Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Tues 11 Jul
Cycled home to work to practice to home
2-hour derby practice

Wed 12 Jul
Weights at home (all in pounds):
Cleans: 5x69, 5x74, 5x79, 5x84, 5x89
Bench press: 2 sets of 5x69, 10x69
Bent over row: 3 sets of 5x74
Deadlift: 6x153

Sun 15 Jul
3-hour derby practice, all scrimmaging
I forget how hard a contact sport is on the body--was full of aches after this session

Mon 16 Jul
2-hour off skates session
An hour of weights, half hour vision training, half hour speed/agility/quickness

Thurs 19 Jul
2-hour derby practice

Fri 20 Jul
Led 2-hour derby rec league practice
Leading a session is not very intense exercise-wise

Sun 22 Jul
Just over 3 hours of derby practice

I managed to injure my knee towards the end. I kept skating but pain made it a bit hard for me to get power and bursts of speed. It now is feeling quite tight and I get occasional sharp pains while walking. I didn't go to off-skates training last night and will probably not skate tonight, though I will go watch practice. I made the mistake of riding my bike, so still have to cycle to practice and then home from there so my knee won't get a full rest today. I won't do any exercise tomorrow. I hope I've just kind of bruised something and this will resolve pretty quickly because I really don't want to have to take much time off right now.

It's a really key time right now, as our regional Playoff are at the end of September. I don't really think I stand a very good chance of being picked for the roster for that, but I still really want to try, so my training should be at its peak over the next couple of months. We also have Team USA coming over to play us at the start of September. They are the team that was put together last year for the World Cup and is made up of amazing players from all over the US. It will be the hardest game we've ever played.

My knee is still hurting, so I haven't been doing much lately... except for cycling 64 miles over the weekend. That probably wasn't the best idea but it was a nice weekend away in the countryside with friends.

I'm going to go to practice tomorrow anyway and hope it's not too bad.

The travel teams were re-selected last night, and I'm no longer on the A team. That means I'm not going to Playoffs this year. I'm pretty upset about it, but I guess the one plus is that I can now rest my knee for a while.

I'm already frustrated by the lack of exercise and it's been only a few days! I have no idea what I can do to keep up strength and fitness without using my knee. It hurts even when I'm walking. I can't cycle, can't skate, and can't do any squatting type motion even just with body weight.

Still haven't done any exercise since I got back from my cycling trip. It's really frustrating! Still, I don't want to make my knee worse.

I'm going to Dubling this weekend for a bootcamp/bout with the B team, which I'm not going to skate in, but my tickets were bought before I hurt my knee. I'm definitely taking the whole month off from derby, but I think I'll try cycling a bit starting next week and see how that goes. There's a physio who comes to our practice every fortnight so I'm going to try to see her. I might go to off-skates training next Monday and just do the bits I can, which will most likely be very little. But I'm going a bit stir crazy so need to do something.

Saw a physio on Tues evening and she said it seems that I've done something to my meniscus but it doesn't seem to be too bad so I should be OK to start doing exercise again, slowly building up. Yay!

Cycled to work today and will do the same tomorrow. I'll start doing some strength stuff next week, though with not much weight. I'll eventually get back on skates at the start of Sept.

I'm cycling to work regularly, but that's all I'm doing exercise-wise right now. I'll return to skating and our formal off-skates sessions at the beginning of September. I'll do some basic strength stuff at home soon, but won't be using much weight at all until I'm confident my knee can take it. It's also been about a month and a half off from doing any sort of weight training, so I'll have to build back up.

My 40th birthday is less than a week from now, so I'm in the last few days of my 30s!

Finally back to skating! Had my first practice yesterday. My knee held up. It ached a little bit, but nothing major at all. No off-skates training tonight; it's been canceled as we have a big big bout tonight--Team USA is coming over and playing our A travel team and Team England. I'm not skating, but am working the bout.

I am now 40!

Sun 2 Sept 2012
3 hour derby practice

I have been skating. My knee has got progressively more achey as time has gone on and I skipped practice yesterday because of it, but I'm hoping it was especially achey because bouts are especially tough, and that practices won't be too too hard on it.

Tues 4 Sept 2012
Cycled home to work to practice to home
2-hour derby practice

Thurs 6 Sept 2012
2-hour derby practice

Sat 8 Sept 2012
Played in a bout in Nottingham (we won)

Should have gone to 2 hours of practice yesterday but skipped it. I did take a little walk, but even that made my knee hurt. Iced it for a while in the afternoon.

Tonight I am going to off-skates training for the first time in nearly 2 months. I'm definitely going to have to take it easy as it's been so long and my knee is still hurting a bit, but I want to get back to doing at least some strength training.

My knee is still not 100%, but I'm doing what I can. It's not terribly painful either.

Mon 24 Sept 2012
2-hour off skates training

Tues 25 Sept 2012
2-hour derby practice

Monday was my first off-skates session in about 2 months, and I am now SO SORE. I literally can barely walk. I'm working at home because I don't think I can manage going up and down the stairs at my office.

My soreness lasted all the way to Friday. Wednesday was really horrible. I'm finally recovered, and I'll be off to do it all over again tonight. I hope the soreness isn't as bad this week, as I have a bout on Saturday, so need to be able to train properly at practice on Tues and Thurs.

I did go to practice this past Thurs.

I am now going to try to get my eating in line. My October habit commitment is to log everything I eat. I'm not going to post all my food here, but am going to post my daily calorie total and macro breakdowns. I'm hoping that having to log things will encourage me to make better choices.

As for derby and the topic of this log, I'm feeling a massive lack of motivation right now. Well, ever since I was removed from the A team and then injured my knee I really haven't been feeling it. I'm going through the motions right now and hoping a spark comes back. This past weekend was the regional playoff for our league. Our team finished 4th, which is quite good given that we went in seeded 6th. But the top three go through to championships, which means we didn't make it through this time. Personally, I don't expect to make it back onto the A team soon, as we have a returning skater who'll definitely be placed on and some promising transfers. I'm focusing just on trying to improve my own skills without worrying about how I'm assessed by others (e.g., selection committee). But I am struggling to find the motivation for this.

Mon 1 Oct 2012

Food
Cal: 1,506
C: 248g / 67%
P: 64g / 16%
F: 28g / 17%

That's not too bad, though would prefer a bit more protein. I'm keeping calories quite low because I'm not doing any exercise today. I'd otherwise eat a fair bit more. 1500 calories isn't much food!

Apparently, I get huge amounts of Vitamin K.

Exercise
Opted not to go to off-skates training this week so that I'm not too sore to train properly in the run up to Saturday's bout. I don't like the idea of taking the day off when I'm just coming back (next week's DOMS will be that much worse!) but I think the bout is more important.

Have you ever competed derby in the US? Against Rose City Rollers? I met a few of them and had a couple judge one of my comedy shows. There was even a mainstream documentary movie made about them. Crazy How popular Portland has gotten and how popular roller derby has gotten.

-Dylan