Fessing up.

AM Treadmill Intervals. 10 x 400m @ 13kph with 200m 8kph intervals. First 3 at incline 1%, last 7 @ 2%. 1.2K cooldown @ 10kph

PM Ride: 17.7K in 44 min.

I was planning to drive to Penrith for intervals, but had an attack of the "what a waste of petrol"s, and decided to do them on the treadmill at home, rather than the oval of questionable length up the road.

It's been a while since I did treadmill intervals, and I was happy with the improvement. I did them slightly faster and with a bit of incline, which I haven't used before. I felt reasonably stuffed by the end. My HR got up to 91% of max.

Got sidetracked in the afternoon, which meant that I didn't get out for my ride until 4:30. This left me with an hour of daylight, which was further subtracted from by a bit of stuffing around at the start and a very embarrassing incident halfway through. I didn't get my foot out of the pedal at an intersection during the ride, so I went over behind this car, with my foot stuck in the pedal on the underside. Luckily the car behind saw me, and pulled up turning his hazard lights on. I took the shoe off and went to the side of the road with a bruised ego my only injury.

This meant that the planned 40K ride was truncated to 17.7K. I may partially rectify this tomorrow by getting out on the bike and measuring some running courses.

Now the blog is going to get a bit personal - I have a confession to make: I haven't been completely open with you.

A few months ago some readers may remember I was struggling with bad insomnia. When I saw the doctor about it I was diagnosed with depression.

I disclosed this when the subject of depression came up on Coolrunning. I am disclosing it now because it's effects, and the side effects of the medication I am using to treat it have a direct effect on my training. Besides this, I feel a hell of a lot more comfortable being completely open when I write this blog.

The current medication has been having rotten side effects. It leaves me dopey in the mornings, with slightly blurred vision, and in the last few days has caused me to have some late night myclonic seizures (these are very minor epileptic seizures that appear like small jerks).

I have suffered from epilepsy in the past. I had three major seizures when I was sixteen. I spent the next seven years on anticonvulsant medication, during which time I put on 20 kilograms (of which I have lost 95% since taking up running). Anticonvulsants also have a side effect of reduced mental clarity, from which I suffered. Neither my doctor or myself wanted to take any risks with epilepsy.

So I saw the doctor this morning and I am changing medication. The new medication is more of an upper than a sedative, so gone will be the lack of motivation to train in the morning. I don't think the depression has affected my motivation to train at all, but the dopiness in the morning on the current medication has knocked me around a bit. The change will occur gradually over the next week. Stay tuned for the results...