I think I’ve forgotten how to eat…I mean properly eat

I’m starting to wonder whether I have actually got someone else’s legs this week so far. They work ok, as in the bones are holding me up, it’s just the muscles have been replaced with mashed potato, or wood. Hang on,why would anyone else’s legs be filled with mashed potato? I’m rapidly losing the thread already here.

You still with me? Good, you get the idea, my legs have been really heavy this week even though I’ve been really taking it easy after the first long run in a while last Sunday. Not just that, from the moment I step out on the run, my mind is elsewhere. Often this is what I love about running, my mind drifting off, but this week it hasn’t been drifting off. No, it’s had only one thread of internal conversation. Within the first 200m, it’s starts:

“Hmm, Tom, so…what’s for lunch?”

I try to distract myself with the often beautiful countryside that I get to run in during my lunchtime. Here’s Monday’s run, just after a band of heavy rain cleared the snow away:

However, it’s relentless:

“I could eat lunch now…like right now…ok, I really want something to eat…NOW”

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have voices in my head telling me this but this has been a constant inner tirade this week.

“Errr, Tom you’ve not forgotten, you’re STILL hungry”

It doesn’t stop for the entire run.

And I know why.

As my family will attest, I’m a good eater. Similarly to my running, I may not be that fast at it but do I have stamina at the dinner table. I mentioned that Sunday’s run was the longest I’d done in a long while. We had quite a busy day in the end once I’d got back from the run and I had all three meals and a smattering of grazing throughout the day.

This was only the usual amount of food for a Sunday, not to mention having a totally standard Monday of food. Schoolboy error.

For me, just as important as the mileage training is the post-run dinner training or I’ll just flake out during any recovery runs. Am I the only one who doesn’t get this quite right? So there we go, after the next long run, I’ll put in more commitment to refuelling too, after all that is one of the major benefits of running, in my opinion!

In spite of mashed potato legs (still not a thing), I’ve got almost 20k of recovery runs under my belt so it’s been a good start to the week from a running perspective. I’ve not even been rained on so far either:

When roads are as muddy as trails, Wed lunch run

Right, I’m off to eat another pork pie. Hope you’ve all had a good start to your running weeks.

Today’s (Wednesday’s) run