Marathon training begins this week. I am nervous and I am excited.
What I am not, though, is tired.
This is really unusual for me. Tiredness has been everywhere and in everything for ages now. It is especially bad when I am at the bottom of a particularly big mountain that needs climbing – like the start of a diet or training for a marathon. But today I feel quite happy and content and ready for it all to begin. I feel more prepared than usual and I feel a lot healthier.
We have been pretty good with our eating for a while now. We are probably around 95% paleo and managing two fresh vege juices every day. I am getting lots of omega 3 and even managing to increase my calcium levels which I have been concerned about since we ditched the dairy products (apart from those cheese boards that keep sneaking their way in to our 5% non-paleo badness).
I obsessively check my acid/alkaline levels throughout the day and I am alkaline almost every time which is hugely exciting. Exercise is terrible for messing with my acidity and I credit the vege juices in turning that around. It has been a lot of trial and error to get that part of my diet right and I really struggled for quite a while to find what worked for my system. Cutting down the amount of protein in each of my meals made a significant difference too. I have made sure I am getting enough to support my training but not so much that it ruins the effect of all the veges.
Sleep is another area that has been steadily improving. I have been going to bed earlier at the insistence of boyfriend, drinking less in the evenings to prevent midnights trips to the bathroom, and started getting up half an hour later in the morning. It isn’t some miracle cure but it has made enough of a difference that the day is much more manageable (boyfriend tells me I have four minutes to finish this and go to sleep or I will be in trouble…)
My beloved red wine is down to one bottle for a weekend and no drinking on ‘school’ nights. That has made a big difference in getting the weight down, but also helped with the fatigue and anxiety. But boy it can be hard when I just want to have a little fun! I still feel grumbly and annoyed about this particular sacrifice…
So off I head into this big adventure, hoping my preparation makes a difference (and my sobriety has some meaning!!) I feel stronger, both physically and mentally, than ever before. But I need the results to start coming in and telling me I am on the right path. I feel like I am… but I want the proof, as I just don’t have enough faith in myself yet – I need a warrant of fitness.