Saturday: still feeling the after-effects of the cold, still guzzling various remedies. Much better, and I was quietly confident that I’d wake up on Sunday with no real problems.
And as it transpired. I wouldn’t say 100%, but definitely good enough, and nothing on the chest – so I went for a run around the block. My usual 4.5mile loop, wearing new boots – Saucony Kinvara 3. Ran with the Garmin but didn’t look at it until I was a couple of miles in, just ran as I wanted to, applying a bit of effort but not too much. Shoes felt great, and I was feeling quite OK at around 8 minutes/mile – which is pretty quick for me. I did the whole loop in 8.07 minutes/mile, and felt good afterwards, no real problems. Looking forward to running on the NDW around Dorking tomorrow morning with John Pickup.
And then Monday came around. I met John around Dorking station, at the start of the loop. We got going pretty early, and both felt good. We talked about stuff, getting to know each other as we’d only met once before. We talked about John’s recent Pilgrim ultra success, and about how he hadn’t trained much for the six weeks following that; and how he was now getting back up there for the forthcoming 3 Forts Challenge – which I’m running too. We also talked about my upcoming ultras. And then! I realised we were about 25 minutes in and I hadn’t taken in any water. This isn’t what I’d normally do; ordinarily when I’m running on my own I regulate my water and food intake pretty well, but this time I just forgot. I had a drink and resolved to drink more regularly from then on.
The countryside around Dorking really is stunning. Some of the views make you want to stop to take them in. At one stage John pointed out a hill that looked an awfully long way away, and that that was the third of a few big hills we’d be climbing today. It reminded me of the run last December between Marathon and Athens; when we recced it we stood on a hill near the Acropolis and looked in the general direction of where we’d be running from, and saw a mountain way, way in the distance – and then worked out via the map that this was, in fact, a small hill about halfway – the actual mountain (Mount Penteli) was the much larger, darker shadow even further back. This sort of view really brings home how far something like 26 miles really is – it’s a REALLY long way. So bugger off, anyone who thinks that running 26 miles is easy. It’s not!
The running was good – great, in fact. We both felt good and strong, and while John ran up all the hills I’d already resolved to walk up the steepest, but that seemed to work OK as I caught him up again (most of the time) on the flat or downhill. There were some really good hills around there, with picturesque views – Holmbury Hill, with the iron age fort remains on top, is a favourite of mine by car so it was good to have run there. I remember John racing with some mountain bikers to reach the top, and sprinted off into the distance to the fort area – beating them too – but I deliberately held back and conserved my energy, not being too aware of what was yet to come.
On Leith Hill, which I’d previously cycled up once or twice so I knew of its magnitude, we made good progress getting up and to the summit, where there’s a tea shop. I really fancied a drink because my backpack, the UltrAspire, has a bladder which makes the water taste funny after a while. John bought us a coffee each, and we stood and drank it – a massive mug of REALLY good coffee. We probably spent about five minutes standing around, drinking and chatting, and then we resolved to head off back down the other side. After a few minutes, though, I started to feel weird. I felt a little bit nauseous and dizzy, and my calves started to cramp. I stopped and walked for a bit, and not for the first time that day John did too; he could see I was flagging and was happy to run/walk at my pace. I carried on for a time, running a little bit and then walking when I felt dizzy or crampy again, and eventually I had to sit down because I knew I was going to be sick. The whole coffee came up, pretty much in one go. I felt much better almost immediately, and got up soon after and started moving again. The cramps continued periodically, so I was now walking and running the whole way, but there was only one more hill to cross before the descent into Dorking and back to the car. I took an S! cap at some stage when I though I could keep it down, to get the electrolytes in. I don’t remember much about this part, except John telling me there wasn’t far to go, and the whole of that part of the run seemed to take forever. I think it may be that my brain had decided that I was at the finish already, and so it shut down my body a bit, but there was still a decent way to go through Dorking and up to the station where I’d parked.
We got to a small convenience store that was open, and I said I wanted to go in to find a toilet and get a drink. John offered to go get my car and drive it back to me, which he did while I went into the shop. The shop owner wasn’t happy to see a dishevelled runner come in and refused to let me go to the toilet, so I bought some Oasis and went outside. I felt an overwhelming need to lie down, so I did – on my back first and then, because the pack was in the way, rolled onto my side into the foetal position. I must have looked pretty tragic. I lay there for a while, and then sat up and sipped some Oasis. My legs were still pretty locked with cramp so standing was painful, but I did a bit of stretching and it loosened up a bit. John brought back my car (thanks again, John) and then after asking if I was OK he made off for the station. I got in the car and turned the engine and heater on, and sat there for a good while with cramped legs, with my body uncontrollably shivering – I just couldn’t stop. It was quite cold outside but not that cold, and so I must have had something wrong with me. We’d run 21 miles, up and down some hills but not particularly taxing – I’ve certainly run longer and harder before and not had this reaction. After 20 minutes or so my shivering had died down and I decided to sort out my cramp – so I turned off the engine and got out of the car. It felt freezing cold now, but the stretching felt good. I bought another Oasis and drank most of that, texted Sarah and then started to head off home – I felt at that point like I was safe to drive and the cramping was under control, and the drive home was thankfully uneventful.
The rest of the day went OK. I recovered after a couple of hours and I felt great. So not sure what happened to be honest – could it just be that initial lack of water intake sparked off the cramping, and then the coffee was just too much for my system? I was ill again in the coming days so it’s possible some illness was coming at this stage, but I’m just chalking it down to experience. One thing’s for sure though, I need to do this run again (or something very like it) soon to practice drinking, electrolytes, food etc for longer distances, and make sure this was just a one-off.
Total miles planned: 37.5
Total miles actual: 34.2