Raynak's Log

[Raynak]

Decided to open a log, because I could use some accountability food- and training-wise
For some more information about me, also see my introduction post: viewtopic.php?p=397958#p397958

Due to my shoulder injury, I will be focussing on running for the next several months. I’ve been running quite a bit the last few months, distances mostly between 5k and 15k. But I haven’t been as consistent as I would want. Sometimes I ran twice a week, sometimes three times a week, some weeks I did no running at all. And all runs were basically just doing whatever I felt like. Which for me always results in trying to go faster and/or for longer distances than the last run, which isn’t good. I’ve had quite a severe shin splint injury once before, and now with the shoulder injury as well, I just want to do everything I can to prevent any further injuries. So I’m scaling it a bit back, and going to follow a schedule.
I’ve had a book in my bookcase about running from Herbert Steffny for quite some time, and last weekend I read it cover to cover. I’m going to follow one of his schedules in the book. It’s called (freely translated) ‘Going from jogger to fitnessrunner’, which starts with about 4-5k in 30 minutes, and ends with about 13-14k in 90 minutes. I’ll scan and post the exact schedule later. And after that I’m going to follow one of his schedules to improve your time on the 10k. And maybe/hopefully after that I’ll go for the half-marathon schedule, but now I’m getting ahead of myself, first I have to start and finish the first schedule

I’ve kept my goals for the near future quite moderate and simple. I tend to get a little ‘all or nothing/go hard or go home’, attitude wise, and then I fail to keep up, get discouraged, quit and give up for a while. So this time I really want to hang on for a long time, and keep up with both the running and nutrition consistently. By keeping the goals more moderate I’m hoping I won’t expect too much of myself and then get discouraged when I can’t keep up. So no more excuses to not succeed this time!

Goals:
1 - Keep up with the running schedule. Don’t improvise and/or do more (go faster/do longer distances) just because I can.
2 – Do not miss any workouts. If I miss a run, do not move on to the next week, but repeat the current week.
3 - Have fun during training! Don’t just focus on getting better/faster/running longer distances, but enjoy the whole process and each individual run.
4 - Stay injury free (and remind yourself again of goal nr 1).
5 - Stay on track with my nutrition. Eat healthy and eat enough (not too much and not too little). Remind yourself often: It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
6 - If I mess up with my food, kcal-intake wise or product-choice wise, don’t get discouraged and just get right back on track immediately afterwards.
7 - After finishing the first running schedule, move on to the improve-your-time-on-the-10k schedule.

In the future I will definitely be lifting weights again, but it could be quite a while till I’ll be able to lift heavy. I’ve messed up several times already by getting back to lifting too soon, and by that not only stopping the recovery process, but even making the injury worse, so this time I’ll be taking it very slow and not get back to lifting like I was used to until it is fully healed and even then taking it very slow when I do start lifting weights again. Of course I’ll be doing some exercises which I can still due, but since there are so many things that still hurt, it will be mostly legs and abs, since even things as light biceps curls still hurt.
Don’t know if I’ll be logging those ‘workouts’, maybe it’s just too depressing to see the weights and the limited exercises I can do
Some of my old 1RM PR’s from the top of my head:
Full back SQ: 75 kg
DL: 115 kg
Clean and jerk: 65 kg
BP: 50 kg

I’ve lost quite a bit of muscle since having to stop training due to the shoulder. Don’t have that many pictures of myself, and I know front/back are useless as comparison pics, but I didn’t have anything else. This is me now:



And this is me a while back before the shoulder injury, I’ve been more muscular + leaner than this, but I have no pics of that:



When the shoulder injury is fully healed, my first goals will be to get back to my old force stats and physique.

Any tips, advice or fullblown critique is always appreciated!

[JP]

awesome shoulder muscles!

and really nice numbers too, strong!

Were those done before you went vegan or?

[Raynak]

awesome shoulder muscles!

and really nice numbers too, strong!

Were those done before you went vegan or?

Thank you!
PR’s were from when I was still vegetarian, I became vegan only recently. But I have no doubt whatsoever that I’ll match and then surpass those stats on a vegan diet, once I’m fully recovered from the injury.

