Horrible hyponatremia!

Well, it seems my last blog post (which went on about how good my running has been recently, how I'm injury free, and feeling very confident) was a step too far and I tempted fate.

Last night I suffered a really frightening hyponatremia episode after a weekend of doing 21miles on the Saturday and 6 miles on the Sunday, in the August sun.

Hyponatremia is a condition that affects different groups of people, including long distance runners (although usually people at the beginning of their marathon career as more experienced runners tend to know better).  The definition from the Wiki page is: "Hyponatremia is an electrolyte disturbance in which the sodium concentration in the serum is lower than normal."  Although there are other causes, for runners, essentially it happens when you drink too much plain water and don't sufficiently replace the salt and mineral content that your body has lost through sweating during long runs, resulting in a dilution of the fluids around the body's cells.  It's worse when the temperature starts to soar outside because you think you should be drinking more, and, if you're like me, the sweat levels increase too - the dried salt crystals on my face and body after my 21miles on Saturday were a sight to behold.

It's something I have suffered from before, but never as badly as last night.  Although on my runs I drank sports drinks which contain electrolytes and so, I thought, would replace what I was losing in sweat, and so stave off hyponatremia, I didn't really eat anything containing salt and didn't add salt to any of my food over the weekend - I grew up in a house where salt was very bad for you and we never had it in the house, never mind on the table! To top it off last night, because I was thirsty, I ended up drinking about 4 pints of squash through Sunday evening.  My lack of salt, combined with that extra fluid, pushed my body over the edge...

Come about midnight last night, I went up to get ready for bed.  I started to get a headache, which within minutes became incredibly intense, I started to feel nauseous, then dizzy and then faint.  As I've had these episodes before (most recently when on holiday in a very hot India) I recognised the symptoms and laid down on the floor before I fell, and think I must have passed out.  A short while later I came too and realised how bad I was, and managed to stumble into the bedroom where Francis was.  I had started to lose control of my breathing, which was very fast and shallow, and my heart was beating incredibly rapidly.  I was disoriented, couldn't open my eyes, and just lay on the bed...oh, and then I started shaking.

The four main causes of death in marathon runners seem to be heart disease, genetic heart defects, heat stoke and hyponatremia - I wondered if this was what was going to be my fate, and as I lay on the bed I was desperately wondering if Francis was going to call am ambulance for me but wasn't able to say anything.  It was very, very frightening.

As Francis has seen me through these episodes before, he sensibly didn't call an ambulance but just got me to drink a rehydration solution that we keep in the cupboard, and before too long I was breathing normally, my heart had calmed down, I was feeling a bit better, and, about 40 minutes after it started, I promptly fell asleep.

Although I still feel a bit woozy this morning, I've had another of the rehydration drinks, and am well on the way to recovery.  I really mustn't let this happen again - it is a serious condition, and if I don't start to pay as much attention to my hydration and nutrition on a day to day basis as I do during my runs, I really could end up in hospital, in a coma, or worse.....

21 miles yesterday, 40 miles this week, 830 miles this year

Today ends my last week of full-on training before my taper starts next week in preparation for the Kent Coastal marathon on September 4th...and I'm very pleased with how it's gone. I've run 40 miles which is the highest mileage in a week I've ever managed, and although I'm definitely feeling the distance in my legs, most importantly I haven't (so far, touch wood!) picked up any injuries.  Below is my graph from my dailymile.com account, showing my running over the last 20 weeks - you can see I've not had the most perfect training, but bearing in mind I did my other two marathons this year in weeks 16 and 19 (this week is 33) I don't think it's been too bad.  My total mileage so far this year is 830 which isn't quite where I wanted to be by middle of August, but it's still a number I'm proud of.

I went out for this week's long run yesterday - 21 miles - which is the furthest distance I've run on this round of training. I ended up picking a pretty uninspiring out and back route - it was all pavement along main roads between and then through various local villages but there were quite a few hills. In the past, I've picked very flat routes along canals for my 20-odd mile runs, but decided that this time, that would be copping out - I wanted to really see how I'd cope along a more normal route at that distance, especially bearing in mind that my forthcoming marathon is pretty undulating.

As it turned out, the run went very well and I think I got my hydration and nutrition just right during the run (had 1.5litres of Lucozade Lite & a cereal bar at half way) which always makes such a massive difference.  My legs were really burning as I got closer to home though, and pretty much as soon as I got back (just after doing the obligatory stretches!) I set myself up on the sofa, with my legs outstretched onto the coffee table, a pack of frozen peas under my right calf, and frozen sweetcorn under the left! It was bliss :D

Although I'm sure the ice helped, needless to say this morning I was definitely feeling the aches in my legs.  I knew I needed to get out for another 6 miles today but wasn't looking forward to it!  I took it very slowly until my legs had loosened up a bit, and really didn't push myself at all, and after a couple of miles, I felt pretty comfortable. Although I could tell from every aspect of my run I was tired after yesterday, I got out & I did it.  Unfortunately though, for the first time with this pair, I also felt my trainers rubbing a bit on the tops of my toes - I'm not quite sure why, but it does mean I'm going to have to make a decision about whether I need to buy some new ones.  If I do want to, I'll have to buy them in the next couple of days so I still get enough miles in them before the marathon to make sure they'll be comfy!

