Day 4: When life gives you lemons, make it all spicy with cayenne pepper

Mental

I decided to combine all of my Master Cleanser days into one blog post since they all look pretty much the same. I went into this portion of my cleanse without knowing what to expect as far as training would go. I ended up feeling incredible… but the wrong kind of incredible. The lemonade makes me feel, like, all hippie-softie. On Saturday I was trying to study for a final exam and I thought the timing would be perfect because my focus would be intense. Instead, my intense focus was directed at how much I loved every little detail of everything I could take in with my senses, rather than focusing on the different types of muscle fibers on the note pages in front of me. It was a very focused distraction and it was not going to help me get an A on the final, so I decided to eat a healthy/clean dinner. I’ve used Master Cleanser this way in the past: lemonade all day and a veggie and protein dinner. In trying to maintain my study focus and my training volume, it just made more sense.

Training

I cycled a total of 2.5 hours on Saturday and 2 hrs on Sunday with a fast 30 min brick run. Monday I swam 3300 yards. I did all of this while just drinking lemonade and recovering with an evening meal. Lots of it. And I felt incredible. Please don’t try this though. I wouldn’t suggest anyone train on an all-liquid fast. If you do, its not because I told you to.

So there were a few reasons why I felt awesome:

1. Lemonade makes me feel totally relaxed, de-stressed and euphoric
2. I nailed the timing and was VERY calculated with my intake
3. Maple syrup is a sugar/carb and has tons of electrolytes, calcium and iron (all things I needed to replace)
4. My body is an efficient machine when it comes to burning sugar, carbs and other sources as fuel. I never have a problem with training and racing nutrition and this experiment reconfirmed that I have myself figured out. I keep a record of what works, I listen to my body and I don’t overdo it with too much fuel.

Food

Saturday dinner – hemp shake with maca (while I cooked and after my ride), omelet, sweet potato, raw veggie salad, sauerkraut

Sunday dinner – hemp shake with maca, sardines, potato wedges, sautéed greens; grapes for dessert

Monday dinner – hemp shake with maca, grilled tempeh on brown rice bread with mustard and pickles and an arugula salad

Weight

I never weigh myself. I just pay attention to how my clothes fit and how I feel. On April 13th I participated in a scientific study and they took my weight, which was 128 lbs. For the past few weeks I have felt myself getting a bit thinner with my increased training, especially with higher running volume. I weighed myself yesterday and I was down to 122.5 lbs. I’m 5’7. This is getting to the low end of my healthy range and I should not fall below 120 lbs. So for the next 3 days of my cleanse I will be adding more carbs from grain sources and upping the protein a bit. This will be a way for me to ease myself off the cleanse. So the plan through Wednesday is almost exactly the way I would normally eat, except that I will not be taking in any “bad” foods. Normally I allow myself coffee, alcohol and sugar in moderation. Honestly, the only thing I miss is an occasional coffee. I’ll also continue to avoid meat through Wednesday.