L.S.D.

I’m just about going for a nap. I’m feeling calm and serene like a monk. I’m almost a bit depressed, though without any anxiety.

I know it’s feasible. In less than 24 hours I’ve destroyed both hypomania and tachypsychia — but for how long? Nobody knows. The training process has been striking. Yesterday in the middle of the afternoon I ran 1 h 15 min with a 1500 m-long acceleration after 30 min in order to deplete my carbohydrate reserves. The food at dinner was insufficient and I had to eat as a complement three Powerbars and one pound of soja cream. I went to bed at 10 pm and woke up at 3 am (evidence of hypomania trend). In order to pass the time I ran almost 1 h in the corridors of the clinic. Then, I farted around and chatted with other patients, drinking coffee, smoking a couple of cigarettes. After breakfast, I went out the confines of the clinic and realized a crazy tour, following a hard and hilly track through fields and woods during the first half of the circuit, before crossing the main local town and taking the asphalt roads on the trip back. Hardly more than 1 h 15 min because I could significantly accelerate during the roady part.

Some may say that running as such three times in less than 24 hours is (hypo)manic behaviour. My answer: no, it’s just passion and method. I’ve been running for more than 30 years and I know what I do. When you don’t work and thus have the time for doing it and for correct recovery, what I realized is not that much. Most of all, I ran majoritarily at low velocity. And thus considered that what has been called for decades in endurance training manuals “L.S.D.” — acronyme of Long Slow Distance — is the key. When you’re bipolar in an “up” phase, running short and fast is not that good because your brain secrete a lot of adrenaline. At the opposite, L.S.D. is much more correlated with dopamine and serotonine secretion (well, according to the few I’ve read and my field experience).

Mania, I won’t see you this time. Fuck you.