Just when ya thought it couldn’t get any worse..

Didn’t run on Friday or Saturday but set time aside for core training instead. Nothing major Just planking, press-ups and crunches for 15 mins.

Sunday, I’d decided would be the 10.5 miler I did the other day. Along the beach to Solent Breezes Caravan park & back.

Up and outta the house fairly early Sunday morning. Slight drizzle and soft breeze. Temperature was down to a nice 16 degs so set off at a gentle pace.

I keep reminding myeslf, it’s not about the duration and more about putting miles in the bank.

Thing is, (and typical of me) ... I got to the fork in the road at about 5 miles in and rightly it wrongly took the longer route (which goes from the Haven back along the Stubbington 10k route).

Planning in my head it’d have added about two miles to the planned 10.5 and feeling ok thought why not. After all I’d bumped into friends chillin' at the beach and had a 5 min natter so I was well rested.

A mile or so further it all went shit-shaped...

Those who have run with me when I pull a muscle behind my left lung know what I go through (it doesn’t often happen tbh). Dead painful.

The only alternative to walking/ stopping is to either man up and run through it OR have a running partner to seriously punch the crap out of the area! Dunno why the punching thing works of me but for me it does.

Since I was alone I took the manning-up option.

I digress... Obviously not impressed with the muscle spasm thing and gasping for a bit of the ol' O2, the whole thing went further down shit alley when I inhaled a fricken wasp. In it goes, delivers the sting delivered on inside right cheek & then the little f*@ker buggered off. Not a happy chappie I can tell ya but hey, protein or not, at least I didn’t swallow it. Ouch!!! (not quite the word i used).

All said and done, I just wanted to get home. One consolation was the sting took the pain away from my back (a little).

Plodded the last 7 miles on one lung and a proper sore gob.

Nearing Titchfield I caught up with an gent who was power walking. Passing him, I said the obligatory "morning" and ended up slowing to have a 5 min chat whilst hitting the power strides.
All good training although I couldn't ask hi to start punching my back lol. Turned out that he used to be a runner in his younger days. As his running exploits unravelled it was obvious he was quite seasoned and had run every day for 20 years.

Long story short, it turns out he was 80 but didn't look a day over 50! 

Sad to hear that he couldn’t run these days because he said 20 years of crap footwear and pavements (he'd grown up in the heart of London) had taken its toll, thus he'd resorted to doing 6 mile power walks every day instead. Interesting bloke and BIG respect.

Tbh - by the time I got home, the sting was kinda gone and with a shower + pain killers was back to normal.

Total route length should've been about 12 miles (in my head). Imagine the deflation when I checked the GPS app and found it was bang on 10.5!

I should've run the shoreline again - at least the view would've been better!

That said, I did the distance a minute quicker than the last 10.5 and had an extra 3Kg so not all doom and gloom.

Moral of the story if ya want a good pace, plonk a wasp in your mouth!!

I'd repacked my 4kg bags of rice after the last run I did. The aim was to try and reduce the lateral movement by laying them horizontally instead of vertically.

What it actually did was increase the sway and ended up wearing a sore across my lower back. Not ideal but it means I'll be re-packing it to how it was.

Defo a lesson learned. Plan will be to pack for the Amazon and run with the proper kit before settling for what works best rather than finding out during the jungle.

Next planned run will be a shorter one during the week. My eldest duaghtter has a planned event in Cardiff in Oct so it'll be nice to have her out for a 6+ miler.

Ever been confused by energy drinks? I have! Here's something I didn’t know about them (thanks Phil for the info):

Hypotonic Drinks:

Claim: to increase speed of fluid absorbsion
How to make 1 litre:
1/3 unsweetened fruit juice
2/3 water
Pinch of salt
or
100ml Orange Squash
Litre of water
Pinch of salt

Isotonic Drinks:

Absorbed at the same rate as water
How to make 1 litre:
1/2 litre fruit juice 1/2 lire water
Pinch of salt
or
200ml Orange Squash
1 litre water
Pinch of salt

Hypertonic Drinks:

Claim: Absorbed more slowly & boost energy
How to make 1 litre:
1 litre of unsweetened fruit juice
Pinch of salt
Or
400ml Orange Squash
1 litre water
Pinch of salt
 
If you have any advice, comments etc, feel free to post away. Another update later in the week folks. Til then, have a good one!

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