There’s no point me apologising for being slack – I’ve said it all before. But here is it some 18 months or so since my last post – Sheesh! How did that happen????
Well I’m back! And man, how much has happened since then…. I’m not even sure where to start. So I’m guessing you are wondering why the absence… Hmmm… in bullet point form here’s what has passed (much of these I’ll be expanding on in upcoming posts).
- Running – well that’s obvious I guess, but I’ve managed to knock over a few events that include:
- 400km multi stage ultra marathon through the Scottish highlands being the inaugural Cape Wrath Ultra.
- Outback Australia marathon in central Australia near Uluru (actually one my age category!)
- Hobart Cadbury marathon in stunning Tasmania, Australia.
- Rollercoaster ultra marathon (44km) in the extremely hilly Dandenong Ranges in Victoria, Australia (never doing that event again!)
- Disneyworld Marathon Fesitval in Orland completing the multi stage Dopey Challenge of 5km, 10km, half marathon and marathon on consecutive days.
- Maui Oceanfront marathon – how good is Hawaii???
- Completed my 7th Puffing Billy race racing an old steam train (bastard beat me again!)
- Ultra trail Australia 100km in the magnificent Blue Mountains.
- Plus a huge amount of training runs – pre and post op.
- Went for a little trek in Nepal this year and hiked to Everest Base Camp and back (can’t wait to share that adventure with you – simply awesome!!!).
- Did a special for a tv show on the benefits of healthy living and running for reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s.
- Had another lot of hip surgery to even up my body – now I’m totally balanced 😉
- Travelled a fair bit including South Africa, United Kingdom, Middle East, United States and loads of places in Australia – especially our favourite place on earth Port Douglas in Far North Queensland.
- Completed my Certificate III in Personal Training (still have Certificate IV to go!!)
- Balanced training, events, busy lifestyle and work (including some new business ideas) – all poorly.
So… I’ve been busy is the short answer. And all fine excuses for being a slack blogger I hope you will agree 🙂
But, I’m back. I have missed it terribly and failing to spend time on what you love because you are too busy is a stupid excuse. So here I am.
So what’s news?? Glad you asked.
Since completing the Ultra Trail ultra following my trek in Nepal, I was pretty tired – like really tired. My hip has been hurting again (a visit to the doc is planned), so I pretty much stopped training – and ate and drank whatever I felt like (although still not eating meat or dairy, so not quite “whatever”). Cause and effect – I’ve put on some weight!
With a marathon less than 4 weeks away I decided I needed to get some control over my diet and training, and stop grazing through the fridge and pantry like a malnourished labrador. But what diet to try???
There are SOOOOO many to choose from,and I have no idea what is best. Deciding that doing anything was better than nothing, I grabbed a bit of what I liked from a few diets and today embarked on my own GPONTHERUN Diet 🙂 You can join my journey (and suffering) as I work through the days on this blog.
As while I’m getting back into my writing groove, I figured I’d share what I am doing, the results, how it makes me feel and (hopefully) some successful outcomes at the end.
The diet
I’ve decided all or nothing is not for me. So I’ve set myself a target of 5 days of very strict dieting and giving myself some latitude on the weekend – but not getting totally off the leash.
Soup and juices are the foundation block of my diet – borrowing a little from the juice and soup diets, plus allowing a couple of additions to keep me sane. Each day I’ll post up my food and fluid consumption and a little report on how I’m tracking towards my goal.
Goal? My aim is to drop between 5 and 10 kilograms before race day on the 16th of July. I’m currently sitting at 81kg which is about 6kg over what I think is my optimum weight.
With a marathon looming, I will be training – both gym work and running and will provide my training regime as a reference. Diet and exercise are the key to weightloss.
Day One
As I had a busy training weekend – today (Monday was a rest day).
- Juice of half a lemon in hot water to start the day.
- Espresso coffee (I’m not giving up on coffee!!!!)
- Morning Juice made in a Nutri-bullet. All ingredients are fresh unless stated otherwise.
- 1 x Granny Smith Apple
- 1 x Orange peeled
- 1 x slice of Pineapple
- 1/4 Cucumber
- 1 x handful of baby Spinach
- 1 x handful of Kale (stems removed)
- 1/4 of lemon
- filtered water
And that kicked off the day.
- 500 ml water consumed in the morning
- Espresso coffee for morning tea
Well I got through to early afternoon without feeling hungry, or killing anyone. Bonus!
- Lunch Juice made in Nutri-bullet
- 1 x Beet sliced
Mmm…. my lunch juice
- 1 x Granny Smith Apple
- 1 x Carrot
- 1/4 Cucumber
- 1 x handful of baby Spinach
- 1 x handful of Kale (stems removed)
- 1/4 of lemon
- 1/4 of lime
- filtered water
- 1 x Beet sliced
Lunch was done and I wasn’t feeling hungry still – although I can’t say I was feeling sated.
- 500 ml water while working
- Espresso coffee for afternoon tea
For Dinner, I had made up some vegetable soup on the weekend to give me something a little more substantial (and a little more chewable).
- 250ml – 300ml Vegetable soup
- 500 ml mineral water
The Soup recipe is linked here.
Post dinner can be a challenge as I don’t mind indulging in a snack with a cup of tea – but not this week baby!
- 2 x cups of Early Grey Tea (no milk or sugar)
- 2 x imperial Mandarins
- 500 ml water
The only addition to the items above was sugar free chewing gum as I felt I needed to be chewing something, and I find it a useful hunger suppressant.
I head to bed feeling a little flat and undernourished but all in all, not too bad. Hopefully I don’t wake in the middle of the night with a grumbling stomach and voracious need for chocolate!
Weigh in tomorrow!
gpontherun 