Hello!

Since the NDW50 I have been running as frequently, but a lot less mileage, as I contemplate the start of Autumn and my plan to build on 2012 for next year.

My next race is in December, the Endurancelife Ultra in Dorset and I am about to start full scale training for this as it is deemed a truly hard race.

Recently my focus has been less on running but more on diet. Two of my key reads this year have been ‘Eat and Run’ by Scott Jurek and ‘Finding Ultra’ by Rich Roll. Both, in their own way, put a huge amount of their success down to diet and both are vegan.

With two young kids and a busy lifestyle, going full scale vegan at this stage is a step too far for me, but my wife and I have now adopted what is commonly known as the caveman diet. This means we will eat anything so long as it is natural. No more sweets, ice cream, fizzy drinks etc. Essentially, all the good things are still in and all of the junk is out. I have been on this for two weeks now and whilst it can be hard at times, the results are paying off already. I have lost some weight and have a lot more energy for both running and work- I’m also sleeping a lot better too.

With the nights drawing in I am also trying to adopt a new training strategy of running early in the mornings, rather than after the kids go to sleep. In the past this meant I was often eating dinner at 10pm, and a lot of it too after one and a half to two hour runs. The plan is to now get up at 5:15am, be running by 5:30am and back home by 7am to shower and get the kids up for the day. I can then justify a large breakfast as opposed to large dinner. I’m looking forward to seeing how this takes shape over the next few weeks.

I typically hate winter but am not going to dwell on that this year. I want to make a big improvement in 2013 and I need to use the grim months ahead to start the transformation.

Roll on the alarm clock tomorrow…