Saturday 21 July 2007

Sat 21 Jul 07, Vic XC Champs, 12km

Today didn't go the way I hoped, whilst I'm not a fan of XC racing and I knew it was going to be tough going with the soft going, I was hoping to not have the probs that I did! But I shouldn't be too surprised a tough week dealing with some 'mediation issues', some big work issues that may me seek new employment and then just other stuff.

I took Adam & Cam with me and we arrived as per normal approx 60 min before race time, we took off 45 min before the start and did 15 min of investigating the course and warming up. Of course with all of the races prior the course was very muddy and chopped up.

Western Aths men had two teams (Div 3 & 6), which included myself (this means I had to run & finish), great camaraderie between the men, we all like to warm up together and most importantly we all discussed finishing for the team and the only exception of not finishing is if you are REALLY injured and can't run, but if you can slowly jog, then we will!

I started with the 8 other Club members and off we went, today I decided to wear my spikes, first time over 12km... Much of the first 7-8km was run very close to Tim C (AV Winter Manager & Club Dev Officer), we chatted about stuff, but I always thought I was going to drop off Tim, he is a much better runner, just not fit at the moment. To be honest I would have loved to pull out at the 6k mark as I was over the experience, but I knew I was the 9th required runner and to be honest it was just hard, no injury etc, just needed to find some 'heart muscle'.

The fourth lap was where my race became 'different', on the final 3k lap I was working up the final hill and I was following an Essendon runner who I had been following for 8k or so, I was only a metre behind him & I was thinking I could get him on the down hill and finishing straight, but I experienced a dizzy spot and ended up on the ground, I recovered quickly and was helped by an Oakleigh runner who walked with me for 10m or so, I thanked him and started to jog and within a few hundred metres felt ok and finished off the race. Not good, I know.

Splits:
12:14
12:35
13:03
13:11

51:03 256th male & 70th Over 40

After the race I recovered by resting on the ground, untill all seemed better, to be honest not sure where to go, I've had so many tests lately for this issue and others that I just can't be fucked worrying about it, but I'm sure a beer or many will help the thoughts tonight :-/

6 comments:

jojo said...

thats terrible. i hope you are feeling ok now :(

Anonymous said...

Wow, sorry about that, I didn't think you looked your usual self :-(

Glad I didn't see you fall I'd have tried to help and you may have got cranky with me. I hope you can get it sorted.

Andrew(ajh) said...

Stu, that doesn't sound good mate. What you said about work may be a big part of it. That sort of stress can have a significant effect on you, especially if it causes you to sleep badly. Hope the beers help !!!

Anonymous said...

Had you wanted a beer, we would have stolen the Porter in our Dad's fridge and snuck it to you while Dad wasn't looking.

Hang in there dude, there's people (and guineas) looking out for you.

Unknown said...

I second ajh's comments about the impact of stress. I had some unexplained dizzy spells in 05 when working with a particularly shocking manager and my marriage was was going pear-shaped. Had all the tests and they found nothing. Since then I've noticed a pattern of dizziness and heart palpations in times of high levels of stress. Make sure you have all the tests though, just to be sure.

Ewen said...

That's a bit worrying Stu. I go along with what Owly and Andrew said re the stress. Also, perhaps, even if it was cool, perhaps a bit dehydrated... Nando collapsing near the end of the GC marathon on a coolish day springs to mind, as does Horrie's collapse in the Striders 10k a year or so back.