Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Healthy Food Defines You
It is currently Thu May 23, 2013 5:05 am

View unanswered posts | View active topics


Board index » Bodybuilding & Fitness » Online Training Journals & Blogs

All times are UTC - 5 hours




Post new topic Reply to topic  Page 1 of 4
  [ 57 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next
  Print view Previous topic | Next topic 
Author Message
markc7
PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 5:39 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:13 pm
Posts: 751
Location: Ontario
Now that I'm back on VBBF, I think it's time that I started a training journal once again. My training has been poor lately, but I'm hoping to get back into it more regular in the next couple of months. Here's something I posted on another message board in a thread about motivation:

Quote:
This year I have had every reason in the world to lose my motivation for running. We had a terrible winter in Ottawa with record snowfall. I'm approaching the end of my PhD and I'm busier that I've even been. My marriage was on the rocks and we finally split last month. And I'm moving across the province in August. For all those reasons my training was very poor this year. January was decent and I had a couple of nice night runs in the spring when the snow melted. But other than that my training was worse than it has ever been.

Despite all that, I've still been motivated to race. I ran a fun 52km race in April, and set a 3.5 hour PR at 100 miles in May. Both races I entered with shamefully low training mileage. The key was readjusting my expectations of myself. Actually, I pretty much eliminated any expectations. I love running intrinsically so much that I entered those races just to have fun. People often sandbag their stated goals and claim to be running just for fun, when really they have a goal somewhere in the back of their mind. I found that I was able to let that go. I think I had to, given how little I had trained (before the 100 miler I calculated that I had run less this year than the amount run by the beginner half marathon training group at the Running Room).


Posting here will hopefully help to keep me on track, and maybe I'll even get back in the gym someday soon. I really appreciate comments!

This afternoon I did a 9km run at a moderate pace. It was a great day for a run, sunny but with some clouds and not too hot. The pathways near the canal were busy with bikers, walkers, and runners. I've missed running along there.

_________________
"He not busy being born is busy dying" - Bob Dylan "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose" - Kris Kristofferson "Me and Bobby McGee"
Top
 Profile  
 
xjohanx
PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 5:45 pm 
Offline

Joined: Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:48 pm
Posts: 2965
Location: Stockholm, Sweden.
i'm siked to follow this. i'm hoping to start running more myself.
i don't know if you aim to lose or gain weight in any way but it would be cool if you posted some current stats

_________________
cubby2112 wrote:
When someone says you don't train "functionally," you should just punch them in the face. Ask them how "functional" of a movement that was.
Top
 Profile  
 
markc7
PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 6:07 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:13 pm
Posts: 751
Location: Ontario
xjohanx wrote:
i'm siked to follow this. i'm hoping to start running more myself.
i don't know if you aim to lose or gain weight in any way but it would be cool if you posted some current stats


Thanks for posting, and good luck with your running. I'm not really at the point where i have any definite goals (apart from the races). It's more important to me that I take care of myself and just enjoy exercising again, rather than looking to many any quantifiable improvement. I would like to get my lifts back to where they were last fall (265 deadlift and squat, can't remember what my max reps for pull ups and pushups where)

Having said that, my avatar pic is only a couple months old and I haven't gained or lost any substantial amount since then. I'm around 190 which is where I stay without any effort. I fluctuate 2-3 pounds in either direction depending on whether I'm lifting more or running more.

_________________
"He not busy being born is busy dying" - Bob Dylan "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose" - Kris Kristofferson "Me and Bobby McGee"
Top
 Profile  
 
markc7
PostPosted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 5:17 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:13 pm
Posts: 751
Location: Ontario
I did a quick 5km run this afternoon. Nothing too special to write about. I wasn't too into it, because I ate mediocre today so my stomach wasn't at 100%. But I still managed a good comfortable pace around 5:30/km. I also did some bodyweight exercises after the run. Crapolla am I out of shape! I'm going to do a couple more days of BW stuff before I get back to the gym; otherwise I might embarrass myself!

_________________
"He not busy being born is busy dying" - Bob Dylan "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose" - Kris Kristofferson "Me and Bobby McGee"
Top
 Profile  
 
markc7
PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:35 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:13 pm
Posts: 751
Location: Ontario
I was sick yesterday, so I didn't do a workout of any kind. I've been eating relatively clean for a couple weeks, then made a dumb decision to eat a bunch of refined stuff the day before yesterday. Tasty, very tasty, but it felt like I was punched in the gut. Lesson learned. Yesterday I ate better and so today I feel fine. I just got back from a really tasty lunch of pad-thai. Mmmm.

_________________
"He not busy being born is busy dying" - Bob Dylan "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose" - Kris Kristofferson "Me and Bobby McGee"
Top
 Profile  
 
markc7
PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 10:47 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:13 pm
Posts: 751
Location: Ontario
After having learnt my lesson about not eating alot of processed crap, I decided to spend much of last night drinking instead. :D Actually, I didn't have too much to drink and it was spread out over several hours and two restaurants. This morning I felt fine, so the final lesson here is that sugar and cookies are worse than beer and JD.

This morning I did a really nice 13km run in just over an hour. It was a bit muggy out, but raining lightly so it felt quite cool. I left my place thinking I might run around 5-8km, but a couple minutes into the run I knew it was going to be one of those days that I would want to just run forever. If I didn't have lunch plans with a buddy of mine, I would have run for a couple more hours. It's days like this that make me so happy to be a distance runner.

