away, but.. food, nutrition and supplements..

thought i'd take the chance to go over what i eat and drink normally, during training.

day to day, i'd say we're a pretty healthy family. most of what we buy is fresh fruit and vegetables, some meat (chicken, fish, ham/salami), pulses, beans and pasta/rice. we do buy butter over spreads, and for our sins we buy diet yoghurts over full-fat ones.

as soon as i get up i'm hungry. so i usually have a bowl of muesli (with semi-skimmed milk), a tall glass (300ml) of a sparkling water and juice mix, and a cup of coffee. debating these days whether i need that coffee - gone off it over the last year or so. mid-morning, i'll either snack on fruit, nuts and dried fruit or have a smoothy and Eat Natural bar (depending on whether i make it myself or not). For lunch i'll either have a sandwich or a salad and a few slices of homemade sunflower or wholewheat bread. During the day - at work (where i do most of my training runs) - i drink tea (maybe 3-4 cups across the day) and two 500ml bottles of water - one in the morning and another in the afternoon. depending on the heat of the day, i may even get through another in the afternoon. In the evening, we cook from fresh, but do have the tendency to eat a little too late on Mon-Wed - maybe 8 or even 9. there's no simple way round this, as the kids both eat at nursery/childminder on those days, and we dedicate our time to them from when we get back through to their bedtime. it's a balance..

dietary supplements are a new thing for me. i thought that they'd be a sensible idea about a year ago, and since then i've taken 500mg cod liver oil and 1200mg glucosamine and chondroitin combined. i also drop a 1000mg vitamin C tablet in my first bottle of water, mostly just to add some flavour, but i figure it can't harm..

i do drink the odd glass of wine, and maybe a beer or two. we'll probably have a small glass of white wine with dinner, no more (except for the expensive bottle bought cheap we opened the other night - had to have a second glass of that). on a Wednesday, i occasionally go out with the lads after football and may have two or three pints of bitter. during serious training, i back this all off and hardly touch alcohol - especially so during the first few months of the year during the build up to the marathon.

i guess my only other vice that i could claim is half-healthy is chocolate. try as i might i can't cut it out. can easily do without any other type of sweets or candy, but chocolate has to remain part of my staple diet. i wouldn't say i'm too fussy about what kind it is, but i'd err on the side of simple milk chocolate - not plain, not flavoured.. maybe with some kind of nut in. i really do believe i can feel the serotonin levels increasing and me feeling all-round better when i eat it.. that's what i like to tell myself anyway..