06:30 a.m. 8 miles relaxed. The two recovery days between workouts appear to be working well; they freshen the mind as well as the legs.
Carrying on with the 'blood stuff' from yesterday:
Amazing facts about our red blood cells -
• A whopping one-quarter of the human cells in our bodies are red blood cells. But most cells in our bodies are actually non-human cells (bacteria).
• A red blood cell circulates around our bodies in about 20 seconds. The same red cell makes tens of thousands of trips around the body, transporting oxygen to cells, before it is recycled by our immune systems.
• Red blood cells in humans are molecularly quite similar to chlorophyll cells in plants.
• Our red blood cells are made partially of cholesterol. Although the drug industry has tried to label cholesterol a villain, in truth we couldn't survive without it!
How to create good blood -
We are our own blood banks. We manufacture and distribute all our own blood. Given that our lives depend on the blood we produce, doesn't it make sense to manufacture the healthiest, most life-giving blood possible? In fact, we can! We have conscious control over the qualities of the blood we manufacture. Because our blood is made of what we eat, drink, breathe and absorb, we can alter the composition of our blood by consciously choosing healthier things to eat, drink, breathe and absorb. Here are some of the most powerful pointers for making healthy blood:
Healthy blood needs healthy fats. We must consume healthy fats in order to create healthy red blood cells. This means consuming healthful omega-3 fatty acids. From the world of plants, healthful fats come from coconuts, avocados, flaxseed, Chia seeds and other similar sources. From the animal world, one of the best sources for omega-3 fatty acids is the green-lipped mussels oils in Moxxor - google it and discover myriad amazing facts. Also, we can get omega-3 fatty acids from oily fish - salmon and sardines etc. There are other quality sources, too, including fish oil supplements. Some people take krill oil to get their omega-3s. Do your research and use what works best for you.
The more healthful omega-3 fatty acids we take, the healthier our blood will be (to a point, of course).
Consuming damaging fats will harm the health of our blood. Damaging fats include trans-fatty acids and fried fats (such as those used in fried foods). Making healthy blood also requires the right minerals. Red blood cells themselves need iron, but it's handy to have all the trace minerals, too, so they can be delivered by our blood to our cells. When we lack sufficient quantities of minerals like calcium, magnesium, zinc and selenium, biological functions start to go awry.
Healthy blood also needs plenty of water, of course. Water is the primary fluid of our blood plasma - it's a solvent that can dissolve and transport all sorts of crucial building blocks for health, including water-soluble vitamins like Vitamin C. Without adequate water, our blood turns to sludge blood - sticky, gooey blood that our hearts struggle to pump through our circulatory systems. The forceful pumping required to push this sludge through our systems is frequently diagnosed as high blood pressure. Human blood also needs many other elements, but if I ploughed on with this you'd fall asleep.
I think the message is clear: look after your blood and your blood will look after you. I'm off to McDonalds... Not really:)
6:30 p.m. 6 miles easy. I feel ready for tomorrow's workout, which is my favourite from my late teens/early twenties, when I ran the 1500m - 8x400m off 90 sec's. Back then I'd bang them out in 63's. Tomorrow, I'm hoping to manage 73's.
I've used Horwill's 4 sec rule to predict the times, which is bang-on most of the time. The idea is that the 1500m speed should make the 3k speed (5x800m off 90 sec's) easier, which, in turn, makes the 5k speed (4x1 miles off 90 secs) easier. I know the sessions gonna be a killer. But we'll see... | 