September Summary (Better late than never!)
New post at The Running Bug, ‘September Summary (Better late than never!)‘.
September was a memorable month for me in a number of ways and I wanted to share this with you before we get too far in to October!
In terms of running I hit, and passed the 1000 mile mark, slightly earlier than last year. In 2010 I ran the Loch Ness Marathon and hit the 1000 mile mark in mile 26 of the marathon for that double accomplishment feeling. An injury in the run up to the marathon had done its best to try and spoil my carefully planned 1000th mile and, as a result, instead of tapering in the week leading up to the marathon, I ended up cramming in the mileage to make up for lost time (definitely not recommended as an approach to ‘tapering’!). Having made up the mileage shortfall, I was delighted to cross the finish line, hitting my mileage target and setting a new marathon PB.
Without a race in the foreseeable future, I then did what I have done on so many occasions. I let the running slip. Not altogether, but in a sufficiently unstructured way so that, by the time I lined up in March of this year for the first ultra, I was essentially back to square one. Talk about making things difficult for yourself!
This year, with the benefit of hindsight, I am determined not to do the same thing and, as such, I have set both short and long term goals, with the short term goals focusing on both pace and weight.
As mentioned previously, I completed 6 ultras this year whilst tipping the scales at a weight of just over 15 stones. I have spent much of the past few years following one calorie counting diet or another and, it has to be said that, other than a few pounds here and there, which generally ‘sneak’ back on, I have not had much success. Last year in particular I found that the combination of running long distances and attempting to diet did not sit well together and I found my health suffering as I picked up every bug and sniffle going!
In 2011 I decided to stick with my normal diet for the duration of the ultras. With only 3 weeks between the majority of the races, getting ill was not an option. When my wife came home at the beginning of September and told me about a colleague who had shed approximately 2 stones in the space of 2 months it was a timely ‘ray of hope’. Never known for my patience, this sounded like my kind of diet – results… and fast!
Tasked with finding out more, my wife returned from work the following day and advised me that I needed to eliminate carbs from my diet.
Initially I found this really tough. For one, I realised the huge carb reliance in my current diet. My eyes were opened to my ‘dependency’ on everything from bread, to porridge, to pastas. I eliminated everything that was not meat, fish or vegetable and, as I later found out, I was essentially following the ‘Dukan Diet’, albeit having ‘skipped’ the 100% meat ‘attack phase’ recommended by the diet.
The ‘Dukan Diet’ lets you eat meat and fish and lots of it! Hunger pangs are not an issue on this diet as you are free to snack on meat and/or fish whenever hunger strikes. An increased water intake is also recommended and this also helps to keep hunger at bay.
I am not advocating that this diet is a good choice for anyone. I simply do not know enough about nutrition to comment on how good or bad the carb depletion approach is. However, as far as I am concerned, it worked for me and, having emerged from those first few days of thumping headaches (withdrawl symptoms apparently), the weight started to drop off.
By the end of September, I had lost a stone in weight.
Alongside the diet, I endeavoured to run at least 5 miles every day in September, which I did on all but 5 days where running was not possible due to other commitments.
The constant running eliminated recovery days from my schedule and each run felt like the end stages of a race, where the legs are tight and tired. Combined with the effects of the carb elimination, the runs increasingly felt like they were being done whilst ‘running on empty’. However, I persisted, partly through determination to log a high mileage month and partly to try and ‘assist’ the diet.
At the end of the 3rd week I decided to have a small bowl of porridge before heading out to run. The bowl was half, if not a third of the size of the bowl that I would normally have had.
The lethargy lifted soon after starting the run and I really felt like I was flying. The combination of the weight loss and the reintroduction of carbs into my diet, albeit on a small scale, powered me through my run and I logged the fastest mile that I had run in years. In fact, all 7 of the miles I ran that day were on average 2-3 minutes quicker than those that I had logged running on those particularly lethargic days of the third week.
The weight is still coming off, albeit at a slightly more moderate 2-3 pounds per week. I have reintroduced carbs back in to my diet now but in much smaller quantities than before and it is unlikely that I will ever return to the carb intake levels that I previously consumed. I still aim to lose a further stone in weight and with this weight reduction, I will also benefit from an ‘unintended’ increase in running pace.
This week I recorded another mile PB, knocking a further 30 seconds off of my mile time. Not bad at all considering that, at this point, I have not actually turned my attention to speedwork!