I have discovered the answer to all my problems in life - SLEEP!
That's right people, it's all about the sleep. I have never been so tired as I have been since Sunday - all that lack of sleep in Ibiza catching up with me, plus so much to DO in the last ten days since I've been back, plus all the running has meant that I have not been functioning at all for the last few days. On Sunday, therefore, I made a new week's resolution to go to bed at 21:00 on at least four days this week. So far I've done Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and today I feel like a whole new person!
The other thing I changed up yesterday was adding a few more carbs into my diet. Although I love love love Bodyism (the idea behind which is basically eat whole foods, don't eat unprocessed foods, and don't eat sugars or fake foods) I think it's been a little too low-carb for me so far with all the running I'm doing. Therefore, yesterday I added some extra fruit, some oatcakes with grassfed butter and a little honey and ... wait for it ... COOKIES!
But not cookies as we know them, no no, these are two-ingredient cookies. All they have in them on the basic recipe is 1 cup oats and 1 cup mashed banana - mix it together, shape into cookie-shapes, throw in the oven for 15 minutes at 175*C / 350*F and you are good to go! I also added in cinnamon, vanilla essence, ginger and nutmeg, plus a handful of raisins. At about 50 kcal a pop (44 kcal without the raisins), no-added-sugar, vegan, wheat-free, low-fat and gluten-free (if you use gluten-free oats of course) they're just about good for any kind of diet you could ever imagine (except Paleo I suppose). They even tasted nice (I was skeptical, I have to admit, but honestly they were good - I've already scarfed half the batch so I will be making more before my long run at the weekend as I'd like to take some with me then too - I think they'd be great on-the-go nutrition).
The net result of these two changes - a few more carbs and a lot more sleep - has meant that I feel much more like a human being today (I even might be able to squeeze in a little work if my boss is lucky). It also meant that my track reps this morning were a whole lot better than last week! They weren't easy, and they weren't back to my best, but it was a LOT better than last week.
Here's a comparison, for the record!
BEST WEEK
(16 JULY 2015)
|
LAST WEEK
(12 AUGUST 2015)
|
THIS WEEK
(19 AUGUST 2015)
|
|
1.
|
03.12
|
03:24
|
03:15
|
2.
|
03:24
|
03:29
|
03:32
|
3.
|
03:26
|
03:40
|
03:33
|
4.
|
03:46
|
03:43
|
03:35
|
5.
|
03:39
|
03:47
|
03:36
|
6.
|
03:34
|
-
|
03:31
|
I was really happy with that - overall my times are actually quicker this week on the last three reps than they were my best week, but the first three were slower. I feel like my strategies are working though and that is a massive bonus - I was beginning to worry that I'd only get slower and slower!!
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