First Brick - the run bit.

. . . so I didn’t drink as much as I should have done on the bike.

Anyway - the Run. VonSmallhaussen’s up to stay for the weekend, so she volunteered to come with me for the run - to the lighthouse and back. Except she was going to cycle (borrowing Wife’s bike), so that she could keep up and provide a regular stream of motivational advice. I got to carry the water bottles for both of us in a waist belt thing - 2 x 500ml of watered down fruit juice + 0.75g of my salt mix in each.

The first mile was great - 6:50 pace & feeling grrrreat! We took a 60 second pause to glug down some fluids, and then set off again, at about the same pace. And then 3/4 of a mile later, I had to go up a slight incline. Nothing serious - five or ten metres over about 200m of horizontal distance. Nothing serious. But obviously more than my legs / blood electrolytes were expecting.

Both of my vastus medialis muscles started cramping and spasming.

I had to stop & massage them out for 30 seconds or so before setting off again. They were OK to run on, but I had to take it really carefully - no more sub-seven minute miles for me! We stopped twice more during the run for fluids, and the return run was into a stiffening breeze, which made it a little more challenging. Basically, from when the cramp started, it was 3 1/2 miles of running on the edge - as hard as I could, but modulating the pace, rhythm and stride length to keep the cramp at bay.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 05/05/2008
• Time: 09:55:41
• Total Time: 00:45:00.00
• Distance: 5.4 miles
• Average Pace: 8:20/mile

Am I worried about the cramp? Yes, a little. But I think I know the cause of this one - I’d been exercising for almost three hours, and hadn’t needed to pee at all. In fact, I went a total of four hours without the need for a bathroom stop, and for most of that time I was working pretty hard. With hindsight, a pretty obvious mistake, which I hope to prove as the cause in my next brick session.

Oh, and one last thing - VonSmallHaussen couldn’t keep up with me running, even though she was on the bike. Woo wooo wooo!

Filed under: Brick, Cycling, Friends, Injury, No More Excuses, Recipes, Run, Whitley Bay, Woo Wooo woooo!