Under Doctor's Advice

Friday: I was raring to go running this morning, as I am not used to having 2 consecutive days off. Another rather hot day in the city, I decided that my usual cotton lycra training gear would not do so I wore my pink race top and lycra pants. Hat on head for the scorching sun and Lucozade sport (raspberry flavour, which it turns out, I wouldn't recommend) in hand, I had a new music playlist set up in advance. I parked the car in the park and walked round the park as a warm-up. As planned, I then set off from outside the park, to run in the streets. It was challenging, as expected, having to negotiate around pedestrians and traffic lights. Getting nearly run over by angry cars on more than one occasion was a little nerve-wracking; running in the streets demands a different type of focus and determination indeed. I set off well, though perhaps too fast, with hindsight, and sipped my drink at intervals. However, I started to feel faint again and very tired, far too early for my liking. Having reached a good distance from the car and feeling the legs give way, the decision was made to bring the run to a premature end. It was incredibly disheartening, I questioned how much of this was psychological and how much physical. It brought back the disappointment I felt during GER and I was in quite a state. There were no benches, as my park has, to rest, so I walked slowly back, chastising myself over today's poor performance. I covered 2.59km in 17mins 56secs, being unable to reach the low level of 18mins felt very frustrating. As I got closer to the park, I decided I was rested enough to do another burst of running. This time, I didn't time myself, I ran very slowly, trying to focus back on the time when I began running for fun, because it felt like fun was a very faraway place. This was my worry when I signed up for races for the first time, that I would lose the enjoyment of it all if I took things seriously. It feels like lately, there hasn't been much fun or a sense of achievement, which isn't easy to bear. I enjoyed that short run, it was nice not to think about targets or races, it was just me having a run and enjoying it. Having been concerned about feeling faint and light-headed, I rang the doctor's on reaching home and was lucky to get a last-minute appointment for this morning. I spoke to the doctor at length about my running, how I felt during GER and again feeling faint today. He didn't seem too concerned until he took my blood pressure and was definitely concerned by how low it was. He said it shouldn't be so low considering I had ended my run over an hour ago, and it explained why I felt so weak and low in energy. I had pretty much known that my blood pressure was low but was surprised that it was at a level that concerned him. He ordered blood tests, checking out my liver, kidneys, thyroid, bladder, iron levels etc, to rule out certain things as a precautionary measure. He said it would do no harm if I took iron supplements instead of the multivitamins I currently take. I also asked him about my recent hair loss and hair thinning, though he seemed to think it was hormonal and just a phase, as hair goes through different stages, apparently. The main things he advised were lots and lots of water, around 2.5 litres, and to increase my salt intake, to raise the blood pressure. Dehydration worsens the low blood pressure I am susceptible to, so got to work on that. Also, apparently a banana and a glass of water don't constitute breakfast, I was hungry during the run, so need to be more sensible about a proper breakfast (milk permitting). For lunch, I generously sprinkled salt over my rice and boiled eggs in addition to the meal. Though it felt good for a while, I felt very lethargic again so rested during the afternoon. It's not very nice at all to feel like this, as if I am hollow inside and walking about as if in a daze, not quite 'with it', but hopefully the blood tests will come back clear and hopefully hydrating properly and consuming more salt should fix my body. There is good news from my friend, whose injury was possibly very bad, but should be back to normal in a fortnight or so. Hearing this is a huge relief, no runner would wish an injury on another, it's a nightmare indeed. I plan to do the half marathon and the full marathon with my friend, and it will be both challenging and fun to share the race training journey with someone. The entry forms for the half marathon are being posted to me and I should be entered for it by next week. As much as this low blood pressure business is getting me down both mentally and physically, I need to look forward and focus, because running has very much become a real part of my life, which I would not want to be without :o)