My training is being turned up a notch. I'm in what my coach calls the "Build Phase", which is supposed to get me ready for my half ironman race in two months. On Saturday, I rode 32 miles, and today I swam a mile in the ocean and ran four miles along the Santa Monica and Venice boardwalks.
One of the perks of having this blog is that every so often someone will send cool stuff. I was selected to sample some of ProBar's new flavors. This is the Sesame Goji bar. I was a little daunted when I read that the bar had 400 calories, but as I thought about it, that's the perfet number of calories for a bike ride of almost two and a half hours. The bar was delicious and gave me the energy I needed for my ride. I don't think I'd use it as a meal replacement, as it would leave me feeling quite hungry, but for a long ride or run it'll work.
8 comments:
Those goji berries are like the spirulina of the early noughties (well, here anyway). I am considering buying a seedling from the local garden centre.
Cool action shot.
Were you in Boston this past week Heather? I saw a young woman jogging on the Esplanade who looked like you (and I remember you saying you used to like to run along there, I think). Of course I didn't say anything as the chances of it being you were pretty slim.
What does the Build Phase of your training look like?
Great shot on the bike!
Have fun building up the mileage--especially with those open water swims in the ocean!
I really like your blog. I have a vegan-health question for you. I believe in following a vegan practice for moral reasons. And with varying degress of success, I have maintained a vegan practice at various points in my life. I have also, at various points, experimented with the Atkins diet for weight management purposes(never including meat in my diet, only eggs and cheese, and choosing the most humanely farmed animal products I was able to find).
So, here's my question: when I maintain a vegan practice, it takes my body about TEN DAYS to recover from a strength training session. My legs are in agony every time I sit down, or stand up, for the whole ten days! Strength training causes such persistent pain and weakness that I basically can't do it while vegan. It just hurts too much.
By contrast, during those periods when I followed Atkins, my body would recover from strength training in about ONE DAY. I was able to lift weights every other day, with only minimal discomfort.
Apparently, consuming a lot of animal protein really does help my body repair torn muscle fibers.
But of course, the problem is I don't believe that consuming animal products is the right thing to do, morally. I would rather follow a vegan practice for the sake of my conscience -- AND I want to do strength training, too, for the sake of my health.
Do you have this problem? If so how have you addressed it?
Anonymous:
I've had no problem with recovery after strength training, certainly no more than others who are not vegan. Perhaps it's the foods that you are eating or not eating as a vegan; are you getting a balanced vegan diet? Or, are you exercising consistently? If you are a sporadic exerciser, you won't recover as easily.
Over the years, I've done all sorts of weight training styles while vegetarian or vegan. I've worked with higher weights and lower reps, to what I currently do which is a higher rep workout using body weight for resistance (squats, pushups, lunges, etc.). And, I haven't had any problems with muscle recovery
There are a number of vegan bodybuilders. You can read about Kenneth G. Williams, a champion vegan body builder: http://veganmusclepower.org/KennethDay.html
Thank you for responding to my comment and for the helpful link! I hope to return to strength training (to alleviate arthritis pain, among other things) without hurting animals. Thank you for this blog and good luck with your training! -Victoria
You look great!
Great picture! And wow, one day of your training would leave me wiped out for a week. You're amazing!
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