Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

My run this morning was betwee 20 and 22km. I'm not sure of the exact distance, because there was a fairly long section where I was running in snow up to my calves. I felt good the whole way, and should be up for 30+ km tomorrow morning.

The weather's been hampering my ability to get things done too... sounds like you did well enough for having that much snow though.

Thanks SiNa, I've been trying not to let the snow impede my running too much. In fact, as winters in Ottawa go, this year has been a fairly good one.

Yesterday evening and this morning I had a bit of an upset stomach, so I decided not to run in the morning with my running buddies. Instead I went out on my own for a somewhat abbreviated run this evening. I did about 17 or 18km, which puts my weekly total at 60km. Not bad, though it's definately go to go up in the next few weeks. I might add in a couple of days of doubles this month.

I did my upper body workout today. It started great, with lots of pullups and dips, then a great superset of dumbell chest press and bent over rows. By the end of the workout, though, I was starting to look forward to being done and getting on with my "real" work for the day.

I haven't posted for a couple days because I haven't been able to get the gym, and it's so cold outside this week that running outdoors would cross the line from "hardcore" into "just plain stupid". But it looks like this will be the last gasp of winter, and there's warmer temps on the horizon.

Today I did a short but pretty intense leg workout. I started with about half an hour of weights, then did a half hour hill workout on the treadmill My 400m hill repeats were doine at betwen 10 and 12% incline, at around 10km pace.

Hamstring curls 2x8x80lbs + 2x8x65 lbs
Squats 8x135 + 3x8x185
Deadlifts 3x8x135 (still hard on my back, so I'm not increasing the weight yet)
Decline crunches 3x8x25lbs

Pretty good workout this morning. I did a bunch of stuff that I didn't get a chance to do earlier in the week, so it was a bit of a mixed bag today:

Pullups 9+6; dips 20+15; 1-leg quad press 8x250 + 8x230; decline crunches 3x8x25; side bends 3x8x55; decline dumbell chest press 4x8x50; back extensions 4x8x35; 1 arm reverse grip tricep pushdowns 6x55; tricep pushdowns strip set ~40 total reps from 130 to 70.

When I got home this evening, the March issue of Ultrarunning Magazine was in my mailbox. I opened it excitedly, because every March they list the previous year's top performances in North America in the five major ultra distances (50/100K, 50/100 Miles, and 24 hours). They only include the top performances in each of the events, and list only those that are faster than a certain cut off time which is adjusted to reflect a certain proportion of the current world record. Guess who the 238th fastest woman to run 100 Miles in North America in 2006 was?? Wendy!!

Also, as I quickly scanned the rest of the results, I noticed some guy named Brendan Brazier had the second fastest 50K performance in North America in 2006, a blistering 3:10:51.

So, although I was still a bit pooped from my workout this morning, reading their names inspired me to go out for a quick 10K run this evening.

That is so awesome!!! Congratulations Wendy!!

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COMPASSION FOR ALL

Wendy and I did a 27km run together this morning. It was very tough, and we're both pretty beat up. The weather is now getting warmer, but this morning we got a bunch of freezing rain which made the running paths very slippery. Every stride had to be placed carefully, which was physically and mentally exhausting. I took one spill, but didn't hurt anything. We both finished the run tired and sore, and have spent the rest of the day eating.

Thanks mannherz!

After the exhausting run Saturday, I knew that Sunday was a great chance to practice running on tired legs. This is an essential part of ultramarathon training. Some ultra runners do +60km long runs, some people do shorter distances late at night when they're tired. Me, I like to do back to back long runs. They are extremely hard mentally and physically they take a toll, but it's worth it on race day.

I was pleasently surprised to find that nothing was hurting or sore after the Saturday run, so I set out to run 29km with a group of friends. The weather was beautiful and the pathways were clear of the ice that had caused Wendy and I such headaches yesterday. We kept an even pace throughout the run, although we did slow down toward the end when a bunch of our group decided to stop at 25km. Overall, it was a much faster run than Saturday. I had to repeatedly tell myself to keep pushing, that fatigue isn't a good enough reason to slow down or stop running. I held on until then end of our 29km route, then ran home for an even 30km total distance.