[Raynak]

The running schedule I will follow for the next 12 weeks:

[Raynak]

Monday 28-05

Did training 1 of week 1. Went fine, but due to it being quite late in the evening already, I went a bit too soon after having eaten. Which wasn't ideal, but it was either that or I would’ve had to wait till tuesday before doing the first training, and I didn’t want to wait another day

Training

Endurance Run, 4.5 km in 30 min, at about 70-80% max HF.
(+ 10 min warm-up + 10 minute cool down)

Meals

1 – Smoothie made from: 225 g spinach, 1 banana, ¼ avocado (~50 g), 250 mL almond milk, 1 scoop pea protein powder (chocolate flavor), 1 table spoon unsweetened cocoa powder (~10 g).

I’m in love with this breakfast, it’s so yummy. Might be a weird combo for some, chocolate flavor, spinach and avocado The avocado gives it such a delicious thick, creamy texture, just like a regular, store-bought dairy milkshake.



2 – Homemade protein bar with rolled oats, ground flaxseed, wheat bran, raisins, peanut butter, nuts, rice milk, protein powder. And 1 pear + 1 apple.

3 – Hummus, 2 huge carrots, 250 mL soy milk, 1 orange.

4 – 250 g broccoli, 250 g green beans, ~150 g common mushrooms, ½ package of falafel (100 g), and 30 g of cashews. With a peanut sauce made from 1 table spoon of peanut butter, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 table spoon of lemon juice, 1 tea spoon of sambal ulek (red chili pepper paste).

[Mr. Cleetus]

It looks like you have a good plan set out for yourself. My only comment is on Goal 2: for your bigger goals it may help to have a wee bit of flexibility in this one. Life gets in the way sometimes and you don't want it to feel like a setback and be frustrating because you miss a run or two because you were unable to do a session. There may be no reason to repeat a previous week, particularly if you did not miss some sort of key session. Having said that, as you say, consistency and building up appropriately is the most important thing to enjoying it and getting the most from it.

[Raynak]

It looks like you have a good plan set out for yourself. My only comment is on Goal 2: for your bigger goals it may help to have a wee bit of flexibility in this one. Life gets in the way sometimes and you don't want it to feel like a setback and be frustrating because you miss a run or two because you were unable to do a session. There may be no reason to repeat a previous week, particularly if you did not miss some sort of key session. Having said that, as you say, consistency and building up appropriately is the most important thing to enjoying it and getting the most from it.

Thanks for your comments!
I agree, some flexibility is always good, but I have been so used to working out 3,4,5 times a week for years, that going running 3 times a week shouldn’t be an issue time-wise. And I really want to complete this schedule, so using my busy life as an excuse would be just that, an excuse
But I really get your point. But I’ve also been reading a lot on other sites and in other running schedules etc, that most advise to not proceed with the schedule and repeat the current week if you miss a workout. But maybe that is a bit too rigid then, if it is one of the maybe-less-essential endurance runs of the week… Will definitely think about that

[Raynak]

This Friday I’ll be going away for the whole weekend with the company that my boyfriend works for. Will be my first ‘real vegan challenge’ since going vegan
I’ve been to (dinner) parties with friends and family since going vegan, but that wasn’t so hard because they are all very respectful, and accommodating when it comes to my diet, just as they were when I was vegetarian. But a whole weekend with breakfast, lunch, dinners, snacks eaten together with the whole group, in hotels, restaurants, at picknicks…
I’m not réally worried, but don’t want to be the pain-in-the-ass nag, nor do I want to be hungry all the time ‘cause there’s nothing to eat for me. So I’m curious to see how it will go.
And just in case, I’m gonna pack a lot of foods to take with me (nuts, seeds, protein bars, protein powder, whole wheat crackers, nut butter, etc).

[Raynak]

Tuesday 29-05

Meals

1 – Smoothie made from: 225 g spinach, 1 banana, 1 tablespoon peanut butter (~20 g), 250 mL coconut milk, 1 scoop protein powder, 1 table spoon unsweetened cocoa powder (~10 g).

