So it would appear that I am not eating enough. I can tell
because I am tired all the time. That coupled with an average of only 6 hours
sleep per night, and I’m rather exhausted by the end of each day. Today I
managed to sleep in until 10.30, and then promptly fell asleep again at 2pm for
3 hours… A lot of this is due to stress, but I know that eating more will help
me feel less tired during training at least.
This is such a typical first world problem right here… That
I need to eat more. I mean, I get my normal food intake, and always have plenty
to eat, but I’m still eating the same as I was before I began training. In a
world where everyone is talking about obesity, it can be hard to change your
mind set to actually deliberately eat excess. But it’s not excess, it’s only
what I’m burning off through training. The problem is I’m just not hungry. It’s
strange how a long, hard training session can actually make you lose your
appetite, when intuition says it should do the opposite! Fortunately I have
great advice from my dad and from Catherine which I’m trying to implement.
I have iron supplements now, to ensure I’m not becoming anaemic.
And I’m adding extra snacks in wherever possible. In particular I’m trying to
make sure that my evening meal is full of carbs to give me energy. I've started using sports drinks and protein bars for during and after training. And I’m
prioritising sleep. Although I’m not drinking in the week, I’m still going to
the pub with friends, and can easily stay until closing. But the past couple of
weeks I’ve left an hour earlier than usual to try and get more sleep.
It can be frustrating when you don’t have enough energy to
train. My muscles feel strong, but they still tire too quickly. And I feel
tired all the time, though that’s pretty normal for any postgrad student. Though
after my long sleep today I’m hoping I’m caught up, and feeling much more
positive about my long run tomorrow morning :)
Time to Marathon: 2 months, 2 weeks and 5 days.