Anyway, I'm very proud of my total of 40 miles!  So, now, to rest and recover, enjoy the taper (35 miles next week, the one after 25 miles), and then get ready for the marathon the week after that!

Running scared?

It's been a very strange, tragic week in London, and in some of the major cities in England.

Although I've had a good week with my training, in what is my last week before my marathon taper, the London riots have been all anyone has talked about, and I honestly didn't know what I could post on here which didn't end up trivialising everything that has happened.

Luckily, no longer living in town but being perfectly safe out in leafy Essex, I wasn't directly affected by any of the violence but I have lived in London, still work here, and consider myself very connected with our capital and watching the reports on TV and following the twitter and facebook updates, was truly sickening.  Unlike those poor people who had to try and stay safe inside their houses while the pandemonium raged outside, hoping that it wouldn't be their house that was set alight, when I just couldn't bear the devastation anymore, I was able to turn off the TV and go for a run.  It made me realise just how lucky I am to have found running, and to be living under the circumstances where whenever I want, I can get away from everything, to retreat into the serenity and personal space I find when I go out training, and on this particular night, was even able to run past the farmers working late into the night harvesting the wheat - an idyllic country scene.  It was truly a world away from the urban disaster movie that was playing out just 30 miles down the road!

This blog is not the place for me to go into my ideas on what caused the riots, the problems we currently see in certain sections of our community, what should be done, or how the country, politicians and local leaders should move forward after this. I do believe we all owe a debt of thanks to the emergency services who worked to bring some sanity back to the streets, and to all of those in the community who have pulled together, clearing up the mess, and donating goods and money to help those families who have been left with nothing.  However, I'll finish my post by saying that the whole episode has been frightening and shocking; my heart goes out to all of those innocent people who were affected, injured, made homeless, and most horrifically, killed.  I only hope this isn't the start of things to come.

Can I be a Billericay Strider too?

Last Sunday, I went out for my first run with the local running club, the Billericay Striders.  I wanted to join them about this time last year, but after getting in touch with them, realised that my pace was so slow I would have been so far behind everyone else, I didn't think it was worth it.  However, I've now reached the point where I definitely want to be part of a real club, and start to run with other people (rather than just being a member of my online club (Purple Patch Runners) to get my England Athletics license) and now I think that I'm fit enough to manage it too.  The Striders let you go out with them for a few weeks to see how you like everyone, and feel about the club, before you pay your membership fee, and this was my first meeting with them.

The night before the run, I came so close to deciding not to go along - I'm always very nervous about meeting new people and find the whole process quite stressful.  I really wasn't sure, but after reaching out on Twitter about my nerves, I was convinced to go along, and I came to the conclusion that if there was one group of people I should be able to get along with, it's runners!

I'm really glad I did go. Although it was nerve-racking, and I didn't feel entirely comfortable, everyone was lovely and very welcoming, and it was really nice to feel part of a group.  It's the first time I have ever run with other people, except in a race, and it was such a world away from my runs on my own: they made me keep going rather than keep stopping every time I felt like it, which is so much better for my training.  I had run 16 miles the previous day, and really felt it in my legs so found the 7 miles we ran pretty hard going, and was definitely at the very back of the group, but I don't think it really mattered and was never on my own.

Second only to a race, it just seemed the nicest thing to do on a Sunday morning and I'm definitely going to go back this week. 

How did you celebrate your 30th birthday? I ran 50 miles...

As a direct result, I think, of the confidence that I got from my Dartford Half Marathon, I have been thinking a lot about the direction my running is taking, and what I want to achieve next.  This week, I have done two things which have set me on a new course....

* I have contacted my local running club, the Billericay Striders, and am arranging to go out with them on one of their training runs this weekend.  I've never trained with anyone before, but think if I'd really going to get better, this is something I'm going have to do - I need to join a proper running club! You never know, I might really enjoy it, make new friends, get to know people in real life (rather than online) with whom I can share my running passion!

* More excitingly, I have signed up for my first Ultra event, of 50 miles, which is the equivalent of running from Oxford to London!  It will be my 30th birthday in July 2012, and to "celebrate" (although don't think that's really the right word!) I've decided that I want to run my 30th race...and I want to make it a significant one.  

I have, so far, run 15 races, so this gives me a fair bit of work to do over the next year to get to the number of completed races, but in addition to the races I have already signed up for, I have already started scheduling in the others, to leave me with the Ultra as my 30th race.

I'm going to be taking part in the 50 mile challenge, organised by Challenge Hub, and it's being held in Chislet, near Canterbury, so relatively close to where I live.  The event is 8 laps of a 6.55mile course, and although I'm not a huge fan of laps, I think this is a safer option for me as a first timer, as it means I can get help or drop out if I have to without it being a great logistical nightmare!  There is a cut-off limit of 15 hours, and as long as I make it to 50 miles by then, I will be happy - I'm not going to worry about the time, just completing it will be enough for my first Ultra.   

I do have a very long time to prepare...a whole year...but I have two marathons already booked for September 2011 and April 2012, and I don't want to use those those as training runs - I want to try and get a decent marathon time, so I will carry on training specifically for those, and then start following an ultra plan from April 2012.

I'm so motivated by this plan, and I know that this is something that I'm going to be able to do with the right training, and am also excited about the prospect of running so many shorter races between now and July too.

I feel I'm now becoming a slightly different type of runner...probably one of those that most people would consider to be crazy! ;)