Starting the week off Right!

I was a bit busy yesterday preparing for my trip to Zurich but I was careful to eat every 3 hours and, as I was out and about, I had little time for snacking. In many ways it was the perfect diet day – right proportions of nutrients, less than 2000 calories, high in fibre, enough fruit and veg and no junk food. Somewhat unsurprisingly avoiding the chocolates not only lowered the calories but made it much easier to balance the nutrients in my diet. This was very much a case of getting the week off to a good start!

I also had my first pyramid run of the season in the afternoon. I like to do my serious interval runs on a treadmill, so I can accurately gauge how fast I am going for how many minutes. It went OK, though I found I needed a good 5 minutes of recovery for every 5 minute pyramid, so one goal next time is to not only to up the speed a bit, but also lower the recovery time. However, I did find myself feeling a bit sick to my stomach during the most intense part of the run. I’ve felt this way before – most notably on Saturday, when I set a new Personal Best time at the Bushy park Run but then came several hard swallows away from throwing up afterwards. At the time I thought that I’d had too much protein for my breakfast, or maybe it was the intensity of the effort with no water (or electrolytes). But that’s can’t be the whole problem since I had a bottle of Nuun this time and was careful to sip it throughout my run. So I’m back to thinking the problem is eating too close to the run, and possibly eating a protein rich meal just before a run.

Guess it’s time to get serious about experimenting with race day/intense run nutrition along with my speedwork!

The Score:

Calories:	Protein:	Carbs:	Fat:	Alcohol:	Fibre:
1962.64	124.49g	254.31g	51.08g	0	32.80g
	25%	52%	23%
Calories burned through exercise:		425

What I ate:

Time	Item	Amount
08:00	Vitamins - Centrum Advance A to Zinc, 400iu of Vitamin E, 1000iu Vitamin D3 and 500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 each
	Cold water	200mL
	Mattesson's Turkey rashers	3 rashers
	Mesa Sunrise cereal	60g
	Alpro Soy milk	120mL
	Sainsbury's Orange, Mango and Passionfruit juice	200mL
09:00	Black Tea	500mL
11:00	Herbal fruit tea	250mL
12:30	Pork Loin	65g
	Parsnips	131g
	Carrots	60g
	Beets	74g
	all roasted and brushed with olive oil	7mL
	Sainsbury's Bramley apple sauce	30g
	Skim milk	200mL
	Muller rice pudding original	190g
14:00	Pyramid interval run - 35 min
	Citrus Nuun electrolyte tablet in water	750mL
15:30	Fresh Strawberries	105g
	Sponser Protein Snack bar	1 bar
19:00	Caffeine free Black tea with milk and sugar	500mL
20:00	Baked salmon	98g
	Merchant Gourmet Red and White Quinoa	100g
	Kraft Light Honey Mustard dressing	10g
	Frozen peas	100g
21:00	Fresh pineapple	142g
22:00	Ellactiva Chocolate Calcium Chew	1 chew
	500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 pill

Plus 500 to 1500mL of cold water sipped from a water bottle throughout the day.

New 5Km Personal Best!

I started off yesterday my doing another Park Run - a weekly free, timed 5Km run done in parks around the country. This time I ran the one in Bushy Park, which is a much flatter, easier course than the one I normally do in Richmond Park. And it really showed in my time – a new personal best of 30:29! This is a minute and a half faster than my last 5Km run in Richmond Park. Compared to Richmond Park there were loads more runners - 814 at the Bushy Park run yesterday versus 214 at my last Richmond Park run. Actually this had an effect on my time as I started towards the middle of the group so it took me 15-20 seconds to reach the start line once the gun went off. By my watch, I did the run in 30:15, which is even more of an accomplishment! (My husband took me out for Sweet Revenge gluten free cupcakes as a reward.)

This marks the end of the base training period and the start of the building period in my training plan. I now have two months until my first 10Km race at the end of May, which I’m hoping to do in less than an hour. I’m a bit concerned given I haven’t done a 5Km race in less than 30 minutes yet, but that’s why the focus of the build period is speedwork. My runs will focus more on intervals and tempo training and get slightly longer – 40 to 45 minutes instead of 30 minutes. I’m also going to add some plyometrics (speed specific exercises like hopping on one leg and jumping up on to boxes) to my training a bit later on to develop more explosive power. I still have to prepare for a half marathon coming up in July, so I’ll continue to add a Km a week to my weekly long run.

Fundamentally I’ve achieved my base training goals of losing weight/body fat and improving my running endurance, so now it’s time to get faster!