2 – Home made ‘Lara bar’ with dates, pecans and walnuts. 1 red bell pepper, 2 carrots.

3 – Soy yoghurt with ground flaxseed, wheat bran, protein powder, 30 g pecans/walnuts/almonds/hazelnuts/brazil nuts. 1 Apple, 1 orange, 1 pear.



4 – Some sort of ratatouille with cous cous, chickpeas/garbanzo beans, courgette/eggplant, common mushrooms, carrots, onion, tomatoes, vegetable juice for the sauce, fresh garlic, half a package of crumbled up tofu, and a lot of seasoning.

[baldy]

Awesome log! It is making me hungry, not sure about the green smoothie though

[Raynak]

Awesome log! It is making me hungry, not sure about the green smoothie though

Thanks!
You should really try it, seriously. And I promise, it doesn't taste like spinach/vegetables at all
Overall taste might depend a bit on the taste of your protein powder, but adding more sweet tasting fruits should solve that.

[Raynak]

Thursday 31-05

Training

100 rep day. Did a little workout at home. Not really worth posting, but what the heck.

RDL
4 x 25 x 30 kg

Have tried many times if the shoulder could take a higher weight, but even just holding the bb during the movement with higher weights than this is enough to aggravate the shoulder So have to stay with the mini weights for now, unfortunately.

Step up (per leg)
4 x 25 x 5 kg

Sumo db SQ
4 x 25 x 20 kg

Same goes for back SQ, even holding the bb in position alone with no added plates is painful and worsens the injury But I think I’m not far away from being able to do that again.

Lunges (per leg)
4 x 25 x 5 kg

Standing Calves Raise (per leg)
4 x 25 x 5 kg

Did these on my stairs holding the db’s in my hand.

Abs on gymball
4 x 15

God, I hate low weight/high rep…
Today (thursday) workout 2 of week 1 of the running schedule.


Meals:

1 – Smoothie made from: 225 g spinach, 1 banana, 1 tablespoon peanut butter (~20 g), 250 mL soy milk, 1 scoop protein powder.

2 – Pancakes made from: rolled oats, wheat bran, soy milk, banana (½ in the batter, ½ as topping), walnuts.



3 – Big batch of leftover ratatouille from yesterday.

4 – 600 g of mixed vegetables (broccoli, yellow + orange carrots, white cabbage, courgette/zucchini), ½ package (100 g) of falafel, 30 g of pine nuts/sunflower seeds/pumpkin seeds/sesame seeds, homemade peanut sauce.



Thought this was funny: the bag of mixed vegetables was actually marketed especially towards children, trying to get them to eat more veggies by cutting the vegetables into small cubes, giving it a cute name (Robbie Roerbak, ‘roerbak’ means stir-fry) and putting a picture of some cutesy vegetables on the bag. Wonder if it ever works

[Raynak]

Came back from the weekend in the Ardennes in Belgium on Sunday evening. Good news and bad news. Good news is the weekend was awesome! Lots of fun activities, lots of fun with all the people, great weather, good food. Bad news is I might have some side effects from some medication I am on, which might prevent me from exercising for a few days/a week or so. More on that later.

Thursday I did training 2 of week 1 of the running schedule. No running during this weekend, because the program was filled from the morning till the evening. But I got more then enough exercise in the form of volleyball, tennis, walking/hiking in the woods, biking, activities in the survival park like climbing walls, crawling through caves, walking across ropes at ~60 m heights, abseiling, etc.

Some pics of the hotel and surroundings where we stayed:




Beforehand, I was very curious about the food during the weekend, and luckily it turned out to be great most of the time, and just fine/acceptable at a few occasions. I decided to not put any restrictions on myself concerning kcals/portion size, since it was of course a holiday. So I ate as much as I wanted at each meal, as long as it was vegan and healthy. Did had a bit of an overdose of nuts this weekend, because at breakfast and lunch that was the only kcal-dense vegan food available, but I love nuts so I didn’t care.

