John – The Vegan Cow

My First Olympic Distance Triathlon

vegan swimming triathlon — Getting out of the water

This Sunday I completed my first Olympic Distance Triathlon in Bracebridge, ON. The distances are 1.5KM swim, 40KM bike, 10KM run. Nothing too crazy but not a walk in the park either. My overall time was 3:20, broken down as 37:31 swim, 1:37:18 bike, and 1:07:54 run.

training vegan for triathlons — Not great for overall time, but good for comfort

If I had to sum up the race in two words it would be uncomfortable and painful. It started on the swim when I could not get my goggles to sit right. After numerous failed attempts of adjusting I ended up swimming almost the entire 1.5k with one eye shut – which is much harder than I would of thought. On top of that half way through the swim I could feel my leg muscles cramping up – something I really struggled with last summer. My strategy to combat cramping is to slow it down and hope it goes away.

After what seemed like forever in the water, I ended up getting on my bike and was feeling pretty strong for the first 15k. Then discomfort bout two hit, which is back pain on the bike. The bike I use is about 40 years old and a hand me down and is definitely on the small side. I’ve made attempts to adjust the seat and handlebar height in the past with not much luck. So my back is always sore on my longer rides but I thought 40k I could just tough it out. This ride was pretty rough though, after the 20k mark I was standing up on the downhill section trying to stretch out my back. I just wanted to be done and off the bike. The other option is to get a new bike, but they start at around $1500 and some of the higher end models that people are using in these triathlons can run you as high as $20 000. To top it off on the bike I got a really bad cramp on a climb around 30k – so bad that I needed to get off the bike and “walk-it-off.” Again, my strategy was to slow down and hope it goes away. I ended up having to stop and stretch 2 more times before that 40k ride was done.

If this was just a trainin
g session there is no way I would of even attempted a 10k run after this much cramping. But I decided to stick to my completely unscientific strategy of go slow and hope it goes away. On the run course they had plenty of water and electrolyte fluids – so after downing a few cups of electrolytes I was feeling better – but certainly not good. My “run” ended up being a run walk, with me walking close to 30% of the time I would guess. So I wasn’t terribly disappointed in my time of 1:07 with that amount of walking.

Finishing my triathlon — Finally finishing in 3:28

Overall, I’m disappointed in the fact I couldn’t really judge where I am with that amount of cramping, but happy I grinded it out and finished the race. The race wasn’t anything special as far as cool swag, or post race meals, and no medals or anything for finishing. I’m glad I didn’t, but I probably won’t do that particular triathlon one again. Though there are lots of things I used to say I would never do!

Hiking Algonquin Park and Trail Racing

vegan hiking meal plan — Meal plan for a full day of vegan/diabetic hiking Algonquin Park

If you follow my blog you know that I signed up for my first trail race this July. The race was the Limberlost Challenge near Huntsville, Ontario and consisted of a 14 km loop. Since I have never run on a trail before I decided to head up to Algonquin Park, 3 days before the race, and see how much distance I can cover with a day pass.

As you can see by my photo I had everything packed a diabetic vegan needs to spend a full day of hiking. The smartest thing I brought on my first hike was a change of shoes and socks. The dumbest thing I forgot was bug spray. Overall, the trails in Algonquin were quite nice, but I was a little disappointed in the lack of breathtaking views that I was kind of expecting. In total, I ended up spending 8 hours in Algonquin and hiking/running a total of 28.8KM.

vegan hiking in Algonquin Park — Not a bad view for a lunch break

The highlight of the hike had to be getting attacked by a grouse. I was running on the trail and saw this baby bird (looked like a mix between a chick and a duckling). I tried to grab my camera out of my bag to take a picture when all of a sudden this bird comes flying straight at me. Knocked off my sunglass, I ended up sprinting for about 50 feet and the bird followed me the whole way. It was definitely one of those situations you wish there was a hidden camera. The lesson being, do not approach baby birds.

