8 weeks on

I haven't measured my ketones for a few weeks, simply because I'd ran out of ketone sticks and they cost a fortune. It was only after an email from Shaun it made me realise I was "presuming" I was in ketosis whilst keeping a similar diet to that of what I held in the beginning but with the odd cheat of a glass or two of wine or champers now and again.

As I was approaching 8 weeks (where you are supposed to be more or less fat adapted), I thought it best to retest everything. I started on Friday afternoon and my ketones were 1.8mmol/L... good!
Getting up on Saturday morning they were 0.8mmol/L... again, good, as long as it is above 0.5. After decline hill reps (which is definitely an anaerobic exercise) this had gone down to 0.2mmol/L... not good, but sort of expected! Saturday afternoon, after we had lunch at Wagamamas (a typical meal we have eaten there over the last few weeks and guessed it was low carb by asking them to remove certain ingredients) it had gone up to 1.7mmol/L... excellent!!!
Saturday night just before bed (and after eating a Toby Carvery veg meal, it was 1.2mmol/L then Sunday morning on rising the results were 0.9mmol/L (notice how it is always worst first thing on a morning after you have done nothing but sleep all night).

Then I went out for my long run/walk. I have consistently cut my long runs short every week on this diet and today I didn't care what the weather, what the circumstances or anything... I was DOING 18 miles. I am changing my run/walk ratio and have opted for 3 minutes run 1.30 walk. I was a bit worried 1.30 wasn't going to be enough to fully recover each time, but I was determined to give it a go. The heat was horrendous and within about 2 minutes of leaving the house I had sweat dripping in my eyes. The humidity was awful and something I'm definitely not used to. The 3:1.30 was going well though and I found the recovery time fine. I found it alarming that I wanted to drink so much and was worried I would run out of water. Seaton Carew has public toilets (which are often not even open) so I prayed they would be today. I sipped little and often and tried not to overdo it in case the loos were shut. By the time I had got to Seaton Carew I was in need of a good drink and was still being sparing with the 1 litre I had brought with me. Like a total idiot I hadn't even brought any money with me. When I got to the loos they were open but the water didn't work!!! I phoned Graeme and asked could he drive down with a couple of bottles, and bless him he said he would. I continued on with the run/walk and he eventually caught me up at 10.5 miles. He said he was about to turn around as he couldn't believe how far I'd got since ringing him and I looked great. I drank half a litre of water on the spot and then quickly regretted it as it made me feel really sick. I had a handful of peanuts and realised I wanted the salt rather than the actual energy!!!
It all went downhill from here. The forecast of rain didn't come, and instead the humidity stayed really high and the sun came out. The last 5 miles I walked far more than I ran and by the time I got home I felt dreadful. I literally lay on the floor with the dogs and didn't get up for about 10 minutes. I took my ketone readings and was chuffed to see them at 3.4mmol/L, so that meant I was definitely fat burning! By the time I had gone to my mams for my dinner I was feeling even worse and couldn't eat and it took me about 4 hours to fully recover. I'm not good in the heat at all, but I've discovered the need for more electrolytes and I've just ordered some Vega sugar free stuff with no carbs in it. I can't afford for any problems with heat to affect Sebbys' race. When it is your own race it's a different matter but you can't let others down, so I have ordered this now to try over the next 2 weeks. I think it will give me the taste of Gatorade (which I still crave when it's hot) without all of the crap ingredients. Of course, most of my running for Sebby will be through the night when I'll be drinking hot stuff, but the race doesn't finish until 12pm so potentially I'll need something to help me if it is hot!

So, last night we had a curry takeaway and a couple of glasses of wine (a typical indulgence we have recently had) and this morning I'm still in ketosis at a level of 0.9mmol/L. Brilliant! I think this means everything has worked out well. I'm in a size 8 now and my before and after pictures after 5 weeks are shocking. In a fortnight I'll probably do another set just to see. My branch co-ordinator at work says the definition in my arms is really noticeable and I do feel much better. Running feels easier (especially on intervals) which I think is because I'm lighter. So, if I could just sort this body out in the heat....