Day 35 of 300: OMAD Day Three and a Recovery Run

Mar 31, 2026

Last Thursday night I drank a lot of whiskey with friends. I slept 2.8 hours. Sleep score of 32. Body battery never recovered. It cost me three days of compromised training and dragged my weekly sleep average to 63.

That was the last time. No alcohol until I’m under 100 kg. Not moderation. Not “just one.” None.

The run

The session was named “Easy Recovery 3km - HR Cap 130.” Average heart rate of 128, so I mostly stayed under. But the max hit 147. That’s 17 bpm over the cap. Discipline slipped somewhere in the middle and I let the pace creep. A proper recovery run should be boring. This one got a little too interesting towards the end.

Training readiness this morning was 66. After the run it dropped to 59. Moderate. Not bad, not great. Recovery estimate is about 16 hours, which means I could train again tomorrow if the sleep holds up. A squash session awaits though.

OMAD, day three

Sunday evening I started One Meal A Day. Two-hour afternoon eating window. That’s it.

Three days in. The mornings are fine. The early afternoons get interesting. But the logic is simple: I weigh 111.7 kg and I need to weigh less than 100 kg by September. That’s 11.7 kg in 23 weeks. Half a kilogram per week. OMAD creates the deficit without having to think too hard about what I’m eating during the window.

The weigh-ins are happening now. 111.8 kg on Sunday. 111.7 kg today. I know that’s noise, not progress. But the data points are being logged. Every morning. No more 16-day gaps between stepping on the scale.

Sleep this week

Date Score Hours
Mar 25 72 8.9
Mar 26 68 6.1
Mar 27 32 2.8
Mar 28 51 6.7
Mar 29 69 6.6
Mar 30 66 7.0
Mar 31 82 8.7

Average score: 63. Below the 65 threshold. That single whiskey night is still dragging the average down even four days later. Last night was the best in a week. 82. 8.7 hours. HRV of 47. If I can string together a full week of nights like that, the sleep history factor in training readiness will finally climb out of “moderate.”

Removing alcohol makes this easier. No late nights. No disrupted REM. No next-day cortisol hangover. One decision that fixes multiple problems at once.

The numbers that matter

Training status says “maintaining.” Not productive. Not building. Just holding the line. The VO2 max is stuck at 39. The fitness age is 44.1. BMI is the single biggest drag. Garmin says fixing BMI alone would drop the fitness age to 38.5.

The path is clear. Lose the weight. Run three times a week. Sleep properly. The cross-training, squash, pickleball, football, stays, but the treadmill sessions are the backbone.

What’s different this time

I’ve said “focus” before. January was 15 running sessions. February was one (shin splints). March has been patchy. The pattern is obvious and I’d be lying if I said I’ve solved it.

But two things are new. OMAD gives me a framework for the weight that doesn’t require willpower at every meal. And cutting alcohol removes the single most destructive variable in my recovery data. One night of whiskey cost more than a week of training could build. That trade was always terrible. I just wasn’t looking at the numbers honestly enough to see it.

The race predictions say 28:38 for a 5K and 2:32 for a half marathon. Those numbers will move when the weight moves. Every kilogram lost is roughly two seconds per kilometre gained. Eleven kilograms is over three and a half minutes off a 5K. That’s decent motivation.

What’s next

Tomorrow: squash / rest day or easy walk depending on how the body feels. Thursday: base run, 4-5 km, zone 2-3. Saturday: intervals or another base session. Three runs this week. No negotiation. Football at the end of the week.

Day 35 of 300. 3 km on the treadmill. Day three of OMAD. The alcohol is gone. Time to see what consistency actually looks like.

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