This past week I know I was right on the brink of going a little overboard. But it wasn't necessarily from training too much. In fact, I really did not train much more than my body is normally used to, the only question as to my actual training would be how quickly I decided to get into this crossfit programming around a marathon. What really played a large role in the way I felt Friday coming into that trans-continental workout, was my nutrition. I was improperly fueled.
When I started all this a month ago, I began a modified Zone diet, which was actually going pretty well up until the marathon. I began increasing my carb intake the week before the run knowing that I would need the extra glycogen reserves during the long endurence-filled day. What happened after the run is what threw me off. I completely crashed. And, as a result of the energy depletion I was feeling, and the fact that I had all this left-over food at my place from the marathon event, I ended up consuming not only a bit too much, but also a bit too much of the wrong kinds of food (IE: crap carbs in the form of flour, wraps and chips, refined sugars, sodium filled sandwich meats and nowhere near enough veggies and natural sugars and fats). When improperly fueled, my body ends up reacting in a couple different ways (I know from plenty of experience): my metabolism gets thrown off drastically resulting in abnormal sleeping patterns, fluxuating energy, slight mood swings and feelings of weakness and super strength. When read, this sounds like I all of a sudden became some roided out crazy man running down the street looking for his next kill; while, more realistically, these effects were very subtle and only noticable by me, and maybe a couple really close, very observant friends.
So what ended up happening? I continued with my everyday activities -training clients and working out- and each day things just got tougher and tougher. My recovery from the workouts got slower and slower until I wasn't really recovering at all. And two Saturdays ago, when I did my tons of hill sprints and DB clean and presses, I really never felt one ounce of recovery from that day on, untill today. And through this experience I realized something that I think is so important for anyone trying to get, and stay at a good/great fitness level:
Prepare, and don't forget to eat.
Upon a short recollection of my last couple weeks, I found that the main theme was my complete lack of schedule for consumption. Even on days when I ate well (meaning, I don't consume crap/fake food) I was still not doing so on a regular schedule. There were times when I would go 4 or more hours without eating more than a few pieces of dried mango, and for someone who's lifestyle demands constant activity, I need to make sure that I am constantly fueling so that I can keep my metabolism running smoothly. The worst part about doing this is that in the evening, when I started to slow down from the busy day and the hard workouts, I would then all of a sudden realize just how damn hungry I actually was. And in the past couple weeks, my attempts to control that hunger were pretty weak to say the least.
So, tonight, I had Gladiator playing in the background while I shuffled around the kitchen cooking up chicken breasts, ground ostrich, chicken apple sausage, turkey chili, salmon burgers and few other main proteins. I also wrote out a basic list of meals throughout the day to follow, and general times foe when I should be having those meals. Now, all I will have to do during the day is check my cards, check my watch, add the veggies, salad, fruits, beans and eggs and my meals will be complete. It really was not a very difficult thing to do, it's just one of those things you have to kick yourself in the but and just DO if you know you won't have the time for it during the week. Preparation. A fit, healthy person will always be prepared.
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
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