The Score:

Calories:	Protein:	Carbs:	Fat:	Alcohol:	Fibre:
2393.86g	126.60g	327.62g	64.18g	0	32.88g
	21%	55%	24%
Calories burned through exercise:		480

What I ate:

Time	Item	Amount
07:15	Vitamins - Centrum Advance A to Zinc, 400iu of Vitamin E, 1000iu Vitamin D3 and 500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 each
	Cold water	200mL
	Mattesson's Turkey rashers	3 rashers
	Sainsbury's Freefrom oats	50g
	with Sultanas	20g
	Sainsbury's Orange, Mango and Passionfruit juice	200mL
08:00	Black Tea	500mL
08:15	Walk to start of race - about 30 min.
09:00	Bushy Park Run - timed 5K run
09:45	Sponser Recovery Drink, strawberry-banana	60g
10:00	Strawberry lemonade Nuun electrolyte tablet in water	750mL
12:00	Whole Scrambled egg with 2 egg whites	3 eggs
	Heinz Beanz, reduced sugar and salt	170g
	Mushrooms	100g
	in butter	5g
	Raw Tomato	145g
	Irish Yoghurts Diet Apricot and Nectarine	125g
	Sainsbury's pressed apple and cherry juice	150mL
15:45	Gluten Free Red Velvet cupcake with vanilla icing	1 cake
	Gluten Free Chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing	1 cake
	San Pellegrino Aranciana	330mL
17:30	Lemon Tea Nuun electrolyte tablet in water	750mL
20:30	Sainsbury's Lean steak	140g
	with butter	2g
	Parsnips	104g
	Carrots	80g
	Beets	103g
	all roasted and brushed with olive oil	7mL
	Bisto Best beef gravy	about 5g
21:30	Lindt Excellence 70% cocoa dark chocolate	40g
22:00	Skim milk	200mL
	500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 pill

Plus 500 to 1500mL of cold water sipped from a water bottle throughout the day.

Finding My Weaknesses

Normally during my rest weeks I stop all running but carry on with most of my resistance workouts and do a bit of cross training (or I try to). This time though I’ve decided to try a couple of yoga or Pilates classes rather than continuing my weight workouts, operating on the theory that a change is as good as a rest. So I went to my first Body Balance class last night. I’d say the biggest lesson I learned was I am not nearly as strong as I thought I was. My flexibility was good, and I was OK at balancing on one leg, but not so good at holding the poses, most of which involved a deep lunge or sumo squat while holding the arms out at shoulder height. I just couldn’t hold the poses for nearly long enough, or keep up with the variations, so had to stop and rest several times. Actually, I did better at the abs and back exercises, feeling the burn but able to keep up with the Pilates one hundreds and planks. At least I know what to work on when I put together my next weight routine!

I was planning on doing another class on Thursday, but given how difficult it was I’m not sure I will. That’s because the other thing I’ve started doing is a Park Run at the end of my rest week. Park Runs are free, timed 5 Km runs done in various parks around the country every Saturday morning. In London alone there are five or six different ones run in Richmond Park, Bushy Park, Hyde Park, etc. I like to do them once a month to track my progress, as they’re pretty low key – no fees, no need to sign up in advance – but you still get an “official” result and the feel of a race (lots of people, most of them faster than me). For it to be a valid test of my progress I don’t want to be too tired or muscle sore, so I might be better off taking two rest days before instead of one.

Then again, given how much chocolate I’ve had over the past four days, I might need all the exercise I can get!

The Score:

Calories:	Protein:	Carbs:	Fat:	Alcohol:	Fibre:
2441.86	130.21g	303.98g	80.94g	0	27.85g
	21%	50%	30%
Calories burned through exercise:		175

What I ate:

