Lifestyle lessons...

Those of you who read my training diary will have seen some of my thoughts on lifestyle. This is an area that many athletes neglect in the belief that an extra few miles of running or lengths of the pool will pay dividends over spending the time cooking a healthy meal or catching up on lost sleep. This is particularly challenging for athletes such as H and I who are also required to hold down full-time employment. Your typical full-time professional athlete won't train that much more than an amateur but what they will spend more time doing is recovering from the demanding training required for high levels of endurance performance.

Although H has suffered from an annoying ankle injury over the last few months it is the first for a couple of years and she is generally free of injury and illness. Not including self inflicted damage such as trying to remove my own toe nails in our recent XC adventures I haven't missed a day of training through injury or illness since our Ironman journey began nearly three years ago... I also schedule in very few rest days, preferring to take active rest through swimming or cross training and maybe lowering the intensity. People are always asking how I manage to maintain such high volume with limited rest without breaking down... the answer is simple....

LIFESTYLE

Please note that I'm in no way saying everyone should live like this and I'm sure there are plenty of far better athletes than me out there who are still partying hard but this is what works for me...

Those of you who knew me in my twenties will remember my lifestyle as a little more like the subject of today's picture than your typical Ironman athlete! Since my 30th birthday however (27th June 2004) I've adopted a somewhat healthier regime ;) Getting drunk is out! I gave up completely on that day and was absolutely t-total for exactly one year, since then I've not allowed myself more than one single drink on any one day. The benefits in terms of better and more sleep, less junk food consumed, less money wasted and less stress due to acting like a plonker have all contributed significantly to not only my athletic life but also my work, social and home life. This has had by far the greatest positive impact on my life as a whole and I really would recommend it to everyone... just try it for 12 months.

Secondly, you are what you eat! And I do mean you are what you eat! Throughout Uni and the majority of my time in Australia I consumed a seriously junk diet, never even considering what I stuffed in my greedy face!! KFC, McDonalds, Burger King and Pizza Hut were par for the course... as was an expanding waste line, increasing cholesterol level and falling fitness. Particularly since the start of our Iron journey I've really paid attention to my diet... organic is in and artificial is out. There are endless fad diets out there and the world seems confused... low-fat this, carb-free that, don't eat after this time, don't eat those foods together, the list is endless. But again it is simple... EAT NATURAL and you can't go wrong. Where possible cook your own foods from the raw ingredients and if you can't then always (and I mean always) look at the ingredients of what you are eating, make sure you know what every single thing is and if you don't then stick it in Google and find out. I refer again to THIS great article from the New York Times. Go organic where possible and take time to enjoy learning about food, where it comes from, how to cook it and more importantly how to ENJOY it. H and I have started to get fruit, veg and other odds and sods delivered every Monday from a great company called Abel & Cole, if you're in Yorkshire then give them a go, if not I'm sure there's something similar near you. I've seen both sides of the nutritional fence and I can assure you from personal experience that this one is far superior ;)

Thirdly... sleep is king!! Which is why I'll be finishing this next week as it's already past nine o'clock and I've got 56 hours to find in the next seven nights.

To be continued...

Night ;)