20K Sunday - Isotonic Red Wine

Preparation is better on Saturday night as I'm out for dinner and have a Sashimi starter and a large Thai Mixed fish stir fry with rice for my main. Bottle of Argentinian Red and a half litre of water. Some magic tea before bed and I sleep like an Egyptian mummy.

I'm up about 10am and have a nice breakfast of half baguette with bacon,three cups of tea,a kit-kat(you are what you eat) couple of glasses of orange juice and a half litre of water.

I rest for half an hour then get the dogs in and step out to the bright sunshine. Pretty scorchio so back in and I change my top to a short sleeve one. Music on and I'm off for 20K. The difference is startling, yesterday I was in pain from the first 10 minutes and today my legs feel like they need to be held back. I don't feel any sweat on my face till I've done about 3.5K.

I drop off 5K in 24:30 at the top of Hedgehog hill. I know I've been up it but I can feel that I'll recover quick on the next downhill section. The next long hill up to Messager du Bruxelles from Ohain is a real leg killer. I get to the roundabout and although I've done about 7K I feel not too bad but I'm happy to have a flat section next.

Turn left along the flat to start a sharp downhill then climb up to Ransbeeke. Legs again taking on quite a climb and its hot here as the road is all concrete, so I can start to feel it through my shoes.

Left turn at around the 10K mark in 50:35 which is pretty swift for me on such a long run , towards Waterloo and the wind is now at my back, this is usually a good thing but the sun is in my face now and I'm getting no cooling relief from the wind at all.

I reach the N5 and can feel the shivers starting, I'm now officialy getting fried and am wishing I'd taken another 500ml of water and am fantasising about buying a bottle from the shop. The shop is of course shut as its Sunday and I have no money....its all in the head....I could probably still outrun the security guys, if they were working.

At 15K my legs are done, skin is like a plucked chicken and I'm alternating between roasting and freezing. I know that I'm actually neither too hot nor too cold. I'm just drying out. I've been here before and you can get through it but you need to finish to get the cure. Respiration is all fine and I'm trying alternating experiments to keep my mind going by on filling my lungs completely for 500M and then switching to normal breathing. I'm not sure what is best but the big breaths are out of tune with my strides so feel weird.

At 17K and 1:30ish I turn left into the breeze again and I can feel the blisters on my toes forming. The instep on my left foot also starting to nip so I'll be getting one there too. Looks like my 1000 mile socks are starting to lose their bounce....

Downhill and its just gravity keeping me going. I'm dreading the last hill as its a real killer being so close to home. I really really want to just stop, even for just a minute. I feel like I'm running in treacle as my legs are going so slow. I can't stride out very far as my legs are too painful. I reach the top and along the flat.

Farmer has cut the field down to my left, the temptation to just cut the corner is enormous. I don't and come down the road, kids playing on their bikes in the street , they scatter when they see me except one wee guy who is obviously too cool. He plots my course then places his bike directly in front of me side on...I bet he didn't expect me to hurdle his back wheel, should've clipped his ear on the way past...I'm done 1:50:12 and I'm really done.

Clearly Red Wine is Isotonic..............

White Wine is not an Isotonic Sports Drink

It Friday night, I'm in on my own and Scotland are playing the mighty Lithuania. I'm on my own as the gang have decamped to somewhere in Belgium for a weekend of Three Day Eventing.

I've not eaten much as my work day was back end loaded so I had conf calls and was on the phone till about 18:30. The game starts about 19:30 so I settle down with a cup of tea and a big bag of Tomato Sauce Crisps. You are what you eat as I often say.

The game kicks off and 15 minutes in I can already see the end result. I head down to the cellar in search of patriotic anaesthetic but all the red wine is too good for drinking with crisps, I check the fridge and it's only Leffe Blonde and that puts a belly on me just by opening it. I reach in a pull out a cheeky wee Sauvignon Blanc...Just a glass to get me through the game.

I drag myself through the game, it's souless and ends in a dismal 0-0 result which puts me out of my misery. My result was me having sank 5 glasses from the bottle. I feel fine but I still have only consumed wine and crisps since lunchtime when I had lasagne and a glass of cola.

I head off to bed, I'm setting my mind up for a 20K session next day.

I'm up about 10am. I mooch about the house and sink a bottle of sports drink. I decide to take one of the dogs on the run, see if the young one can do 20K. So no shower and no breakfast, straight out of bed, gear on, teeth brushed and a small sports drink....

I've now not really eaten for 22 hours and have hydrated with a bottle of white wine....I get about 2K in and I feel like I've ran 15K. Sweating and legs like jelly. I blame it on the dog who is pulling me along a bit too fast in his eagerness.

At 5K I'm at the top of Hedgehog hill, I'm absolutely wiped out. Sweat pouring from me, my legs are lifeless and my head is pounding. I decide to just cut the 20K out and head back with just 10K in the bank. I know there is no way for me to do 20K feeling like this. My legs are literally shaking if I stop.

I get to 7K and I think I'm going to faint but I've just passed some folks walking their dog so I do what all runners do and I speed up a bit and put some distance between us. That little secret will probably get me thrown out the magic runners circle. The dog is now driving me crazy pulling and stopping to sniff, my head is ready to burst. I let him off the lead and drop my pace a bit. My time is way out, I'm at 45 minutes with 2K to go, usually I'm on the last 500M by this point.

I keep going but every muscle and fibre from my hair to my toes is screamming stop, you are dying.....I know I'm not so I just keep going. The only time I've felt as bad as this before was the last long distance triathlon I did in Brasschatt when I got fried on the bike in >30C heat and the run was pure hell from the 3rd KM right to the end.

I finish and need to lie down, on the grass at the side of the road I look at my watch and its say 58:12...... The Dog is helping by licking my sweaty face. I'm thinking about going for a sleep right here. I eventually get up and head in for a shower and a long lie down. I sink 500ML of sports drink in one go. I have a shower then have half a baguette toasted with tea and then a sleep on the couch.

Lesson here kids is eat something in the 24 hours before you try to run 20K as cleary white wine alone won't get you round.