Rain in Africa

I left Africa at the age of ten, born in South Africa and growing up in Kariba, Zimbabwe from the age of five. Kariba is a hot, dry place with temperatures ranging from on average 14ºC to 36ºC. I can remember the temperature hitting the 50's. The rainy season runs from November to March. The rain doesn't fall like it does in England.

You can smell the rain before it comes. This is known as petrichor, and is the smell of water hitting dry dust - we can smell it coming as it drenches the land as it approaches. A huge pressure builds up, and there is a lot of thunder, lightning, and thick, fast, heavy rain for short periods of time. Shortly after the rain has started, it stops. Danger of being hit by lightning aside, it is one of a child's great pleasures to run out into the rain and get absolutely soaked. It's such a novel experience that it brings joy, wonder and relief as plants are watered, reservoirs refilled and the burning heat alleviated for a short while.

The last time I went out in rain like this, I was 14 and doing my newspaper round in Devon, England. The rain was falling unusually heavily, and I took great joy in stomping in puddles, jumping in streams and getting thoroughly soaked, as I was stranded half a mile from home and unable to stay dry. Since that day, sensibilities have taken over - the knowledge of drying clothes, potential colds, brushing hair out, the discomfort of wet shoes.

I'm telling you all of this because today I got stuck in the rain on my run. It was liberating - I was once again feeling sick, and the cold rain brought relief from the heat that was radiating out of me. I was running in thick, heavy, African-type rain for at least 2km, and the memories that were invoked helped to distract me from the most demotivating run I've done so far.

Although my map says I ran 6.4km, I did not - I reckon I did maybe 4.5km of this. I phoned John from Finsbury Park Station and asked him what to do. I was throwing up, feeling sick, totally fed up and ready to give in on the whole thing. He recommended that I at least walk my 5 km, and if I felt I would be able to run again then I could do that. I rested for 20 minutes, then started walking, and eventually running. I had planned to cut the run short, I was feeling so sick - but instead, I added on 1.4km to try make up for the 20 minute break and the walking that I had done.

Tonks started licking me dry when I got home.

I stopped in the running shop on the way past and begged them for some advice. They recommended I go to my doctor - so an appointment is booked. I suppose it's not all bad, as I still haven't decided to give up. Yet.

Much love,

Corrie xx

Why am I doing this?

After rewriting my running schedule, I now have to do a long run on Sunday and a recovery run on Monday. At the moment, because the distances I'm going are not very far, my recovery run is 5km - it will eventually be 3km.

My long run this week was 6.4km. I discovered the Parkland Walk a few weeks ago, and used my long run to explore it more than I already have. I ran down to Seven Sisters road and into Finsbury Park, then joined the walk from there. The route was really pleasant, it was a glorious day, and I should have really enjoyed it.

However, I had awful uterine cramps again, and after 2 km had to stop in Finsbury Park and throw up. Again. I had eaten relatively close to my time of departure (about an hour before), but had left what I thought had been enough time for the food to digest. I did drink a coffee, which I don't normally do, and I probably hadn't had as much water as normal, as I had been bloody-mindedly knitting on a project I wanted to finish.

I didn't run the whole way - I walked for about half a kilometre while I was in Finsbury Park, because I was just feeling so sick, and again a little way along the Parkland Walk, because I had a stitch that wasn't going away as I ran. It was demotivating, that's for sure!

I did find an amazing abandoned station, though, and I forgot the pain relatively quickly after I had got home and had a shower.

Today, I did my 5 km recovery run. I approached it with...not joy exactly, but enthusiasm. I mixed up my 'normal' 5km route, and was feeling good until about 2km. I had a terrible stitch, and was just wondering if I should give up and go home, when I looked up and saw the "Mind" shop. I'm raising money for Mind when I run the Great North Run, and although I'm not normally one to pay attention to 'signs', this felt like one. I had about 30 seconds to catch my breath, then carried on.

