Sunday
I felt lethargic after the carb overload on cheat day! Catherine and I had a 3 hour training walk at 7am with our friend Majella. We are getting ready to walk the 50km event at Coastrek, an event that starts at Balmoral on the Northshore and follows the coastline until Coogee in the Eastern Suburbs. Our training sessions are meant to familiarise ourselves with the route and prepare our bodies for the varying terrain that we will cover. On Sunday we walked from Rose Bay along the coastline to finish at The Gap, enjoying a challenging walk.
From The Gap we went to Bondi Junction for an hour of yoga. To say I was tired after that would be an understatement! After grabbing a coffee (illegal cappucino!) we went home to chill out before our friend Esther's birthday party. An intense episode of tidying followed before I managed to sit in front of the TV and fall asleep for half an hour. I highlight this because despite "doing" stuff, I skipped my long training run (until Monday night) and overall felt lethargic and pretty crap. The day after cheat day is pretty horrendous.
Monday
Naturally Monday could not come soon enough, if only to take my mind off food. However I was reminded at my lunch break how hard this diet can be if you are not organised. I hadn't cooked anything on Sunday for Monday lunch and I was too tired/lazy after socialising and skyping. As a result Monday's lunch consisted of 3 sausages, 3 carrots and a generous handful of salted (not healthy) cashew nuts. This wouldn't be a problem if it was just the once, however my long run put paid to any cooking on Monday night too.
Monday Training
So the long run of 11 miles (17km) was a good training run, if a little sluggish at times. I decided to run from home down to Tamarama where I picked up the coastal path and ran to Bondi beach. Fortunately for me the weather was atrocious; heavy drizzle with a cool wind, temerature 19 degrees, so I was loving the start of my run. From Bondi beach I ran the reverse of the City to Surf course. I needed to run slower than previous runs and clock 8:55 per mile, so the hills at North Bondi, Rose Bay to Double Bay and Double Bay to Edgecliff certainly helped tame my speed! Aside from a couple of moments I felt strong and distracted myself on the big hills with tax calculations and other inane mind chatter. From Edgecliff I ran up the hill to Bondi Junction and finished strong running the last mile home up Bronte road.
Tuesday
As a result of my long run on Monday evening, Tuesday's lunch was sausages and carrots again! I have been doing a fair bit of carpentry these last few days and the client we have been working for is extremely hospitable. I couldn't turn down the cappucino she had prepared, I know, I am weak. But coffee is my go to drug of choice. Closely followed by chocolate. Sadly she also provided a brownie and millionaire's shortbread slice. I couldn't refuse it, that would be plain rude.
Tuesday Training
I joined Catherine at Power Living in BJ for yoga. We smashed a 90 minute hot yoga class, in which I left more water on the mat and floor than I'd drunk all day. Thank goodness for Elete....
Wednesday
Let's see, today is Thursday so yesterday must have been the day I went off the rails slightly. I bought a delicious flat white and ate a sausage roll. Oh god, I am going to burst into flames. Boy was that pastry delicious, freshly baked and supplied with another drug, tomato ketchup. I finished that day with a healthy meal, before tucking into Lindt 80% chocolate. Although not on the 4HB it is the healthier choice compared with Dairy Milk, Cadburys etc. Who am I kidding?! It's chocolate! This diet business sucks...
Wednesday Training
I met Catherine at the gym for my interval training. Catherine was doing her tempo run (which I am doing on Friday), so we got to have a small chat (novelty) before I needed to save my oxygen for running. I ran 3x1 mile intervals at 6:48min/mile (14-14.5kph, 4 min/km), with the last one ramping all the way up to 22kph for a fast finish. Felt strong, BOOM!
Thursday
Today I failed again (let's face it, I've given up on the 4HB again!) after a good start of protein shake within 30 minutes of waking. I trained a client (personal training that is) and then swung by my local caff to say hi to our friend Rosie, who has just returned from Blighty and good ole London Town. Naturally I had to have one of her flat whites as they are like the Columbian Cocaine of the coffee world. Plus I was a LITTLE hungy, so I may have eaten an "Australiana": bacon, egg, cheese and barbecue sauce in a tasty ciabatta. Lordy was that good. So good in fact that I didn't eat until getting home 10 hours later. HOWEVER, an interesting thing presented itself. Despite not eating and having not had chickpeas, lentils or any other legume known to man for a good twelve hours, I had a visibly flattter stomach. No bloating at all and my waist was down to 32 inches from 34!
Thursday Training
Decided to take a rest tonight as I have to shift concrete tomorrow, do a 7 mile run and then help guide Majella on a three hour walk. I love making things difficult ;)
I don't know quite what all this means yet, but I am loosely holding onto this conclusion.
- Legumes don't agree with me and may from here on be considered the devil's/god's food, depending on your religious persuasion. Unless smelling like a skunk is considered a sign of good health.
- I function well without any food when I am fuelled by two things, 1) good coffee, 2) stress.
- Excessive amounts of sugar, shit quality bread, many forms of dairy (read cheese, milk, shit chocolate, yoghurt, ice cream) don't agree with me, even if I've avoided them for a whole week before a massive splurge.
- I can function on reduced amounts of obvious carbs (rice, quinoa, bread), provided I eat vegetables like a Panda eats bamboo.
- Reduced carbs make me cranky. Excessive carbs make me lethargic (who would've guessed!) Next test diet is to find the perfect balance, so that I can do a physical job, train myself, train other people, have a social life and sleep well.
So until next time I am ending this test of the 4 Hour Body. I have dropped 1.5 kilos in 2 weeks, 2 inches of my waist and I'm still running my training times on pace if not quicker. However I consider living life to be slightly more important right now ;)
Happy training,
Tom :)