Unfortunately I didn’t take any food-pics, even though I wanted to, because people were already looking weird at that girl eating all those plates filled with veggies… I got a few questions from a few people, which I didn’t mind at all, and which led to some great conversations about food, vegetarianism/veganism, sports nutrition, health, etc. But at other times I also noticed some people making comments not tó me, but about me, so I decided not to focus any more attention on myself and my food by taking out my camera and making pics of my plates, which I can imagine could come across as pretty weird behaviour for ‘normal’ people


Friday 01-06

Meals

1 – Still at home: Smoothie made from 225 g spinach, 1 banana, ¼ avocado (~50 g), 250 mL soy milk, 1 scoop protein powder.
40 P, 27 C, 16 F, 420 Kcal.

2 – In the bus towards the Ardennes in Belgium: 2 handfuls of peanuts.

3 – Lunch buffet at the hotel: 2 huge-ass plates of salad, with different kinds of lettuce, radishes, cherry tomatoes (which were both ‘only’ garnish btw, so after I was done there was nothing left ), tiny pickles/gherkins, and in total I think about 150-200 g of walnuts/almonds/pecans/hazelnuts/ brazil nuts/raisins/sultana’s, with a dressing of lemon juice. I again used the lemon they had put out as a garnish. And 4 pieces of orange melon (I think it’s called cantaloupe?).

4 – Dinner buffet at the hotel: 1 huge plate of salad with different kinds of lettuce, artichoke hearts, white cabbage, tomatoes, corn, and lemon juice as dressing. 3 Pieces of green melon (honeydew?), 3 pieces of orange melon (cantaloupe?). 2 Plates with wild rice and seeds and a delicious mixture of many different kinds of mushrooms, spinach, some sort of root, and nuts. 1 Boiled potato. Dessert: huge pile of white grapes.


Saturday 02-06

Meals

1 – Breakfast buffet at the hotel: 1 banana, 1 apple, 1 plum, 1 kiwifruit, 1 nectarine, lots of white rapes, lots of red grapes, ~150 g of pistachio’s/walnuts/pecans/almonds/hazelnuts/brazil nuts/raisins/sultana’s. Green tea.

2 – Lunch buffet at survival-park: Not very tasty big-ass salad with lettuce, tomatoes, pickled white cabbage, pickled carrots, no vegan dressing available. Very boring-tasting, but at least it was healthy. This was literally the only thing I could eat, the rest was only bread with cheese or meat. Luckily I also brought a big batch of pistachio’s/walnuts/pecans/almonds/hazelnuts/brazil nuts/raisins/sultana’s (again) which I had snatched at breakfast, because I already had a feeling that this lunch wouldn’t be great for me.

3 – Barbeque at the hotel: Salad of corn, cucumber, onion, plain white penne pasta. Ca. 6 green asparagus, 1 plain baked potato in tin foil from the bbq, 1 ‘baked’ tomato from the bbq. Lots of common mushrooms. Mixture of zucchini, eggplant, onions, and some other vegetables I don’t remember exactly, but it tasted great. Unfortunately no dessert since they only had chocolate mouse, but I made up for that with a few (a few?) bears after dinner.


Sunday 03-06

Meals

1 – Breakfast buffet at the hotel: 2 banana’s, 1 apple, 2 kiwifruits, 1 nectarine, huge pile of white rapes, ~150 g of pistachio’s/walnuts/pecans/almonds/hazelnuts/brazil nuts/raisins/sultana’s. Green tea.

2 – 2 handfuls of peanuts, 1 banana.

3 – On the bus: 1 homemade protein bar which I had brought from home but hadn’t eaten yet, 2 oranges.

4 – At home: 500 g of green beans (with peanut sauce), 100 g of wheat kernels/berries, 200 g of vegan gyros.
Without the sauce: 54 P, 66 C, 7 F, 560 Kcal.

[Raynak]

Bad news is I might have some side effects from some medication I am on, which might prevent me from exercising for a few days/a week or so. More on that later.

