Running Without Lucozade

Friday: I was itching to run today and especially as I made my mind up to do it without relying on Lucozade. I filled a bottle with Ribena which I left in the car as an after-run drink. The weather was breezy, rather cold, but the sun came out towards the end of my run. I found today rather tough, as expected, I needed to know how over reliant my body was becoming on Lucozade to keep going. A lot more concentration was required and a lot more thought about strategy, focusing on keeping slow at points and deciding when to push ahead faster when the body started accessing energy reserves. It was still enjoyable, I feel I need the music to keep me motivated and to help set a rhythm for running. I was conscious of making the left leg work harder, as the right calf flared up at intervals. However, around 8mins before I stopped, the arch in left foot started to ache, or rather I felt twinges of pain. Despite adjusting my running technique and speed, the twinges were constant. That made me decide to stop at the nearest measurable point and I used up all my reserved energy to basically bolt it. But I still found myself full of energy and decided to keep going to the point after that, which was a killer indeed. I really struggled despite slowing down and when my earphones came out, I could hear my breathing, which was worryingly loud and desperate-sounding. Then again, who knows what 'normal breathing' sounds like. Anyway, it really took everything out of me to get to the last point, and I had to stop moving for a bit as dizziness set in. But I knew I had to keep moving to prevent my body going into shock so I walked back to the car, albeit not in a straight line. In total, I ran for 34min 2secs, covering 4.65km. Interestingly, I felt a lot better after my 50min+ runs than I did today, which tells me how much I needed the Lucozade. Still, I feel pleased I managed over half an hour on my own. At the end of the day, the right calf is aching more and the knee is feeling tender too. Despite this, I need to run tomorrow, if I wake up early enough, otherwise I won't have anyone to watch the kids. Running is becoming more and more important as an outlet for me as time goes on, I am glad I took this up.