Food and nutrition – 6 months later……….

As we head into another full race season I can feel ‘inner demons’ resurfacing and threatening to derail a nearly solid winter of training.

So – the million dollar question – did I gain weight over winter? Yes, I am now a slightly healthier ½ a stone heavier and whilst it has caused some anxious moments I am trying to be rational and logical about it.

Following advice from Adam and my coach, Paul, I spoke to my GP regarding my difficulty to gain weight and despite us still being in ‘covid’ times I was seen in person by an excellent trainee GP who did blood tests to rule out any underlying issues and referred me to a dietician. To be totally honest, this was laughable, a telephone consultation with her where lots of questions were asked, and I was advised to reduce how much protein I ate and add in cakes and puddings – thanks!

But it did reinforce that the issues were emotional rather than physical, maybe harder to overcome, but try I must.

Winter training started solidly after some much needed off time post Outlaw X, a move to N Wales where it seems to be endlessly wet and windy meant the turbo had to become a good friend and remind myself that ‘winter miles = summer smiles’ whilst not scrimping on food and refuelling. All this meant I headed into 2022 feeling good and having gained about 4lbs, then January hit 🤬

A combination of nasty stomach upset, broken thumb and covid made this month harder than it needed to be and saw my weight drop back to below race weight, this combined with high HR issues when running increased stress levels and I could feel myself turning back to ‘food control’ to try and cope, adding extra walks in to ‘allow’ treats and good meals.

With clear challenges for the year ahead, I had to get back on top of it before it controlled me again, trying not to weigh obsessively has always been a challenge, and I am still struggling with that, but trying not to worry excessively about the numbers there and instead think about progress I have made.

Is this extra weight having a negative impact on my training – I don’t think so, FTP has increased slightly and even with the extra weight my watts per kg has increased. My normalised or average power on easy rides has increased way beyond my expectation and hopefully sets me up for a good season. Swim has improved with a solid winter of pools open and regular open water (very cold 🥶) dips. Run hasn’t significantly changed, I don’t think that the extra weight has had any impact and having had covid and a slight niggle has held my run up a little, but I have to balance that with the progress elsewhere?

The most consistent change over the winter has been fresh cooking and eating regular nutritious food, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, with the odd apple crumble thrown in and not skipping meals (well – maybe occasionally, not perfect yet). Also trying to recognise if I haven’t eaten enough and rectifying it swiftly, I still get to the end of a big day of training and can’t face food, but try to get a protein and banana smoothie in quickly and force feed myself later.

An unexpected benefit has been the ability to do my long run days with no need to ‘poop’, yes – you heard it, not sure what has had such a positive impact but definitely not going to question that one! And if an extra ½ a stone means ‘poop’ free runs I might keep it, just wish I could put it where I want it 🤔🤔 🤣🤣