Monday, May 25, 2009

3 miles and a new book!

Today has been awesome. I was able to run a slow three miles with very little discomfort AND I got a new book today!

I'm all about Vegan Nutrition for Athletes and this is the first book I've seen that seems to address the concept head on.

I found out about the author, Brendan Brazier, through his Vega Supplement at Food Fight.com. I was looking into protein powder alternatives to Soy protein. I already ate a ton of soy and felt the need to vary my diet.

At first I thought the Vega Supplement was kinda gimicky and all hype, plus it was SUPER expensive but when I started to read the reviews on it they all came back looking pretty positive. (Though there was some definite griping about the price! LOL!)

So, on an impulse I bought a big old tub of Vega and decided to give it a go. At first the taste was offsetting (seaweed plus chocolate equals weird!) but after a few days of using it I noticed that I wasn't getting the post workout crash nap time that I was used to.

Cool!

But it was expensive and I didn't feel like dropping another $80 + Shipping for another tub so once it was out it was out.

Then a few months ago I started having blood sugar problems. I was tired all the time, I started putting on weight again no matter HOW hard I worked out, I felt emotionally drained. I thought I had overtrained but when I did my waking heart rate test there was no real change.

So I struggled and put on 20 lbs. Then got sick with a nasty little norwalk virus and ended up in the doctor's office run down and sick as a dog. Well, the virus was easy. Drink fluids. LOL! BUT, after he heard all my symptoms leading up to the event he had my blood tested. I came up Prediabetic. Well CRAP!

So the answer was to modify my diet. I'm a bread, potato, energy bar, cookie and cupcake junky and it was hard to let those things go but I definitely felt better once I did. Then I started REALLY looking at the carb and sugar amounts and glycemic loads of all the things I was eating. The Clif Bars were SCARY! Then I found out that all the coffee I was drinking was also probably messing with my blood sugar.

I kinda got bummed out. I went to Whole Foods and found that they were selling Vega and though it's still priced like it's gold I flipped over the back and started reading the nutritional facts (something I'm ashamed to say I didn't pay too much attention to the first time around).

The Vega is gluten and soy free along with having a really high fiber and protein count. Looked good! So I bought some.

I have to admit. It gave me even more energy. That's when I started to read through all of Mr Brazier's stuff on line and I found a few books.

They could be gimicky and such but at least it will be an interesting read and he's got some interesting recipes for vegan energy gels and bars which would save me a lot of money AND wouldn't kill my blood sugar.

So, I'm reading one now, I have another one coming, and I'll let you know how it works. He makes a lot of 'claims' in his book that I find a little out there but if I feel better trying some of the stuff then I plan on sharing the wealth.

Sometime next week I'll hunt down a 5k goal run and will be posting a counter for it along with a full training schedule.

Today's Run: Half Mile Warm Up, 3 Mile Run and 5.5 mph 5 minute cool down. Slight twitches in left calf and right foot at the joint of the big toe. Tomorrow I'm going to mod my running arch supports to give me more/higher arch support and am going to extend the arch support out toward the front of my foot.

Today's workout: 3min rounds, 60 sec rest. 3 rounds Jump Rope, 3 Rounds Shadow Box; two rounds with 10lbs weights and 1 round no weight form and speed.

Interval Training: 1 minute intervals as follows: Weighted punch up/out/down, pushup to mountain climber to jumping squat, heavy bag footwork, left tepes, right tepes, elbows, knees, left kick, right kick, jabs, right crosses, sledge hammer. Twice through.

Then Abs and neck workout.

Total time: 2.5 hours.

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