Thriving

When I was in Venice, Brian was talking about how he has tried the Paleo diet, where you teach your body to burn fat for fuel instead of from a predominantly carbohydrate source. I was instantly interested, as I had been searching for something similar to do since reading an article that William had put on Facebook talking about the same thing (as this is something that he also does). My problem is that the caveman diet has a lot of meat in it and I didn't know how I could do it on a vegan diet. Brain told me to look at "Thrive", so when I got home from Venice I ordered the book.

To cut a long story short, I couldn't put the book down as it was compelling reading, and all of the things the author spoke about (from a training point of view) resonated with me as problems I currently have. Plus... I have always been searching for this elusive feeling of "wonderfulness" since becoming vegan that other vegans (including Graeme) talk about having. It has so far escaped me and although I feel good, I have never had the amazing abundance of energy that so many others talk about. This book promised to right that wrong!

I told William that I was about to start the diet and he said that since he adapted to fat burning things have been pretty good for him. I started on Monday, and weighed myself before I'd eaten a crumb of the new diet. The book promised there would be no hunger, and it was right. It's now Sunday, and I can honestly say I haven't been "starving for the next meal" even once this week. I'm really enjoying the food so far, although I am not eating everything raw and cold (which is one of the suggestions), however the principles of the diet are still there. It's a lot of work sorting out the meals and you have to be fairly organised with your shopping, but we are finally getting into the swing of it all now and planning ahead fairly successfully.

The downside has been that while I've been "recalibrating" my body, I have had a few side effects. I maybe haven't had as many as some people would have, as some of the food on the diet I already ate (amongst highly processed shit). The big thing that I think affected me was the yeast die-off, which gave me a very bloated stomach and I was quite lacking in energy on Wednesday. I don't think I'm totally out of the woods yet and get the odd hour or so when I'm not feeling 100%, however most of the time I'm feeling great... in fact it's that "elusive" great that I've been searching for all of this time.

As for training, I felt pretty much ok when I came back from Venice. This week I have lightened the load while getting used to the new diet, and yesterday I attempted a scary run/walk across beach/heavily rocky and pebbled areas/steep steps and trail and I did ok. I only did 8 and a bit miles but did it much quicker than I expected (I expected a 16mm pace!) When I finished my core was aching like hell and my ankles felt a bit achy too. Fortunately with the good diet choices afterwards, these aches and pains didn't last long at all and I'm good today. This is the start of getting ready for the scariness of my next ultra in January, so it's all exciting stuff. I have to say I was absolutely knackered after only 8ish miles yesterday on unfamiliar terrain, however I had great fun run/walking it!