Aside from a rather nice 9km run, I learned an interesting lesson in maintaining effective social distancing. It turns out, when coming across someone unexpectedly in the (deserted, quite lonely) woods, they appear more than happy to spring out of the way of you are chuckling to yourself.
The reasons for me chuckling to myself will probably be more concerning than the act itself so I’ll not divulge any further information. I’ll quit while I’m ahead. Well, not really ahead in this case!
The last day of warm sun and the last day of single-figure run distances. From now on, it starts to hot up. That meant I was particularly keen on enjoying it out there today.
The woods were quiet, apart from one now traumatised member of the public, and full of green. Smashing:
So far so good with any injury threat. Now we’re getting into double figures, foam rolling and stretches in the evening are going to become much more the norm. I do currently have a small crack in my foot and a blister on my thumb. Nothing running related. Simply, too much flip flop time in the sunshine and weeding respectfully. Luckily the end of the sunshine will quickly put paid to both of those injury inducing activities!
Anyway, I promised you some numbers. I’ve got charts for you. I’m not going to turn this into a science report. I’m not a monster. There are two numbers I’m keeping a track of which I’ll introduce here but will be of more importance further down the line.
First off, I’m keeping an eye on my weight to check that it doesn’t drop too much once the mileage really kicks in. Are you ready for the dullest plot you’ve seen since you left school? With only a few shorter runs under my belt, you can see the weight change since the first day has not really gone up or down:
Ah good, a 0% change, how fascinating. This is comforting but I’d have hoped not to have issues with this in the first week. The next one is the much more interesting one. This is the guide to how much I need to eat to cover the calories burnt in the run. I’m paraphrasing a little. But only just.
This is likely to ramp up massively over the next couple of weeks so I’d better get those cakes, sorry I meant pasta, ready. Jokes aside, after a 50k or 100k race it can take me a few days to restock on the 5000 or so calories burnt. By the end of the month I’m going to have to put in some concerted eating efforts to replace any burnt calories by the next day. At this stage, I only relish the thought of that (no pun intended).
Double figures starts tomorrow then and my monthly goals are clear. Make sure I eat enough not to lose any weight. I should write a diet book.
Thanks for keeping track of me. Here’s the usual reminder of why I’m doing this:
https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/tomfanthorpe2
longruntom 