Time	Item	Amount
07:45	Vitamins - Centrum Advance A to Zinc, 400iu of Vitamin E, 1000iu Vitamin D3 and 500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 each
	Cold water	200mL
	Whole Scrambled egg with 2 egg whites	3 eggs
	Mushrooms	100g
	in butter	5g
	Raw Tomato	98g
	Waitrose Love Life free from fruit scones	1 scone
	with Flora Light	2g
	St Dalfour Blackcurrant jam	16g
	Sainsbury's pressed apple and cherry juice	200mL
08:30	Black Tea	500mL
09:45	Raspberry and Echinacea tea	250mL
11:00	Plums	105g
	Irish Yoghurts Diet Fruits of the Forest	125g
	Brazil nuts	6g
11:30	Galaxy Minstrel milk chocolate Easter egg	50g
	Caffeine free Black tea with milk and sugar	500mL
13:30	Sainsbury's Lean steak	105g
	Mashed potatoes	175g
	with butter	5g
	Microwaved Cauliflower	98g
	Microwaved Broccoli	84g
	Bisto Best beef gravy	about 5g
	Skim milk	200mL
17:45	Muller rice pudding vanilla custard	190g
18:30	Body Balance exercise class
	Lemon Tea Nuun electrolyte tablet in water	750mL
20:45	Chicken fajita mix	165g
	Old El Paso Refried beans	135g
	Waitrose Cornish Quartz cheddar	10g
	Old El Paso Thick and Chunky Salsa	30g
	Galaxy Minstrel milk chocolate Easter egg	50g
22:00	Butterkist microwave butter popcorn	25g
23:45	Ellactiva Chocolate Calcium Chew	1 chew
	500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 pill

Plus 500 to 1500mL of cold water sipped from a water bottle throughout the day.

A Beautiful Spring Day

It was beautiful spring day yesterday – sunny and the temperature got all the way up to 18 C. So I took advantage of the fact I run my own company from home to go out and enjoy the weather. I went for lunch with a friend, where we sat on a terrace by the river in the sun. La Tasca has a new menu, which seems to have more gluten free options (including chorizo!), however, still no nutritional information there or on the website so calories wise your guess is as good as mine. Then I wandered into town and paused at a new bakery on the corner, Sweet Revenge, which was advertising “Gluten free cakes this weekend!” in the window. So I went in and had a cup of tea and a chat with the server, who revealed that the owner and baker was herself a celiac so they offer 2 flavours of gluten free cupcakes every weekend and any flavour of gluten free cakes on order. I even snuck a slightly stale red velvet gluten free cake from last weekend, which was still lovely.

However, after my lunch and a cake I definitely needed a run that afternoon. My husband was home early so we went out for my interval/fartlek run together. On the one hand, it was a bright sunny day, I was feeling somewhat fresh and my husband really pushed me to sprint all out during my fast fartleks. On the downside, my husband was also feeling really fresh and was really pushing me to work hard during my fast fartleks.  I thought I was going to die, or at least throw up a couple of times. I could feel my quads working far harder than I’m used to and my heart rate never got below 165 bpm – and spent most of its time above 175 bpm.

I was so tired afterwards I couldn’t face making dinner, so ended up having a ready meal from Waitrose, and I can hardly move this morning my legs are so sore. However, no pain no gain and this is how we get faster, right?

The Score:

Calories:	Protein:	Carbs:	Fat:	Alcohol:	Fibre:
2399.18	113.98g	278.86g	92.13g	0	28.69g
	19%	46%	35%
Calories burned through exercise:		383

What I ate:

Time	Item	Amount
07:15	Vitamins - Centrum Advance A to Zinc, 400iu of Vitamin E, 1000iu Vitamin D3 and 500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 each
	Cold water	200mL
	Mattesson's Turkey rashers	3 rashers
	Sainsbury's Freefrom oats	50g
	with Sultanas	20g
	Sainsbury's pressed apple and cherry juice	200mL
08:00	Black Tea	500mL
09:15	Raspberry and Echinacea tea	250mL
10:15	Brazil nuts	6g
	Cashews	17g
	Plums	125g
	Irish Yoghurts Diet Apricot and Nectarine	125g
11:00	Twinings Camomile, honey and vanilla tea	250mL
13:00	La Tasca Chorizo	1/2 serving
	La Tasca Paellla Valencia	1/2 serving
	La Tasca Babyleaf salad with oil and vinegar dressing	1 serving
	La Tasca Vegetable Gratin	1/2 serving
	La Tasca Tortilla Espanola	1/2 serving
14:15	Gluten Free Red Velvet cupcake	1 cake
	Green tea	250mL
15:15	Interval Run - 33 minutes
16:00	Strawberry lemonade Nuun electrolyte tablet in water	750mL
16:30	Sponser Chocolate Recovery Shake	30g
	in Skim milk	225mL
	500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 pill
20:00	Waitrose Love Life Beef with mushroom & red wine gravy	1 serving
	Waitrose red cabbage	120g
20:30	Fresh pineapple	168g
22:00	Ellactiva Chocolate Calcium Chew	1 chew
	500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 pill

Plus 500 to 1500mL of cold water sipped from a water bottle throughout the day.