Just after crossing Finsbury Park station, the stitch returned with a vengeance. I tried to run it off again, but in the end had to stop and walk for about half a kilometre again. I extended the run by a small amount in order to try make up for that, but couldn't manage to keep running until the 6km mark, which I had planned to do while walking.

Although I'm pleased I pushed through - and went again today after the awful run I had yesterday - I'm feeling a bit despondent about the cramps, throwing up and stitches. I am 'fit' - I did Couch to 5K and reached the 5km mark on March 1st, so I've had two and a half months of running 5km regularly...I've been trying to watch my eating and drinking carefully, trying to eat and drink the right things, and I regulate my breathing when I'm running, breathing in and out only when my left foot hits the road. (So in/left-right, out/left-right, in/left-right, out/left-right and so on). As mentioned in the last post, I use an electrolyte solution in my water.

I listen to audio books while I'm running so try distract myself from the pain, and I am mentally determined to get there.

If anyone has any idea why I'm finding it so difficult, please do let me know if you have any ideas! I will keep it up as long as my body will allow me to, but I am terrified of getting injured and not being able to train and therefore run in September. I know I have a lot of time, but the idea is to make it a habit rather than a one-off. I don't intend to stop running once I have done the half-marathon, but it sure would help if my body would work with me!

Much love,

Corrie xx

A new leaf is turned

I was feeling really sick yesterday - I went out for dinner on Thursday night and ate rich food that I'm not used to, and I think that is why. I only ate an apple, a muffin and a bowl of cereal all day, yet I was absolutely buzzing all day, all the while full of flu and gross congestion.

At 9 pm I had had enough of feeling sick and silly, and I decided to go for a run. The last time I tried to run in this state, I had to stop and spend 20 minutes throwing up in a park. Nice, huh? After that incident, I bought an electrolyte solution to add to my water, to try prevent that sort of thing happening again.

The electrolyte I bought is SIS Science in Sport "GO Electrolyte" powder in blackcurrant flavour. I bought it in my local running shop - it was £10.20 for 500 grams, which makes up to 12.5 servings, as you mix 40g with 500 ml water. I wanted a smaller size as I wasn't sure I would like the flavour, but next time I shall buy the next size up, as I find the blackcurrant is OK. There are a number of other flavours available, but for some reason I really had my mind set on some sort of berry solution!

 

The instructions on the bottle say that you are supposed to drink 500 ml of the stuff for every 45-60 minutes of exercise. Well, I haven't yet got beyond 60 minutes, so I've not yet reached the problem of carrying litres of water around with me...the solution itself is quite sweet, and my water bottle leaks so I get sticky residue on my hands while I'm running!

That said, it has sorted me right out. I used to get really awful uterine cramps while running, then there was the aforementioned incident where I ended up laid up in a park for twenty minutes. I was highly sceptical, but I have to say that I'll get used to the sweet water while drinking, and I'll sort my water bottle out too!

Anyway, with all that back-story out of the way - I went for my run yesterday and I was absolutely fine. I did do rather a lot of coughing and sniffing on my way round (which probably amused the people who were drunk and out on the streets of London...I'm sure I sounded like I had the plague). The run itself went fine, I got a stitch after 3 km, but it went away after a few minutes and I managed to get going steadily after that.

The route you see on that map is the one that I do most regularly when I need to do 5 km, as I know the exact distance. I have been finding it hard to find a route that I really love, although it's starting to matter less as I get to know the roads around my flat better.

I find that 5 km is a really difficult distance for me - I feel like I've only just warmed up and then it's time to stop running. Longer distances have been working better, but I've gone back to the beginning of the training programme as I had been so sporadic in my running, and I really don't want to get myself injured.

Anyway, it's off to a good start and I'm hoping that the motivation that came with a huge donation from a friend will keep me going until it's no longer hard to persuade myself to go outside.

Much love,

Corrie xx

Note: the link to the SIS sports drink is an Amazon affiliates link; it will not cost you any extra if you click on it, but will give me a kick-back to help support my consulting lifestyle. I wasn't asked for these opinions or anything - I bought the powder in a running shop and it just happened to be listed on Amazon. All opinions are my own.