Its a lovely day. Nice warm and sunny. Todays walk was to be 10km with 2 x 10min burst of 20km race pace.
I picked the Atawahi Walkway for this one as it is the flattest walk that I have available to me. I started out and decided to to do the first 10min burst straight away. First thing I noticed was how tired my legs were feeling. My body felt heavy and tired. I warmed up after the first km and my pace picked up a bit too. I kept pushing along and happily eased up alittle after the 3km mark. Walking along the 4km segment there are a couple of wee rises in the walkway....nothing much just about 1.5m in height but they feel steep when you are tired. I walked the second rise and felt a familiar pain start in my stomach. It has been a long time since I have had a bout of my gastro problem during a walk and it was unsettling to feel it gurgle now. As I came up to the 5km turn point, I had a few more sharp pains but then right as I turned the pain really set in. I had to stop and fast! I was doubled over (pretending to stretch) and all I could do was wait for the cramps to pass so that I could stand straight again. They passed and I set off back towards the car. Could I make the 5km back? I almost pulled the pin on the whole walk but I still also had to walk the 5km back....better I get back faster than slower. I was having waves of cramps and again had to stop at the 7km mark. I kept reassuring my self that I would be ok...its just 3km to go. I tried to pick up the pace when I was feeling ok and I think I just managed to get about 8 mins of race pace. I could see the 10km stop point ahead of me and just pushed through the cramps I was getting. I hit my watch and kept going till I got to my car. I got my car key off my shoe and quickly got in and sat down. Oh it felt so good to have my knees up. When I get these pains its all I can do but just lay in a fetal position unitl they pass. The cramps are mid belly button and are caused from pockets of air being trapped as my inside twist up. It normally goes away after a few hours and today was no different. I got home curled up on the couch and up loaded this. with in a couple hours it had passed and I was feeling much better. Why do I continue to walk when I am in pain........cause if that was a race there is no way I would stop, so if I can walk through it in training...then I know I can walk through it in a race.
So time for today is 59:17 with avg heart rate of 148 (2 bursts of race pace - 1&2km and again at 6&7km)
1 comment:
Ouch!!!! I totally feel your pain. Still a great time for your walk though!
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