Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Ended up not feeling well at all this weekend. Had plans for a 20 mile run. Ended up just lying on the couch watching movies and feeling crummy.

Well, if you're feeling under the weather, it's best to just veg out anyway. Give yourself some time to heal! Sounds like you're doing great, so don't let one or two rest days get you down.

You're right. The next two weekends I won't be able to get in long runs since I will have company visiting. Oh well, trying to remind myself to keep things in perspective and cherish what is really important...like time with family members.

Woke up to go for a run this AM, still felt kind of queasy and it was pouring out so I rolled over and went back to sleep. Went and lifted some weights after work:

DB Walking Lunges:
25 lbs x 16
25 lbs x 16
25 lbs x 16

Lat Pulldown:
80 x 8
80 x 8
80 x 8

DB Press:
15 x 8
20 x 8
20 x 6

Sitting Row:
60 x 8
60 x 8
60 x 8

DB Bench:
20 x 8
25 x 8
25 x 8

Wednesday, August 25th:

5 mile run (52:34)

Wow, this felt awful. Not sure what's wrong with me. Everything ached. I felt slow and heavy.

I was starting to think most of my problem the last couple of days was mental but I just don't know. It's been almost a week. I feel gross. Sigh.

Thursday, August 26th:

What the heck?! Went for a run this AM, felt fine, except my left knee was in PAIN. At first I thought I would just slow down and run it out but my entire left leg kept twitching like it was going to give out. By this point I had ran about 1.7 miles so I just turned around and walked home. I thought I would try to power walk home since then I would be getting my heart rate up but my knee wanted none of that. So I just kind of meandered. Took me awhile to walk home, about 30 min. or so. Really worried this might mess up my marathon plans....

This is a major, major bummer. I haven't even done anything to my knee! Why would it just start hurting like that out of nowhere?? Arggggh! This has got me super down. Aside from that I'm bloated and feeling fat and gross.

Positive side: my husband is flying in for a visit tomorrow! I haven't seen him in over 5 weeks since I made the temporary move to Ottawa for work. I really like Ottawa, but the not knowing anyone and being isolated thing is getting old. Just a bit over a month until the final move to Cali!

I will take the weekend off and see what happens with my knee next week. If it is still bothering me I have no choice but to go see a doctor and to perhaps delay running a marathon I guess. That really sucks but I don't want to make this worse.

Hey there, dear. I'm sorry you are having so much trouble lately. Maybe you injured yourself weight lifting the other day? And just didn't realize it until you tried to run. I'm so so sorry. I hate missing workouts. It really makes me depressed. I can only imagine the disappointment you must be feeling right now and I REALLY hope you can still train and do your marathon!

I see that you're living in Ottawa! I'm next door in Missouri. I go to Kansas every once in awhile to visit my grandmother who is in Emporia. Just thought I would mention that.

Oh no! not knee problems for you! I hope your feeling better and that you enjoy time with your husband. I am excited that your marathon is on halloween!

Oh hehe, I mean Ottawa Canada, which is definitely not next door to Missouri!

Mary - I know! A Halloween marathon would kick so much butt!! Just keeping my fingers crossed that my stupid knee doesn't interfere.

If I'm going to be out with an injury I would have liked to at least have a cool injury story to tell. This is just "I woke up one day, and boom, knee hurt."

Sigh.

my fingers are crossed for you. Usually when people have mysterious knee pain like that it is usually their IT band. But Im no doctor so def get it checked out.

Yeah, injuries are a major bummer. A lot of times with knee pain like that that comes out of nowhere, though, it turns out to be nothing serious and almost as mysteriously goes away. I was having some pain on the outside of my left knee a few weeks ago, and after a few occasions of rolling out my IT band on my foam roller (a wondrous invention for massaging away minor aches and pains, if you don't have one), it went away. So although I think it was an overuse injury caused by something being off about my cleat position and/or saddle position on the bike, the cause of the knee pain was that something was tight farther up my leg.

Of course, it could be anything from something really minor that will go away soon like mine to something really major. There seem to be a ton of different things that can cause knee pain, so definitely have a doctor check it out pretty soon. Runner's World's Web site has an article on knee pain that lists some of the causes and where in your knee it would be hurting for a particular injury, so that would be worth checking out.

+1

Foam rolling's great. I do my ITband, quads and groin before and after any workout that uses legs. Used to be torture, but muscles are nice and loose now =]

Hope you get better soon, knee injuries suck =[

If it sticks about for a bit you'll just have to become a bench monster!

Haha, bench monster, I like that.

Thanks! Will look into getting a foam roller.

lobster - i prefer "the stick" especially since your run and bike. it is more aggressive than foam rolling. You can also use a rolling pin you have at home or a lacrosse ball/tennis ball for any bad spots.

It may depend on which one you get. I have a Stick and I don't like it because it's too flexible and doesn't press down nearly as hard as having my whole body weight on a foam roller. TP Massage Balls are pretty good as well. The one thing I don't like about foam rollers is that rolling your calves is basically an upper-body workout because you have to support almost your entire body weight on your arms for however long you're rolling. My shoulders are sore by the time I've done my calves thoroughly, and then I have to do my shoulders!

Hope things are going well for you.