Carbo unloading

So this week, on something of a whim,saw me give up carbs for five days. My wife decided that she was going to so I thought I would give it a try to see what would happen. After all you hear lots of stories of people being very successful on paleo diets and such like.

Now when I say give up carbs, that would be to undersell the 50g of brown rice I was allowed each day. To be fair when we had brown rice and curry it was fine. But when the days precious ration of carbohydrate was in the form of puffed brown rice cereal it was hard not to feel a little mournful. Puffed brown rice cereal is the evil twin of sugar puffs, which themselves are pretty evil so that gives you some idea of how bad the stuff is.

Anyway, in an amusing twist of fate, this week was also to be my hardest running week so far in my build up the Clyde Stride in July. 13 miles on Tuesday and 17 on Thursday. Both after a full day at the office, getting off the train one and two stops early respectively.

Tuesday was hard. For ten miles I was fine and then I really started to struggle, at the end my legs felt like molten lead - sort of like a Victorian terminator - and the slightest hill was a struggle.Any naïve visions of my body adjusting to its new diet and setting down to burn off its abundant fat supplies were quickly abandoned. I got in feeling drained and sick and didn't feel better until I had forced down some brown rice. And when I found myself crying at don't tell the bride and grand designs, I realised that perhaps my emotional state wasn't all it could be either.

By Thursday my five days were over and I had feasted on some muesli for breakfast, and some quinoa for lunch, as well as a pre run banana. All forbidden in the previous five days, but sadly not enough. My run started nicely, a beautiful path, and a buzzard in the trees. As it turned out I was very glad to meet this magnificent bird of prey early on, as had he seen me ten miles later he would have been circling ominously, hopeful of a meal - although if he'd needed carbs he would have been sadly disappointed.

I got to about 15 miles and struggled, not as much as Tuesday, but enough. You kind of get to the point where if you are spending 3 hours of your evening doing something it is disappointing to get to the end and find you haven't enjoyed it. And that was really what Thursday was.

Two days later I've probably put back on most of the five pounds I lost, and haven't run since, so think the lesson was that it was a silly idea. Which I could probably have guessed the before, but I'm glad I learned the hard way.