My eyes are all agog from sitting at the PC catching up on some blog posts and raffle prizes requests. On the plus side, it does mean I am sat down resting!

My Great South Run pack arrived today. I am number 20908 - love the fact my name is printed in bold too!

Another beautiful sunny day. Perfect for some outdoor training. Woke up feeling a little tired. Had been awake since 4am with a rumbling tummy so the extra protein shake last night didn't help.
Kettlercise is a great fat burner and seems to be affecting my metabolism - I am always hungry! Took dogs for a walk and ended up being out for a couple of hours as nattered with fellow dog walkers. Ran out of time for a run as horses to sort, and get to my Thursday Kettlercise class. I did chuckle to myself as I initially flapped thinking I haven't done the run scheduled into my diary! then recalled my daily Duck Quote of the day was "I don't keep a diary, or the diary will keep me!", courtesty of Mae West!

Scrubbed run, swim and sauna as just ran out of time despite best laid plans & organising the diary!

• breakfast - 2 oatibix, 1 banana
• dog walk
• 2 slices of GF bread with peanutbutter
• Kettlercise (6kg weights!)
  
• protein shake & Nakd bar
• (shook at head at notion of walk as due to start work which is very manual & demanding)
• 3pm - 7pm - work with Gigglebags (young child who doesnt walk or talk, quite heavy manual lifting)
• Dinner - oven chips, chicken, peas and sweetcorn, banana custard
• peckish at 9.30pm - yoghurt
• only treat was 10 Ritz crackers - very moorish! but yum!

Oh I am so impressed with my body! All my training and sensible eating & hydration is paying off.

Before I launch into my eating & drinking routine of the event, I would like to say a thankyou to Gareth who has been training me (1-1 and kettlercise class), revive for the use of the pool and spa (havent done a class as the weather has been too nice to be in doors) plus all of TeamRD for your support.

A huge thankyou to #twittershine team who I did the event with - plus mentored some with the training & motivation, and I actually did some training with Nancy. last night we walked and fund raised to KICK CANCER!

Satuday, the day of Shine, was a very sultry 30 degrees. Rather than go out and sun bathe and ruin all my hydration efforts of the past couple of days, I stayed in doors in the coolness. Plus any more heat and it would have zapped me of energy! I hadn't got a decent night's sleep either!
Saturday I sensibly ate oatibix, nakd bars, a tweetup dinner of boiled rice, steamed vegetables and terriaki chicken with a pint of lemondade. Had been drinking water with Nuun tablets all day. Also had a couple of spoonfuls of Manuka 15+ honey for energy and help reduce inflamation (thinking ahead to muscle & tendon fatigue in the night).

Over the Shine event I topped my energy levels up with jelly beans and some cafeine sports jelly sweets (wont be buying those again as didnt notice difference), plus nibbled on the GF Nakd bars (these are moist so go down easily, plus sweet n tasy,great instant & sustained energy). I also had 1 1/2 litres of water in a bladder which I drained dry on the finish line. It was a hot night, and I was roasting in my ducksuit, so I did have some extra drinks at the pitstops. I endured a couple of the "Boost" drinks but too sweet for me. Also, weird as it sounds, they were too heavy/rich to drink. I hate holding bottles so I assume they are better to sip not guzzle.

Straight after the event I ate 2 Trek bars (Nakd protein bars) for energy plus the protein needed to help muscles. I had protein powder to mix in a bottle of water but just didn't need it. I sipped a further half litre of water over the next hour. Enjoyed a large hot mocha on the train home.

Had a banana and a coconut water (natural way to replenish electrolytes).

Husband cooked me a full english breakfast - grilled bacon, baked beans, 2 poached eggs and oven baked potatoe smiles. 2 large mugs of tea, a coconut water  then a 2-3 hour kip. had a banana

Sunday dinner was 2 chicken breasts, oven chips and coleslaw. Large bowl of icecream and small bar of Galaxy chocolate.

Stayed awake until 9pm then I had to have an early night!

Today (monday) I am ache free; just a blister to annoy me! I am wearing my fitflops to cushion it for comfort. Had my bee pollen before a breakfast of a banana and 3 oatibix. Several mugs of tea, plus sipping a litre of water with a Nuun tablet ( I still feel thirsty but wee indications show I am hydrated).

Will have a few spoonfuls of manuka honey through the day for energy plus eliminate anything more sinister threatening to breakout as I have a runny nose!

Lunch will be a wrap with hummus and a slice of mozzeral cheese.

Dinner will be a jacket potatoe with coleslaw

Just a note to end on - I wrote about the supplements I take, all derived from bees and  pollen..I truly belive there is something magical about those as I have never felt this fit, lively and ache free after an event before. It was a hot long night with 9 1/2 hours of walking on pavements.. the body took a pounding!

For the record, each day I have -
3 tsps bee pollen diluted in water half hour before breakfast
1 Propolis tablet (1000mg of propolis)
1 500mg Royal Gellee
1 tsp manuka 15+ Honey

Also, I did the events with my compression tights under my ducksuit. I also wore clean compression tights all of sunday, and my Born In A Field compression socks. I am convinced this helped with eliminating a lot of muscle fatigue and sped up muscle recovery. I will need to get some new Born in a field tights as my current ones are almost stretched beyond use (a different make)

i am now off for a sports massage with the lovely Vanessa and I shall enjoy a relaxing day (apart from 4 hours of work later)

I step back into my trainers tomorrow to recommence training ready for the Great Easter half marathon on sunday!