Rest Days

I should not be talking about this after having 5 months of almost non-stop training. I have taken a day off here and there because I was traveling, or because someone was in town for a visit, but besides those odd days I have been training 7 days a week.

I know, and I am super aware of it, that resting is as important as working out. When you work out hard you are ripping off muscle fibers. To be able to improve your performance you have to let them rebuilt before you work on ripping off again those new fibers. Every time they rebuilt they are stronger, leaner, and fitter. But this process only happens as long as you let them rebuilt themselves, and of course, they need time for this!

I have an excuse for my non-stop training during the summer: on my “rest day” I was doing The Grind (which is the hardest work out ever!). I did not have any other day to fit it in and I did not want to give up any of my other trainings (which I actually love). I made sure though I ate tons of vegan protein and carbohydrates (nuts, almond milk, fruit, and tofu) right after each training, to avoid inflammation and enhance the recovery process. I definitely think it worked because during these months I was barely sore and I had lots of energy to keep up my high intensity training.

I also knew I was going to get my rest day back (eventually). I knew once summer was over, and The Grind was out of the picture, I could go back to my more reasonable routine of having one day off, per week, from exercising.

I am not going to lie, by the beginning of September I was already feeling my muscles tired. I felt them heavy when running and it was hard to keep up a decent running pace. Last week I had my first official rest day in a while, and it felt soooooo good! It is crazy how fast muscles can recover. I took a day off, just one, and on Sunday I felt like flying, the same on Wednesday, during our hill training. Yesterday was off as well and today I felt good in my run. I felt light, fast and not tired at all. My body is saying thank you and is paying me back with fast recovery and better performance.

I do not regret what I did during the summer though; actually I will do it all over again. Summer is meant to be outdoors, so any chance I get to do this I take it, even if it means not resting at all. I know the cold, dark days are already upon us, and this means snow, ice and lots of rain, which translates into more days at home. But I can now say that I do appreciate this already forgotten feeling of having a day off, so does my body.


My Animal Lover Note:
 

It is Time for my New Pair of Runners

A pair of runners should be changed after using them for about 700 kilometers. According to my math this is around 6 months after the date I started using my current runners; which means that I should start using the new pair in October. Lately, I have been feeling that my runners are not doing their work properly, they don’t feel that soft anymore and the cushion has definitely worn out. Today, before leaving my house for my 16k run, I thought I should use my new runners. I kind of felt I needed a good cushion for this long run, but when I picked out the window and saw it was raining, I said to myself, “nope, I don’t want my new runners to get wet. At least not the first time I use them.”

So I wore my old ones, and as I was expecting, by the time we were on the 12th kilometer my knees and IT-band started hurting. It was the kind of pain that, I already know, is a sign of lack of cushioning and time to change your shoes. I was able to finish my run without a lot of pain. When we were stretching Ron complained about his runners. He said it felt like it was time to change them. The funniest thing was when he said, “I was going to wear the new ones today but since it was raining I did not want them to get wet on the first time I wore them.”

How crazy are we? We all have this weird thing that comes inherent to running (we don’t do it because we copy people, we just do it because it feels right), that we never want to wear our new pair of runners, for the first time, on a rainy day. As if they will never get wet, muddy and dirty!

So, Tuesday, when I run again I will use my new pair of runners, and my old ones? Well, they will go straight to charity.

I always find hard to give away my old runners though. I know I can’t run with them anymore. I know I won’t use them for anything else. I know the only thing they will do, if I keep them, is taking space off my closet. But I always find myself attached to those old guys. They have taken me through kilometers and kilometers, through rain, heat, and paved roads; and these ones, specially these ones, have taken me through 4 half marathon races. That is a lot. These shoes helped me getting there and a piece of me is leaving with them: memories, sweat, doubts, pains and personal bests. But at the same time I can’t wait to try on the new guys, and see the new places, kilometers, and personal bests they will take me to.

Let the new cycle begin.

My Animal Lover Note:

Some Forgotten Truths about Healthy Eating (for runners and no runners)

There is a ridiculous trend call the “low carb diet.” Carbs have wrongly become the enemy food and you can hear every one dieting talking about “zero carbs”, or “I am cutting out my carbs.”

“Carbohydrates are vital for providing energy for our bodies and brains. Without them, we would be comatose zombies… Yet all carbs are not created equal... Simple carbs suck and are as nutritional beneficial as toilet paper. They are mostly made up of sugar, which releases too quickly, almost violently, into our bodies, causing sugar highs and then crashes. This tends to leave us feeling hungry, so we eat more…”Complex carbs are made up of starch and fibre and “release gradually, providing a steady source of energy. They make us feel full and satisfied and are easily broken to release new energy.”

White rice, white bread, and regular pasta belong to the category of the bad boys’ carbs. They have been stripped away from all their nutrients, vitamins and minerals. For the sake of being refined, white and soft, they have lost all their nutritional integrity.

