Hills and hangovers

Before today, I didn't think that the two go together, but now I am absolutely convinced that they don't!

As mentioned in my last post, I had arranged with Richard Wild to walk Bride to Peel with him today, however as his hamstring is still on the mend he decided it best to give it a little longer to recover. Instead, I met Simon Briggs (Wednesday night regular) at his house shortly after 7, and we decided to do a loop of Baldwin plus a bit extra to tot up the miles.

This seemed like a good idea at the time of arranging, but both Simon and I were out last night, and had a few beers. I went to the Palace to see a one man play called Beating Berlusconi with my mate Dicko, and in the process had a few pints. I did have a relatively early night, I caught the 11.20 bus from the Manx Arms home, and was tucked up in bed well before midnight. Apparently Simon was a little later than me, and had a few more beers than me too.

When my alarm went off at 6.30 I immediately knew that last night wasn't a good idea after all, but as we had an arrangement, I was sticking to it, so jumped in the car and off to meet Simon at his house in Tromode. Although I hadn't had loads to drink, having really rationed my intake this year, the relatively small amount I had really had an effect.

We headed out past the test centre, and towards Strang, straight across towards West Baldwin. After a hilly lap of the Baldwins at a pretty good pace, we headed along Ballanard Road, and down Bray Hill. We weren't exactly sure where to go next, but Simon suggested we head out past Kewaigue. The last 3 miles have got to be the hardest, longest 3 miles I have ever walked in my life, and going up past the school I just wanted to the hell to be over. Our hangovers had kicked in big style, and we were both really struggling, and the pace dropped significantly. We shuffled across the Cooil Rd roundabout and out towards B&Q cutting through the Business Park and down Vicarage Rd. The downhills were a welcome change as we had done our fair share of uphills and were definitely ready to finish. We eventually made it back to Simon's in a total of around 3 hours 10 minutes which was a decent time for 16 miles considering our condition.

Having had time to reflect on it, I think the slowing was due to dehydration more than anything. Although I had a pint of water before bed, and a pint before I left the house this morning and carried about another litre with me, it really goes to show what an effect alcohol has on the system, but also what effect dehydration has on the body. It's therefore really important to stay hydrated on the day, but it's very difficult to get absolutely right. Too little fluid intake results in dehydration, and too much mean you have to keep stopping to get rid of the excess. The best tip I have ever been given, and this certainly seems to work for me. The feed stations between the start and Peel are quite well spaced out, so when you are offered a drink, take one. Richard did a good piece on hydration the other week, so I'm not going to regurgitate what he said, but what is very important and worth reiterating is the bit about rehydration salts. These are available from all good chemists (and probably a few bad ones too), they taste foul, but then again most things that are good for you do.

Before the big day, I'll do a piece on what I carry in my kit bag such as rehydration salts, but do not underestimate the importance of these things.

So a final round up of this weeks training, 7 miles Monday, rest Tuesday, Wednesday night speed session, 5 miles Thursday, rest Friday, 5 miles Saturday and 16 today. So in total 33 miles which I'm chuffed about.

Just need to get back on that wagon.