Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Thanks everyone!

I had such a fun time!

Thanks to IronCladBen for telling me about the race. He finished in the Top 10 too, by the way!

It was such a great experience. I had only run more than an hour and a half a few times leading up to the run and only 2 hours once, but I stopped 7 times during that training run. My goal was simply to finish with as little walking as possible and to rack up as many miles as I could.

Without any expectations to win, I ate some fruit and started the race probably in 15th or so after the first lap, top 10 after the next lap and spent the first hour in 4th place (I realized this after the race). Then after an hour I moved into 3rd, and after 1 hour and 45 minutes I moved into a distant 2nd. In fact, I was lapped by the 1st place runner but didn't even realize it until after the race. I had ducked off to the side to use the restroom during the time the leader lapped me. I didn't realize this until when there was only 30 minutes left I passed him but was still not in 1st.

With 1000 meters to go I was 2 minutes behind. I had already begun my kick and somehow made up 2 full minutes in the final 1000 meters and passed the leader at the finish line to win by 8 seconds.

I feel bad since he led the whole way and didn't even see me coming. He was incredibly gracious, though very surprised, and was quite friendly and congratulatory. I don't feel exceptionally pumped up, but I feel good. I won with a surprising victory and got my little awards and just quietly sat by myself for a while. No celebration, no "look at me, look at me" - Just relaxed, hungout with IronCladBen and others and then went to a hockey game that night and watched the home team win 4-1 from the 6th row. It was pretty sweet.

Of course I shared my results on Facebook and Twitter because of the significance of the result on my vegan anniversary and because it was such an uncertain event. I didn't even know I'd be able to finish it.

My overall time wasn't that fast, but the course was a winding, turning, somewhat rugged terrain and I nearly rolled my ankle 8 times. There were probably 30 turns in every 1000m lap. There probably wasn't a single stretch longer than 100 meters without a turn. My feet and ankles took a beating and I wasn't even sure I'd be able to finish due to the pain of constantly taking sharp turns lap after lap at a fast pace.

All in all, I had a great time.

The day after the race I sat on the couch the entire day reading, napping, eating and watching hours of poker online

Today I hit the gym for more than an hour to ride the bike to keep my legs moving. I think I'll get a massage tomorrow and get back to running.

Thank you all again for your kind words and support.

Thanks man!

Had a great time and I appreciate you telling me about the event and hanging out.

Powered by fruit we cracked that top 10 and had an awesome time!

arms are still looking big even after all the running!

Great photo and great race report Robert.

Guy in the middle looks like a cardboard cutout ?! Any idea what distance Austin covered? I know a few guys and girls that run the 24hr races, really cool people. One of my good friends runs a couple of them a year and normally clocks a over 200km when she is running for NZ...



Insane! Anyway, well done again. You did amazing

Yeah man, Austin (also vegan) covered 115 miles. No idea how that ranks with other 24 hour runs, but that's what he covered.

We're all doing well. In fact, I trained last night on the bike for over an hour.

I sat around all day the day after the race but was back in it yesterday and plan to train today too.

Yeah buddy!

Glad to hear you are feeling good Robert, obviously your recovery abilities are pretty good !!

115 miles is good ~ any 24hr accomplishment is amazing. The girl in the photo above (Vivien Cheng) has been running for years, she's not overly fast but she just has the ability to keep going at the same pace so she ultimately ends catching everyone up and passing them haha. 200km is around 160 miles I think, she normally does somewhere around there so she can hold herself pretty well with the guys.

How's your week looking, busy as usual? What are your plans for Christmas?

Wow! 160 miles!

Yeah, my friend Austin did a lot of walking and didn't run the whole time during the 4.5 hours I was there. I wasn't there for the rest of it so I'm not sure if he rested for a while, sat down, rested, napped or anything else.

I'm heading home for the holidays.

I leave Texas in a week to head to Oregon and western Canada for the holidays.

Then back in Texas for a few days and then moving to California. I'm always on the go. I've had a 10 month lease here in Texas and never spent more than 3 weeks at a time during my entire stay here, even though I love it here. Just so much travel, my #1 passion

Happy holidays to you!

PS, did a total body workout today for an hour. Had wrist in a brace and things were fine. Mostly cardio type of exercises.

What's up with your wrist?

Happy holidays to you too ~ don't eat too much tofurkey haha.

I injured my wrist back in March and haven't really lifted since. I wore a brace for a month or two and then injured my back in May and stopped lifting all together. My back started to get better in August and I started running.

I'm still not lifting and my wrist was bothering me today and continues to regularly. Hope to get it sorted out soon.

Not sure I'll eat any tofurkey. Been eating soy and gluten-free for 3 months now. But I think my family is preparing tofurkey so I'll probably have a little if they go out of their way to make it while I'm back visiting.

Happy Holidays to you and everyone!

Forgot to mention I worked out twice today and have worked out 6 times in the past 6 days.

I ran 5 miles and then did a total body cardio/core workout for an hour.

Probably heading to be early tonight.

What's your diet looking like lately Robert?

It has looked like this for months:

Fruit all morning.

Sometimes fruit all afternoon too.

Sometimes Indian or Thai food for lunch, usually Indian food.

Sometimes brown rice, beans and avocado for lunch.

Fruit as snacks.

Dinner looks like this pretty much each night:

Brown rice
Pinto beans (sometimes black beans, sometimes both)
Avocado
Greens
Hummus

And sometimes olives and pickles for flavor/fun.

Then fruit before bed.

Occasionally I'll have a Vega bar because I work for them and can eat them anytime I want. So sometimes I do.

That's how I've been rollin....

6 workouts in the past 6 days. Debating whether to eat at home or go get some Indian food now. Hmmm......

Thanks! Looks good....what's your favorite indian dish?

Diet looks good, I love Indian food (even though my wife is Chinese hehe).

Do you drink coffee?

Favorite Indian Dish = Hard to say. Aloo Gobi, Aloo Mutter, Rice Byriani, etc. I don't know all the names of dishes. I just eat a variety of different ones at restaurants. A few miles from where I live this is a daily all you can eat vegetarian Indian food buffet. It's all all vegetarian restaurant and nearly all vegan. For example, there were about 12 options today, and 11 were vegan. I go there a few days a week and load up on a whole variety of rice, potato, cauliflower, and other dishes. Lots of veggies and rice. I eat a lot and every day I walk away super full.

Coffee = I've never had coffee in my life. I don't plan to either. No interest in it.

After 6 workouts in 6 days I planned to train today but I didn't manage my time well as far as work, errands, social plans, etc. and didn't train. I was feeling like a rest day was in order anyway so I'm OK with resting today.

Still working and preparing to move. I have about a week left in my apartment. A few days this week and then a few days in January after I return from going home for the holidays.

Well, dinner time.

You guessed it. Good old brown rice, beans, hummus, avocado, greens, pickle and olives

Have a great weekend everyone!