Training Vegan – 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

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.

Half Marathon in Ottawa

The Vegan Cow Half Marathon Ottawa — Connected in Motion

The Ottawa Race Weekend has come and gone. Though I’m pretty disappointed with my half marathon time of 2 hours and 17 minutes I feel like I learned a lot. Firstly and most importantly, when you stop pushing yourself to get better, you get worse. This was one of my “laziest” winters in recent years and my time reflected that. On top of that my pre-race dinner consisted of half a pizza and 6 beers. Rather than looking at it as a failure, I choose to look at my regression as a minor set back in the grand scheme of things, and look forward to the next few months where I can train a little bit harder to make up for lost time. On the plus, it’s always easier to keep moving when the weather is nice.

The second positive I’ll take from this situation is when I look back a year from now and finish my first Ironman, I’ll be able to see how far I’ve come. From a 2:17 half marathon to completing a full Ironman in a little over a year, those are some big goals, and require some serious dedication. Further, all of my gains in strength and endurance will come from plant based nutrition. People will often read of a pro athlete who gives up meat and will quickly argue that he built all his strength eating meat and now he only has to sustain it. He would not of built that strength in the first place if he wasn’t consuming animal protein. I’m out to prove that ideology is flawed with my strength gains exclusively through a plants based diet.

I will end this article with one of my favourite quotes that is particularly relevant for this article. “Life is not about where you are, it’s where you are going, and more importantly what you are DOING to get there.”