Is it my age or does training for a marathon cause exercise-induced dementia? Admittedly my mind is not the steel trap that it used to be but, honestly, in the last couple of weeks there's something sinister happening up there. I'm becoming forgetful!!! Just this morning I managed to leave my grocery list behind after telling myself repeatedly to PUT IT IN THE HANDBAG. And Tuesday I forgot to get the meat out of the freezer for dinner and when I did finally remember, it wasn't there. I'd forgotten to buy it!
I'm starting to wonder if being oxygen deprived for such long periods of time is having long-term and irreversible effects. But am I going to stop what I'm doing? No way!
Just this week a strange thing has stared to happen. I'm actually feeling good. I'm feeling fitter than I have for such a long time and I'm sleeping like a baby till the alarm goes off. (that's a baby who's sleeping through the night not a colicky one that's up every couple of hours) And I'm starting to feel a little confident. I don't think I've contemplated pulling out of the marathon ALL WEEK. Such a turn-around from last week when I was thinking of it daily and sometimes every few hours.
It's just as well I'm feeling so good because Coach Chris had the hill session from hell planned today. We ran the OTHER trail - the one that finishes on the up. He took us right to the bottom and made us run repeats on the steepest bit. We got to sprint (and I use that term loosely) then do drills which just trashed my quads .. and calves ... and glutes. And then we got to sprint again (an even slower sprint than the first time) And to round off the session we got to run the 2k back up the hill. My heart rate maxed out at 186!
Recovery day tomorrow and Saturday I have my new longest-ever-run of 36k to look forward to. No doubt I will be walking like an arthritic octogenarian by Saturday afternoon. And no, I won't be doing what the lady in my picture is.
Well, in my case it is the age but from what I am reading not necessarily dementia. I understand that before women hit the big M-pause their brains turn to mush but once M-P hits their brains reconstitute and are functioning normally again. Can't wait for both to happen. :)
ReplyDeleteBTW, that lady in the pic is amazing!
So glad you're feeling confident...I love it! You are going to do so great :)
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you'll have a nice new longest-ever-run of 36k. Looking forward to reading about your next "hard" training :)
ReplyDeleteHey where'd you get that pic of me? FLexible huh? :o
ReplyDeleteI think the oxygen goes to our muscles rather than to our head!
I’m glad you’re feeling so good. I’m also feeling like that at the moment…but I’m not forgetting things yet. That sounds like a very hard workout you had. You will be very strong for the marathon. Enjoy the 36km!
ReplyDeleteRunner's Brain!!! Glad I'm not the only one.
ReplyDeleteAwesome job on the hill workout... enjoy the recovery day!
I love this post. So true. I'm going to blame everything [brain related] on running.
ReplyDeleteAwesome.
Now if I could just let my leg up a pole like that.
This is a very nice post, so informative and interesting. Thanks for sharing such a great post.
ReplyDelete