A week of "ups and downs"

Friday when I got up I felt like crap. I walked the dogs in a complete sulk and got back into the house ready to make the food for the day. Suddenly, it was really getting to me that I had to do everything because of Graeme being off his feet. I went to work and felt like a total grump there and couldn't wait to get home, only to feel just as grumpy when I got in the house. I did my strengthening session (which incidentally went well) and came downstairs and said I just couldn't face cooking again. We went to the Toby Carvery and had vegetables, with the potatoes omitted!!! It was nice to just not have to cook and then wash and dry up afterwards though!

Saturday I didn't feel much cheerier but went off to do my first session of decline speed running. I chose a village nearby which is basically built on a hill. I thought it would be about 3-4% incline, but it turned out to be about 5%. It was lovely weather and it just felt great to be out in a vest top and shorts. I walked the uphill for about 3/4 mile and then ran down it as fast as I could. It was tough, the middle section especially. Getting to the bottom I was absolutely shattered and started walking up again. The second time down was even worse and I felt like I was crawling until I got to the last third of the hill where I felt like I had speeded up a little. I left it at the two reps for today to see how the ITB faired afterwards (which is why I'm doing this in particular, so this doesn't cause a problem when I do the Wall and isn't a problem when I pace Sebby on her hilly 100 miler).

I got back home and took my ketone and glucose levels and was perturbed to see my ketones had gone down from 3mmol/L on the morning to 1.6mmol/L and my blood glucose had gone up. It wasn't until I sat and thought about it that I realised that this was inevitable, as I had been doing an anaerobic exercise as opposed to aerobic. I measured both readings throughout the day and my ketones quickly went back up to 3 and over and the machine kept warning me my blood glucose was low... so it all seemed to be going in the right direction. I was still in a right bad mood though!

Sunday, after 10 hours sleep I didn't want to get up. I reluctantly got ready for a 3 hour run/walk and only talked myself out of the door by promising myself I would only do 3 run and 3 walk. I couldn't even do the 3 minutes run!!! I spent an hour and a half mostly walking before giving up and coming home. It really didn't add to my mood!

To cut a long story short, I got up on Monday morning and still felt like the world was about to end! I had only been in work for half an hour when a client said the wrong thing to me and I could have just walked out of the door. Luckily, another book came about the low carb diet as I sat there in a sulk. It was the original book about the art and science behind low carb and I quickly skimmed to the bit where it advises on the crappy symptoms you can get. Two things jumped out... I was eating too much protein (can make you lethargic if consuming too much) and I wasn't getting enough sodium. I had upped the sodium levels but in the back of my mind I still had the, "But a lot of salt is dangerous" thing going on. The book explained more in that without the carbs, the body can't hold on to sodium as much and so it goes straight through you. Head sorted, I went to the shop and bought something salty to eat. Within half an hour I felt a bit better.

By the time Tuesday morning came I was back feeling good again and woke up before the alarm. I continued eating more carefully and didn't have the low energy levels and miserable attitude I'd had over the last few days. The book I'd been waiting for finally came (About Vegan Paleo ... I forget the actual title) and it was only then did I realise I had started this out wanting to try the vegan paleo diet only to find I'd bypassed it and ended up on what I think is called a ketogenic diet. However, I thought, I've read all the stuff on it now, I'm through the worst part and I can't give up on it now (despite Graeme asking did I think I was wise changing diets so close to a race). The vegan paleo was basically the same as the thrive diet (which, don't get me wrong, I really liked) but I'm trying to move more towards not being reliant on as much food during a race in future and relying more on fat stores instead of having the crash and burn I currently get. I also get this day to day when I don't eat at the correct time, so solving that issue will be great too!

Anyway, I digress... Last night when I got home from work I did my strengthening session and got two PBs on a 1RM hold from a partial squat. I did 132.5KG and then I did 135KG (previously never getting above 130KG no matter how hard I tried). I was really chuffed. I'm now just under 58KG in weight, so that's over double my weight. Shaun said he could see me being able to get that up to 2.5 times my bodyweight by summer and possibly 300% by winter if I pushed enough! And, since upping the sodium and being careful on the protein, I've felt absolutely great. :-)