work and then a 7 mile warm down on the day prior to the race. The theory goes that the body is hoodwinked into thinking that glycogen is being depleted at a higher than expected rate, so necking a 1.5 litre bottle of Lucozade in the sauna at the gym afterwards enables faster glycogen reabsorption than would be expected. The downside to this is that I hate track work!

I have attempted other strategies to avoid the dreaded carb load, which leaves me bloated and slow. I prefer to snack on my long runs, grazing at shops on fizzy drinks and crisps; on runs it is flapjacks and jelly belly beans, rather than the toxic gel. I have been known to stop at a chippie (ask Immune and Jezza) on a really long run for a can of Coke and a chip butty, plenty of salt and vinegar. Better still, A bacon butty from the cafe on wholemeal. Yum!

All of this keeps me going mentally, as I dream in food! All of this keeps the thought of being tired at bay.....