So that was my “training” for the Limber Lost Challenge. I must admit I was pretty nervous heading into my first trial race. I was pretty tired after hiking all day in Algonquin and the thought of running 2 hours on this kind of terrain was rather intimidating. I was pleasantly surprised to find the trails in the Limber Lost Forest were a lot smoother than those in Algonquin. I ended up completing my first trail run of 14km in 1 hour and 45 minutes.

finding moose in Algonquin Park — Moose spotting in Algonquin Park

If you are a runner and have never tried trail running I strongly encourage you give it a try. The Limber Lost Forest was by far the most beautiful run I’ve ever been on. I’ll definitely be back in the near future to do that trail again and take in the scenery a little more.

The stats from hiking Algonquin:

28.8Km
8 Hours (including driving from trail to trail)
1 Fall
at least 50 stubbed toes and F bombs
4 rice n bean burritos
6 bananas
4 Apples
8 Liters of water
1 Moose
1 Bird Attack
Multiple pints of blood loss from mosquito bites

Who are you and why make vegan shirts?

Vegan athlete after half ironman in Muskoka — John with mom after Muskoka Half-Ironman September 2014

Who are you?

First off, I am neither a doctor nor a dietitian. Everything I write about is based on my own personal experience as I adopt a completely vegan lifestyle. Nor am I a writer, or even enjoy writing for that matter, but the reason I decided to keep this blog is I believe there are people out there who are similar to me. That being someone who recognizes there are massive problems with our diet and what we consider food – and curious if you really get everything your body needs from a plant based diet?

So then, my name is John, I’m 31 years old and I’m a web development student in Barrie, Ontario, Canada and I am Vegan. I enjoy participating in many physically challenging events, from marathons to Ironmans and everything in between.

Why did you start The Vegan Cow?

The Vegan Cow | Vegan Inspired T Shirts has 3 Goals:
1. Create fun, unique and inspirational vegan shirts that people will be proud to wear.
2. Help spread the message about what it means to be vegan, and why choose vegan.
3. Raise money to support vegan charities.

Why Vegan?

For me, it all comes down to not supporting what I know is wrong. There is no need in this world to inflict unnecessary suffering on another living being. Animal agricultural is built and survives on people buying their products. If you agree that factory farming of animals is wrong, there is a very simple solution to the problem – stop consuming it, and stop buying it. I don’t want to start the introduction with a rant so we’ll just say more to come on this subject.

Why the blog name “Powered by Plants, Insulin and sometimes beer?”

Plants – obviously because I’m vegan.
Insulin – because I’m type 1 diabetic and require insulin to live
And Sometimes Beer – because I don’t want people to think vegans are on this crazy unrealistic, unsustainable diet, completely different diet – and all we eat is greens. In fact, I’d venture to say that most vegans eat a larger variety of foods than most meat eaters.

What is the purpose/goal of this blog?

I want to use this blog to share how I switched from a total meat heavy diet to vegetarian then eventually vegan and why I think everyone else should do the same. It wasn’t a smooth transition – there was a lot of trial and error and things I wish I knew then that I know now. I also enjoy cooking and will be sharing lots of my favourite vegan recipes. Since I do a lot of physical training there will be plenty of protein rich dishes and simple tricks for getting more protein in your diet (which was my biggest concern of the vegan diet).

I will track my progress as I push my body to the limits on a 100% vegan diet. I will be begin with the 30K Around the Bay road race on March 30, in Hamilton, Ontario (further than I’ve ever run before). I will continue to track my progress as I train for the 2015 Ironman Muskoka in the fall of 2015. For those of you who don’t know, an Ironman consist of a 3.86KM swim, 180.25KM bicycle ride and a 42.2KM run non-stop, which must be completed in under 17 hours.

To training vegan – I say cheers to the good life – low carb beer, beans n rice burritos, and 5 units of insulin. Time to get a runnin’.

I would love to hear any feedback, advice, suggestions for content or any questions you have for me or about living vegan. I can be reached at john@thevegancow.com or subscribe to our mailing list below.

