Hayfever blues

My last two runs have been a little disappointing. As it is now officially British Summertime my hayfever has kicked in, so much so that I've been waking up with a bloody nose (sexy, I know)! Because I'm generally forgetful, I managed to find myself without antihistamines for a couple of days- long story short, I found myself almost hyperventilating up a hill this afternoon and then having to walk a little way. Fortunately, I'm now armed with medication, so hopefully Saturday's 16 miles wont be too horrific!

I mentioned in my last post that I had ordered Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald. It finally arrived (note to self: don't order things online at the same time as the Royal Mail has to deal with a national Census) and I must say that I'm extremely impressed. While it's not an easy read, it lays out the facts and backs up all of its advice with statistics from scientific studies. The most interesting part is the few pages where you can read what elite endurance athletes eat in a typical day. Some of the advice in it also just made me feel a little stupid for not thinking of it sooner, but then there is so much conflicting advice around, that it is easy to get into a muddle. It seems to be a lovely holistic approach to nutrition and I already feel happier about what I'm eating. It has also made me rethink my training strategy in general, and I feel that it's time to turn things up a notch. Tomorrow will be my first full day of eating according to Fitzgerald's advice, so I'll let you know how I get on. The main thing that I've taken from it is that I'm not eating enough carbs to sustain my workouts, so I'll be upping them significantly.

I plan to do two workouts tomorrow: a strength workout in the morning and some cross training on the exercise bike in the evening. I'm on holiday from work this week, so it's very nice to be able to fit these things in whenever I want to, especially with all of the extra snacks that I'm supposed to be eating now! 

We shall see how I can fit them in around work next week, but I don't want to think about that now!