Fueling to Perform

[dextera]

Introduction:

-Female, age 22, San Francisco California USA

I have been vegetarian for about 4 years, and 95% vegan for about 2 months. I'm trying to find the right balance of raw vegan foods, without compromising my athletic performance.

I have been running for about 3 years, and seriously running for a year and a half. Last year I ran my first 1/2 marathon, and I'm in training for my second 1/2 marathon which will be in July. In addition to running, I practice yoga and lift weights on a regular basis.

My current goals include:

-Run The San Francisco Half Marathon in less than 2 hours. I ran this same race last year (it was my first half marathon, and first ever running event!) and did the 13.1 miles in 2 hours 32 minutes. This year, I have more running experience, and am much more comfortable running longer distances. I am confident that I can run it under 2 hours.

-Continue lifting weights for all over body toning, and focus on upper body strength. I lift weights 2-3 days per week. I'm slowly increasing the amount of weight that I use. The way I look at it is if I can do 3 sets of 10 reps and not be completely wiped out, then it's time to bump up the weight. I'd like to focus on upper body strength and tone up my skinny girl arms.

-Improve flexibility. I am practicing yoga several times a week to improve my flexibility. I am very new to yoga, but I have seen serious results in the few short months that I have been practicing. I think that yoga is an excellent compliment to my running since there is so much stretching involved.

-Find my ideal healthy body weight. I'm 5ft 11in, and I used to weigh 155 for quite some time, but have now gotten down to 142 since I starting eating 95% raw vegan foods. I'm letting my body adjust with my diet changes, and we'll see what my ideal weight is.

-Fine tune my eating habits to keep my energy levels high and my nutrient intake balanced. I currently eat all raw vegan foods during the day, and then have some cooked heavier vegan foods for dinner (like beans, pasta, rice.) I need to continue experimenting to see what works best to fuel my body.

I will be using this space to record my daily training and eating. Please feel free to comment with suggestions or input!

[dextera]

Fuel/Exercise Log for Tuesday, May 1st

Fuel:

-wheatgrass juice
-smoothie: mixed greens, pear, cucumber
-coffee
-blackberries
-smoothie: mixed greens, tofu, pear, banana, maca, flax
-vega
-cucumber
-smoothie: kale, pear, banana
-walnuts
-lara bar
-tomato
-veggie sausage patty

*I could have gone without the morning coffee, as well as the veggie sausage patty.


Exercise:

-30 minutes on the elliptical trainer
-5 mile run (47 min 41 sec, pace= (9:26 pace)

*It felt like a slow run, but I'm glad I was able to get out and do 5 miles.

[Oak]

Good luck with everthing, i'd be interested to hear of a running training stratagy, perhaps in the running forum for comments?

Your food looks great! Are you enjoying it?
Oak

[dextera]

Oak,

Thanks for your comment!

Yes, I am enjoying the food! I have very recently switched from being vegetarian to being vegan. Cutting out eggs/milk/cheese wasn't as hard as I thought it might be!

Yes, I will check out the running forum on here, I'm sure it will be motivating and encouraging! As far as my strategy, well, I like to plan ahead. My goal right now is a half marathon that is in the last week of July, so I have an exercise calendar planned out for each week until then. It's just a rough estimate of the miles and times I should be running, but it helps keep me in check when I see that this week I'm suppoused to be running 10 miles.

When I ran my first half marathon last year, I wished I had more time to train at higher miles. The furthest I had ever run in my training at that time was 10 miles, and on race day I had to do 13.1! I did it, and I finished well, but this year I want to be comfortable running 13+ miles on a regular basis.

[dextera]

Fuel/Exercise Log For Wednesday, May 2nd

Fuel:

-wheatgrass juice
-orange
-blackberries
-almonds
-2 apples
-smoothie: banana, pear, mixed greens, tofu, maca, sesame seeds
-protein shake
-red pepper
-lara bar
-odwalla bar
-smoothie: pear, spinach
-quinoa

*I need to eat more in the mornings before I go to work! I was so hungry!

Exercise:

-full body weights
-abs
-3.7 mile run, 34 min, 9:11 pace
-30 min yoga

*I'm so glad that I made the time to do some yoga. My body needed that!

[dextera]

Fuel/Exercise Log for Thursday, May 3

Fuel:

-grapefruit
-2 oranges
-hemp protein drink
-lara bar
-1/2 avocado
-baby bok choy
-smoothie: kale, flax, maca, 2 bananas
-2 tomatoes
-cucumber
-smoothie: mixed greens, alfalfa sprouts, 2 bananas
-tofu sushi (tofu and alfalfa sprouts wrapped in nori rolls)
-lara bar (raw dried fruit and nut bar)

*I probably could have gone without the lara bar, but I had the evening munchies.