I have been on Prednisone (oral corticosteroids) for my shoulder injury for about 2 months now. I started at 30 mg and am currently lowering the dose every week to eventually stop completely, which will be in about 1-1.5 weeks.
Usually they don’t give oral corticosteroids for this sort of injury, but they give you one or several shots of corticosteroids in your shoulder, but I discussed with my doctor that I really didn’t want this, since I had heard and read so many stories about people with similar injuries for whom the shot(s) either didn’t work at all, made it even worse, or even caused a rupture in the tendon, since the corticosteroids can cause the tendons to become weaker/more fragile (don’t know how to describe it better). And since I want to return to lifting heavy weights, this is something I did not want to risk.
So after talking to my doctor several times, he gave me the option of taking oral corticosteroids, which would probably be less effective than a local injection, and would most likely give some side effects, but would not come with the risk of tendon rupture, which was most important to me.

The list of Prednisone side effects is very long, and quite scary, including things like muscle loss and osteoporosis… Nothing you would want to risk if it wasn’t really necessary, and for me personally my injury was persisting for so long and was improving so little (if any), that for me it was worth this risk. Especially since the risk of the side effects is much smaller with a shorter use of the medicine, which is the case for me.
I did get a few noticeable side effects like night sweats, insomnia (which I already have, so yay), and retaining water. And since the end of last week I was having a great amount of muscle soreness/muscle pain, which was really excessive when looking at the amount of exercise I had done, and also lasted way too long. So I asked my doctor about this Monday morning early, and he said it was probably a rare side effect/some sort of allergic reaction to the medicine, and I should wait with any form of exercise till it was fully gone. So no running for a least a few days

I will also take another look at my diet, making sure I get enough protein, kcals and micronutrients, just to eliminate the possibility that this might have anything to do with this.

[Raynak]

Muscle pain from the medicine that started on thursday 31-04 is finally almost over, so I'm gonna start over with the running schedule tomorrow. I'm so hoping it was only a one time fluke kind of thing, and that this time I'l be able to keep going with the schedule. The weather was amazing the last two days, so it really sucked not being 'allowed' to go running


Tuesday 05-06

Meals

1 – 225 g spinach, 1 banana, ¼ avocado (~50 g), 250 mL soy milk, 1 scoop protein powder.
40 P, 48 C, 14.5 F, 454 Kcal.

2 – 2 apples, 1 pear, 1 kiwi, 30 g pecans/walnuts/almonds/cashews/hazelnuts/cranberries.
6.5 P, 98 C, 14 F, 510 Kcal.



3 – 5 Whole grain crackers (~50 g), 30 g peanut butter, 2 carrots (170 g), 1 apple.
16 P, 76 C, 25 F, 587 Kcal.

4 - Mexican dish: 75 g Soy beans (dry weight), ½ package of tofu ‘minced meat’ (90 g), 50 g of brown rice, 350 g of vegetables: red + yellow bell pepper, kidney beans, onions, green beans, corn, baby corn, sauce made from a bit of vegetable juice and Fajita herb mix.
56 P, 73.5 C, 36 F, 870 Kcal.

Holy crap, more kcal than I had thought (and definitely more than it felt like )




Wednesday 06-05

Meals

1 – Smoothie: 50 g frozen strawberries, 50 g frozen raspberries, 1 banana, 1 orange, 250 mL rice milk, 1 scoop protein powder.
28 P, 76 C, 5.6 F, 446 Kcal.



2 – Buckwheat pancakes: wholegrain buckwheat flour, rice milk, mashed really ripe banana as egg replacement, 1 scoop protein powder, vegan chocolate chips.
39 P, 146 C, 7 F, 801 Kcal (without the chocolate chips). I was hungry

This was delicious, can imagine it also tasting amazing with coconut milk instead of rice milk and some extra shredded coconut, and/or maybe some cocoa powder.



3 – 250 g broccoli, 250 g green beans, ½ package of tofu (~160 g), ½ can of chickpea’s (~110 g), 30 g sunflower seeds, homemade peanut sauce.
44.5 P, 43 C, 40 F, 658 Kcal.