_________________
"He not busy being born is busy dying" - Bob Dylan "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose" - Kris Kristofferson "Me and Bobby McGee"
Top
 Profile  
 
markc7
PostPosted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:55 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:13 pm
Posts: 751
Location: Ontario
Today was a long run day. I did 21.5km at a very slow and easy pace, since this was my longest run since my 100 miler last month. Also it was hot and I didn't have any food or sports drink with me on the run. But it felt good regardless. Ottawa is such a cool city for running; every Sunday in the summer they close down three or four of the major parkways to vehicles, and open them up to bikers, rollerbladers, runners, etc. It's a nice change of scenery to be running on the roads in training.

Tomorrow I'm going to take a day off from running, but I'll maybe go to the gym. Then July 1st is my favourite holiday of the year: Canada Day!!

_________________
"He not busy being born is busy dying" - Bob Dylan "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose" - Kris Kristofferson "Me and Bobby McGee"
Top
 Profile  
 
pamela
PostPosted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 7:57 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2007 8:51 am
Posts: 1106
Location: Ottawa
I'm excited that once we move to the new place I'll be less than 2k from one of the roads you mention. :)
Top
 Profile  
 
markc7
PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:25 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:13 pm
Posts: 751
Location: Ontario
pamela wrote:
I'm excited that once we move to the new place I'll be less than 2k from one of the roads you mention. :)


Bike Days rock! :headbang: And even when the roads aren't closed, you'll be pretty close to the canal and other pathways.

My log seems to be having the desired effect; I exercised today despite not really wanting to. What I really wanted to do was go buy a container of soy ice cream and watch movies. What I did instead was a short and easy workout in the gym. I haven't lifted since January or February, so I just did a couple of exercises (bench, deadlifts, pullups, crunches, plank, lat pulldowns) on low weights to get my body used to it again. It felt good, but I know that often when I go to the gym after a long hiatus the DOMS hits a couple days later. We'll see.

_________________
"He not busy being born is busy dying" - Bob Dylan "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose" - Kris Kristofferson "Me and Bobby McGee"
Top
 Profile  
 
markc7
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:40 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:13 pm
Posts: 751
Location: Ontario
I was a little bit sore this morning, but nothing too bad. I had been planning to do a Canada Day run with a friend of mine this morning. We had talked about doing a 10k loop along the Ottawa River, then maybe adding a km or two depending on how we felt at the end. Well, I seem to have gotten my metric and imperial systems mixed up, because the route I had in mind was actually 10 miles, and I didn't realize it until almost 8km in. So we ran a bit further than planned, maybe 17km total, but it was a really nice day for a run so I didn't mind.

Happy Canada Day!

_________________
"He not busy being born is busy dying" - Bob Dylan "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose" - Kris Kristofferson "Me and Bobby McGee"
Top
 Profile  
 
pamela
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:18 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2007 8:51 am
Posts: 1106
Location: Ottawa
This: :supz: has a jarring resemblance to that photo of you as Mr. T.
Top
 Profile  
 
markc7
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:57 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:13 pm
Posts: 751
Location: Ontario
pamela wrote:
This: :supz: has a jarring resemblance to that photo of you as Mr. T.


Heh, I hadn't noticed. :D

_________________
"He not busy being born is busy dying" - Bob Dylan "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose" - Kris Kristofferson "Me and Bobby McGee"
Top
 Profile  
 
markc7
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:01 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:13 pm
Posts: 751
Location: Ontario
Not to be outdone by other people's Canada Day pictures, here are a couple of me enjoying Canada's birthday in Ottawa.

This is me with Terry Fox's van. This is the actual van that drove with Terry as he attempted to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. If you don't know much about Terry, give this a quick read.

Image

Here is me with one of my least favourite politicians, Stephan Dion, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He doesn't seem like a bad guy, just not exactly PM material. I mean, who wears a suit outside on Canada Day?

Image

There was a cool BMX show going on down on Rideau Street. I got a couple good action shots. Here's the best one:

Image

More coming later...

_________________
"He not busy being born is busy dying" - Bob Dylan "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose" - Kris Kristofferson "Me and Bobby McGee"
Top
 Profile  
 
markc7
PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 7:58 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:13 pm
Posts: 751
Location: Ontario
I went to a couple concerts during the day. This one I only stayed at for a couple minutes.

Image

Here is me heading to the evening concert with the crowd behind me.

Image

Veggie dogs from street vendors. The best part of Canada Day?

Image

The last concert of the evening, which was followed by about twenty minutes of fireworks.

Image

_________________
"He not busy being born is busy dying" - Bob Dylan "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose" - Kris Kristofferson "Me and Bobby McGee"
Top
 Profile  
 
markc7
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 7:54 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:13 pm
Posts: 751
Location: Ontario
I haven't posted for a while because I've been out of town the last little while. Yesterday was my birthday, so I spent the weekend in Toronto at my sister's. I wasn't planning on going for a run during my trip, but ended up doing about 8km Sunday morning. I didn't have my shoes with me, so I started the run in my brother in law's shoes which were a couple sizes too small. So after about 2km I took off the shoes and ran barefoot for the next 5km. So now my feet are a bit sore from both the shoes and the barefoot running, which I haven't done in a couple months. Then at my birthday party in the afternoon we had vegan cupcakes (of course!).

_________________
"He not busy being born is busy dying" - Bob Dylan "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"
"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose" - Kris Kristofferson "Me and Bobby McGee"
Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  Page 1 of 4
  [ 57 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next

Board index » Bodybuilding & Fitness » Online Training Journals & Blogs

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 5 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  



{ ASACP_CREDITS }
{ ASACP_CREDITS }
{ ASACP_CREDITS } Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
Advertisements by Advertisement Management