The Ten K: Lost Time is Never Found Again

I've lost a kilogram. I am not worried. There is approximately 25 days until race day. I am now a little worried. "Oh shit", said someone, once, probably French. My training is going well and the contents of my diet are near perfection. "I must have a thyroid problem, yes, that's it. It was likely brought about by all the stress I've been burdened with lately; the kids have broken up and I feel that the nanny isn't pulling her weight. The Polish have always been suspect to lethargy." But alas, I know the real answer: portion size, and that means I have to cut it. So, if you see a shadow of a man/boy drifting through the Surrey undergrowth of endless Waitrose car parks and Range Rover Evoques, with a glint-less eye and unconvincing smile, it's me. Hello.

(NB. The diet pointers and training I spoke of in the preceding posts are all water-tight. Losing a kilogram in two weeks is a pretty perfect rate of weightloss...it's only that I have urgent dreams to attend to and there is a sledge of shit dragging behind me.)

Adjustments made:

1. 'Freddie, the multivitamin days.' - As I'm cutting calories and increasing training volume, I've bought a top notch multivitamin from Solgar (see below, obviously). It's the one you take twice a day; the one-a-day ones are so heavily loaded with 'B Vits' and Iron, that it makes it near impossible to absorb everything, hence why when you take them, like a Japanese schoolboy, you too are greeted by radioactive pee. Bring on 2020.

                                                       

2. 'Dulling the senses' - No, I've not yet succumbed to the bottle's deep, resonating allure, but instead have added a Swedish touch to my plate. The more foods and flavours you have on your plate, the more you will eat. Fact. Ever been to a buffet? Well, nor have I, but I'm told your eyes betray you. So, be like an Ikea kitchen and don't chuck everything on there. Thinking that some humous and maybe a quinoa dish will also go with your mashed sweet potato, tuna steak and avocado salad is all marvellous but it is TOO much. Just because it's healthy doesn't mean it belongs on your plate.

3. 'Finishing with a flourish' - I'm now adding 2-4 quick hill sprints to the end of my runs. It doesn't matter whether I've done a thirty minute 'tempo run' or an hour and twenty minute 'long run', the sprints will follow. If the race comes down to the last 5 minutes, I will have been there before. Death, taxes and hill sprints, said no one, ever.

4. 'Once more to the track' - track running gives rusted technique a good lick of paint; a bad gait or a drifting arm is cruelly exposed when running on the flat, around and around and around in a circle. Did you know that Tirunesh Dibaba can ONLY turn left? Anyway, I'm going to be doing 400 metre repeats tomorrow - that's 400 metres completed within 80 seconds, repeated 10 times, with a 200 metre recovery distance in between each 400 metres. I warm up extensively for this little gem...that means lots of dynamic stretches and few plyometrics to get my central nervous system and my muscles firing on all cylinders. Why 400 metres? It plays around, ruthlessly, with all the energy systems. Therefore, you ought to leave the athletics track a tad distraught, but with aerobic, anaerobic, ATP-PC and lactic energy systems to be revered. Phew, what a lot of energy systems we have...we're positively brimming with'em. (NB. This style of training is applicable to many other disciplines. For example, swimming....yes, swimming...James C..Harry...swimming....Bueller?)

5. 'Call me George Clooney' - I'm drinking a fantastic amount of Nespresso coffee. You should too. See this post for reasons why: http://justbootcamp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/coffee-before-exercise-just-do-it.html. 

So if If you're ** years old and you are still not drinking coffee, you need to waltz down - though non-coffee drinkers are loathe to waltz, preferring a morose 'traipse' - to a Nespresso shop, nod warmly to the poster of George Clooney, allow his omnipotent gaze to bear down on you and buy a coffee machine. It will be THE best thing you ever do. Your first house, kids, a car, a toothbrush, food for your pet, food for your children are all transitory in comparison to a Nespresso coffee machine. 

Anyway, I must dash. Ciao