I'm pretty happy with how the weekend went for me. Tomorrow at the gym I might be a bit tired, but I'll go anyways and make the best of it.

Yesterday I gave a motivational talk to a group of runners training for their first half marathon. I told some stories of my long training runs and ultramarathons, and tried to tie the stories into ideas that they could use to keep motivated in their training and racing. I think it went over pretty well. I went for a short run with the group afterwards, maybe 5km.

This morning I got all the way to work before realizing that I had forgotten my keys. I tried to catch a bus back home (about a 40 minute walk away), but ended up running the whole way. Wearing my old worn out running shoes. I got home, then took the bus back to work, and made it with plenty of time to spare before my appointments started for the day.

I've started to rest up for my first race of the year, which is next Sunday. I'm planning to do one more run, about 20km tomorrow morning. Then I won't run or workout my legs again the race on the 25th. I might do another arms workout sometime next week, but it'll be pretty light. This morning I did a brief upper body workout. My max number of reps for pullups is now 10!

Hi Everyone!

Let's see, what have I been up to since my last post... I've gone for a couple of runs (Mark posted about them), which turned out really well. I haven't been running as much as I told myself I would. I'm not sure if I'm procrastinating, knowing that as soon as May hits, I have to get hardcore about training for the 100 miler in September, or if it's the weather, or just plain laziness. I would say laziness, but then I'm full of excuses: the new job is taking up a lot of my time, it's too dark out in the evenings....

So, I've registered for a 30km race next weekend. Maybe being around a bunch of other runners with help to kick start my motivation. Also, I've put together a Learn to Run program through work which I'm getting very excited about. I can't let all of the newbies down by not running myself. Anyway, I'm rambling.

I've started playing around with some of the Free Motion gym equipment at work. I really like how smooth the movements are and how quiet the machines operate. I actually enjoy the sound of the cables gliding through the pulleys and I find it quite relaxing to my mind - so I haven't been wearing my MP3 player at all.

One thing that has been keeping my attention is that everyone that I work with (mostly guys, but some girls too) have been eating a lot of protein (whey) powder during the day. Their all trying to convince me that I need to eat more protein. I consulted a few friends that work at a local suppliment store and they aggreed that I sould be taking a protein suppliment (vegan of course) and two other suppliments, Progressive Veggie Greens, and Udo Oil. I'm a bit confused by the whole suppliment world. Does anyone have any advice?? I'm not sure if I really need it or if I'm just following a fad that seems to have taken over the gym scene. I'm thinking of trying Vega, but it's so expensive. Mark said that it's cheaper to order on line, so I might do that. What do you think??

Regarding the protein. What are you trying to accomplish through weight training?

I'm torn over what I want to accomplish. Most days I want to increase muscle size. I would love to have a well defined back and shoulders, and I get jealous everytime I see a woman with that sexy line down the outside of her thigh. But at the same time, I'm training for a 100 mile endurance trail run and if I put on too much mass it means I have to carry more weight through the course and it could slow me down. So when I think about my race I want to be as lean as possible. It makes it very difficult to determine what kind of workout to do.

Right now I have far better than average abdominal muscles in terms of enduance (I can do a lot of crunches), but I would say that the rest of my body is average in terms of muscle strength and endurance. However, having said that, I have a higher than average amount of fat covering my muscles that I would like to get rid of to expose the muscle and provide some definition. The advise that I received in regards to the protein and other suppliments was that I'm probably eating a good amount of protein, but that in eating foods high in protein I'm also eating a huge amount of carbs. If I were to get my protein through a powder then I would be taking in less calories during the day and this would help me lose weight.

Mark is concerned that if I start eating protein powder, I'll just increase my protein intake to a level that is greater than my body needs (expensive pee he always says) and just end up eating the same amount or more calories. I know that protein slows digestion so it helps make you feel full longer. I guess I'm thinking that some protein in the form of a smoothie will mean that I don't need as much pasta for lunch or supper. Is this true??