Questions

13 miles, 3 hours, ave 13.47m/m

West Highland Way – Drovers Inn to Tyndrum

10.13, 12.33, 13.42, 13.22, 14.58, 12.38, 16.24, 12.03, 13.26, 12.09, 14.38, 15.47, 17.08

Pacepusher and I did not exactly help the environment with our run today – each car did a 120 mile round trip just to do this today which I do feel a bit guilty about, especially since it went wrong!

We dropped one car off at Bridge of Orchy and then drove back to the Drovers.  I made Pacepusher stop at Tyndrum on the way back to get suncream, stating that of course it would rain since I was buying suncream!  It did later but only a few spits while we were actually running, I would gladly have taken a shower!

It was really hot and by the time we were running it was not even a sunny hot but just muggy and sticky.  It felt really hard to catch your breath for the first while and I felt like I was huffing and puffing unnecessarily.  I did really enjoy it though, despite it being really hard work.  I had new Brooks trail shoes on which I love, they just felt so comfy. 

Once we got over the A82 crossing I really enjoyed it as I felt like you could get quite a bit of rythmn going.  I especially enjoyed running past walkers!

Just before the Strathfillan wigwams though it all started to go wrong for me.  I have had an occasional, re-occuring problem for years mainly when I have had too much to drink.  This can be from drinking a lot of alcohol in quick succession or drinking too much water before or during a run.  I have got to the point I can usually stop it happening by not drinking tea or coffee for a long period before a run, not drinking too much before a run and usually not drinking too much during a run.  I also don’t drink out of cups or ordinary bottles while running, just a bottle with a sports cap.

If I do get it though it makes it feel as if I have a blockage in my throat and it is really hard to breathe properly and it never eases off but gets worse if I keep running.  It usually spreads across my chest and back as well and is really, really painful.  Just wondering if anyone else has experienced anything like this or has any ideas for what it is? 

I usually only get it now if it is really hot and I drink too much, like today.  It happened in London last year and in Berlin, both of which were really hot.  So I ended up stopping in Tyndrum and letting pacepusher run onto Bridge of Orchy and come back to get me with the car. 

I am now not sure I am ready to do Edinburgh as since London I have only done long run wise 11 miles last Friday and 13 miles today.  Not sure that is enough with 6 weeks between the marathons.  Last year I had only 5 weeks between them and did a 16 miler, very slowly, inbetween.  Any advice?