On the other hand, complex carbs like potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, barley, corn, brown rice, millet, beans, hummus, lentils, quinoa and pasta (made from whole wheat, buckwheat, amaranth, etc.), are rich nutrient foods (they have lots of minerals, vitamins, protein, and natural fiber) that make a great source of steady, healthy energy.

Last week, I overheard a conversation between a fitness instructor and one of his clients (that wants to lose some weight) regarding not eating fruits to avoid the excessive sugars they have. I had to leave the place to stop listening to this high level of ignorance.

“The most irritating thing about the low-carb craze is the resistance to eating fruit. Fruit is the most perfect food in existence. It is unique in that it barely requires any work to be digested. High in enzymes, it effortlessly passes through the body, supplying carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids amino acids, and cancer-fighting tannins and flavonoids. Because it is made up of mostly water, fruit hydrates the body and aids in cleaning, detoxifying, and eliminating….

So shout it from the rooftops until every one of your dumb-ass misinformed friends hears: YOU CAN EAT BREAD AND FRUIT!”

Source: Skinny Bitch by Lori Freedman and Kim Barnouin.

My Animal Lover Note:

Are you Jealous?

We all know jealousy exists almost everywhere we go. There is jealousy at work, at the gym, and between siblings. I am sure jealousy is a common ingredient in the life of professional athletes as well. But I have found a place where, so far, jealousy is not part of it: recreational runners. We all run because we want to, not because we make a living out of it or because we have to impress someone. The only person we want to impress is ourselves. We all know and appreciate the great effort it takes to finish a race. We all know what it takes to break off some seconds from your previous race time. We all know what it feels like training in the rain, snow and wind, at night or early in the morning. We all know what a Sunday afternoon feels like, after running 20 kilometers in the morning, and you still need to clean your house, go grocery shopping, cook, etc. We all know this because we all do it every week. So, when we see someone improving their times, passing us, finishing a race under two hours, we all say fuck, that is great! Wow!!!! There is not jealousy but admiration and respect because we all know what it takes to get there.

I have been doing the Grind every week of the summer as part of my cross training. I usually finish it under an hour, and in my way up I am usually passing people, just a few male grinders pass me. Today, this young lady passed me with this amazing pace; she was going up two stairs at a time and she was going fast. I was very impress because I know I am fit and there is no way I could keep up with her. When I got to the top, she was already there of course, I told her “great pace! I saw you and I was like shit look at her.” She was so happy that I said that to her. She smiled, said thanks and put her fist up. She was proud of herself and was happy that someone saw and acknowledged what she did.

We all compete against ourselves, no one else. We are all different, we have different bodies, weakness, health issues, and we are all aware of it. That is why when we tell a no runner about a race that we just ran and they ask us if we won, we always say “of course I won. I always win. I race against myself not against the other ten thousand people that were running, and just by racing I am winning.”

My Animal Lover Note: Yesterday we had our September Langley Herbivores potluck. There were lots of new people that want to try the vegan diet and some old vegans that just heard about us. Two high lights of the potluck:
•I saw the most beautiful vegan family: mom, dad and three girls all vegans, beautiful and healthy.
•A 13 year old girl came with her mom. The girl became vegan a year ago after watching Forks over Knifes and Earthlings (I highly recommend both). She told her mom she was not going to eat any animal products and despite the mom’s efforts to change her mind, she stuck to it. Wow! That is the kind of will and commitment people need. Now mom fully supports her and even though she is not vegan, she cooks for her daughter and understands her points of view.

How Running Shapes your Body

If you really want to see your body being shaped by the exercise you practice, you have to give it time, dedication, and hours of training. A while ago, for one of the boot camp classes I go to, we had to be in groups of four. I got my group and we all introduced each other, and when I finished saying my name a lady said to me right away, “Are you a runner? You run long distances don’t you?” I was kind of shocked by this comment and wondered how she knew (maybe she is a witch, I thought). So I asked her, “Yes I am. I run half marathons, but how do you know?” “By your legs” she said “you have runner’s legs.” And yes, I definitely do. I then started looking at runners’ legs. They are all well shaped, muscular but lean and I have to say, damn pretty. I realized that my legs were already like that (and I felt hot!), and I looked at my running buddies’ legs (those that have been running for a while like me), and they look the same.

I have seen lots of people that quit running, or stop doing it for a while, after joining a running clinic to train for a single race and this one is over. Even though they ran the race most of them are disappointed by the lack of results they see in their bodies. They definitely don’t have runner’s legs yet, and they don’t know why, after all, they have just run a half marathon race! You don’t get those legs by training for one race; you get those nice, lean, muscular legs when running is part of your life. At this point, running starts shaping your body (and of course your mind) in its unique way.

Being this said, I can assure you that the same process applies when following a plant-based diet. Some people try the vegan diet for a week, or even a month, and after going back to their old eating habits, they can’t tell the benefits of being vegan. This is such a short time for your body to fully assimilate the changes and let itself start being affected by them. What they get to experience during this time is nothing compare to what you experience when you have been vegan for years. After being vegan for so many years I can tell that not just my body but my mind and soul have changed because of this powerful life style.