Exercise:

-30 min on the elliptical trainer
-30 min run focusing on hills and stairs
-20 min yoga

*I need to be sure to include one run per week that focuses on hills and stairs...they are tough!

[erske]

Great that you have started a log! Always fun to read about other runners, and we seem to be geting more by the day!

Great that you record your diet to. Since I'm not a raw vegan I find it intresting to see what you eat. I'm heavilly depndent of pasta and cooked grains to get my energyintake high enough. How do you feel it's working for you??

good luck with your running!
/Erik

[dextera]

Erik- Thanks for your comment! I've been experimenting with eating raw vegan for about 2 months now. I find that I like to eat all raw foods during the early part of the day, and then have some cooked pasta/rice/grains later in the afternoon and evening. So far, I think it is working well. I'm still trying to make sure I get plenty of calories. My favorite thing is throwing everything in a blender for a smoothie! I noticed you mentioned smoothies in another post, and I agree with you....love those smoothies!

[dextera]

Fuel/Exercise Log for Friday, May 4

Fuel:

-smoothie: banana, cranberries, flax seed
-banana
-15 almonds
-apple
-lara bar
-lentils
-smoothie: parsley, mixed greens, banana, maca
-2 carrots
-not sure about dinner yet...probably some quinoa or pasta

Exercise:

-25 min on the elliptical trainer
-upper body weights
-either yoga or sauna tonight...

The Weekend:

Saturday I'm doing a 10 mile run.
Sunday I will rest, and probably do some yoga or go to the sauna.

[erske]

My favorite thing is throwing everything in a blender for a smoothie! I noticed you mentioned smoothies in another post, and I agree with you....love those smoothies!

Yeah! re-discovered my blender a couple of month back, It's almost an adiction

[dextera]

I don't remember everything I ate over the weekend, but I did okay. I splurged a little bit, but overall I did fairly well. I'm also proud to report that there was no alcohol consumed!

The weather was gorgeous, and I got a nice little bit of sun on my wintery pale skin!

On Saturday I went for an afternoon 9.03 mile run, over the Golden Gate Bridge and around the bay. My time was 1 hour 29 minutes, with an average pace of 9:51. Definatly not my best time, but that's okay. I was weaving in and out of the crowds of tourists...everyone was out since the weather was so nice!

This weekend I think I will go for my run early in the morning as the sun is rising...I love the peace and quiet of the mornings. The air quality smells cleaner, and I have the whole road to myself.

Sunday was a rest day to recover from Saturday's run.

[soniczip]

hi i've just noticed your log ... good luck with your training and targets

[dextera]

Thanks for your comment Soniczip!


Fuel/Exercise for Monday May 7

Fuel:

-blackberries
-protein shake
-dried mango
-1/2 avocado
-baby bok choy
-lara bar
-smoothie: dandelion greens, sesame seeds, maca, apple
-smoothie: chard, banana, apple
-lara bar
-quinoa
-peas w/ pearl onions
-brownie...which I should have gone without

Exercise:

-full body weights
-abs
-20 min elliptical trainer
-3.7 mile run... I forgot my stopwatch, so I don't have any data to report! It was kind of nice to get out there and not be checking my watch every few minutes to see if my time was looking good. It felt like a good run, and that's what matters, right?

[dextera]

Fuel/Exercise for Tuesday, May 8th

Fuel:

-wheatgrass
-smoothie: cherries, spinach, maca
-protein shake
-2 mangoes
-blackberries
-smoothie: banana, chard, mixed greens, flax seed
-protein shake
-lara bar
-cashews
-orange
-smoothie: 2 bananas, dandelion greens, apple
-quinoa

Exercise:

-30 min elliptical trainer
-3.7 mile run, 30 min 55 sec, 8:21 pace
-30 min yoga

This run was great! I feel really good about my running, I have improved so much over the past few months! And I'm glad that I made the time to do some yoga, it really helps stretch me out and keep my muscles from getting sore after a run!

[dextera]

Fuel/Exercise for Wednesday May 9th

Fuel:

-wheatgrass
-protein shake
-smoothie: cherries, flax, spinach, tofu
-bok choy
-1/2 avocado
-lara bar
-smoothie: mixed greens, maca, 2 bananas
-quinoa
-lara bar
-nori sheet
-split pea soup
-alfalfa sprouts
-garbanzo beans

Exercise:

-full body weights
-core exercises
-30 min elliptical trainer
-35 min run, focusing on hills and stairs

I'm going to focus more on running hills and stairs. I have mastered one of the big hills around here, but I still have quite a bit of work to do to master the others...

I am happy to report that I weighed myself yesterday, and I'm now 139! I started out at 155 about 3 months ago, and going vegan (and mostly raw) has given me some amazing transformations! I'm estimating that my ideal weight will be about 135 (on a 5 ft 11in frame), so I'm very close!