Differentiating between vegan and vegetarian

The overly simple version to differentiate vegetarians and vegans is vegetarians don’t eat any meat, while vegans don’t eat anything that comes from an animal – biggest difference being vegans don’t eat dairy products or eggs.

The reason that I choose vegan is because of where the dairy and egg products come from. It’s not so much the fact that they come from an animal as much as it is they come from an animal that is confined to a cage their entire lives, until he/she can no longer produce milk or eggs at which point they are sent to slaughter (there are many more reasons but this is one of the major reasons). It’s the animal agriculture industry as whole that I feel needs to go away, so I will not support any of their “products.” It’s not that I don’t buy milk and eggs because I’m vegan, it’s the fact that I believe there is no place in this world for factory farming of animals, which in turn made me vegan, if that makes sense.

Which brings me to an interesting dilemma. I’ve had requests from people asking if I’m going to have any vegetarian shirts in the future. This week I decided to release a vegetarian version of my “Vegan University” design. There are two main reasons for this decision.

I fully support any person who is working towards reducing the amount of animal products they buy. That includes vegetarians, flexetarians, pescetarian, carnivores who are reducing animal products. For the vast majority of people (myself included), adopting a vegan lifestyle is a process that takes time and vegetarian is usually a stepping stone in the right direction.
The more shirts I sell, the more money is raised for charity. I believe in strength in numbers, and whether you are vegan or vegetarian you probably believe in a world that doesn’t involve exploitation of innocent beings. The more people working towards that goal, the greater the force.

As much as this site is dedicated to vegan living, what I ultimately support most is progress. Progress towards a society that doesn’t depend on animal agriculture and exploitation. Whether you agree or disagree with my thinking I’d love to hear your opinion.

July 6 Training Progress Update

Since my half marathon in Ottawa at the end of May my training has picked up pretty well, though my updates are slacking. I’m not going to lie, I really don’t like blogging and the only reason I force myself to keep writing is I believe there are people out there, in the similar situation as me, who could benefit from my experiences transitioning to vegan. I had a lot of doubts in the beginning whether it was possible to live a healthy active lifestyle where you can build strength and stamina without animal protein, but the longer I do it the more I believe it is the right way to live.

For the first time this summer I did a swim/bike/run all at once and boy did it feel good. I went with an Olympic Tri distance of 1.5km/40km/10km just to see how the body would hold up. All in all it went very well and I’m quite pleased with how I felt afterwards – I felt tired, but not exhausted. I didn’t take a timer with me because I always try to push the pace too much when I’m on the clock and I was more concerned about doing the distance than posting a good time. Though I’d guess my times would be around 40mins/100mins/55mins if I had to ballpark estimate.

It’s funny looking back a few years ago when my ideal Sunday would consist of 20 beers, 8 hours of football watching and 2 pounds of chicken wings. Now it’s swim/bike/run, a delicious couscous salad and a little bit of weeding in my vegetable garden. Though I will admit, come September, I may have a few more beer and football Sundays, just with tofu wings instead.

Looking forward I’ve gone ahead and signed up for a 14km trail race (http://thelimberlostchallenge.com/) on July 12. It will be my first trail run so I’m sticking to the shortest distance to get a feel for running off road. I will also compete in my first triathlon this summer on August 10 (http://www.multisportcanada.com/bracebridge/) and I’m hoping to break 3 hours in that.

I did my 5k test and pushup test on Thursday and the results were:

5K time: 27:09
Pushups: 58

Lastly, I finally found a “pretty good” vegan protein powder drink. It’s called Professional Strength Soy Protein by Six Star Nutrition. It was at Wal Mart and costs around $20 or $25. If you’ve been following my blog you know how hard I’ve been trying to find a decent vegan protein powder. 9 out of 10 I’ve tried are nasty tasting. This would be my favourite tasting one so far and that price is pretty good.

Disclaimer: I say vegan protein but I’m not 100% certain on that. I don’t know all the terms on the back, but I’m pretty confident there aren’t any animal products. I’m learning as I go.