Monthly Summary - August 2011

Here's August:

Swim: 20,214 meters
Cycling (outdoors): 302.6 miles
Cycling (indoors): 5:59 (hours)
Run: 88.6 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 7 sessions

Approximate monthly total training time: 52:20

In August I finally, sorta, re-found my training groove. It was my highest volume training month since April and I finally got back in the pool after busting my collarbone in June. Thanks to some very helpful guidance from Coach Rom, I feel like I trained smart in August. I added in a decent amount of intensity in all three sports for the first time this year. Despite that, though, I'm still feeling underprepared for SOS on September 11.*  I'm sure I'll be fine, but I'm not in the race shape that I hoped to be in before my crash. Shit happens, and I'm really just thankful that I'm healthy and fit enough to participate in the race at all. If preparing to race in New York on the 10 year anniversary of September 11 doesn't put things into perspective, what will?

August was also notable for our one-month Vegan Challenge.  Today marks the official end of it, so I'm going to celebrate by having a big slice of:

Home made Vegan (and gluten free) Sweet Potato Pie!

It was super easy to make. I got the recipe courtesy of Rich Roll's e-cookbook (available for purchase/download here).  I swapped out the pumpkin for sweet potatoes that I baked and peeled.

It's an almond, vegan butter and honey-based crust:

and the filling is sweet potato, soft tofu, maple syrup, honey and spices all mashed together:

The finished product was for a party at work.  It came out pretty damn good (if I do say so myself!).  The one issue I had with it was that the filling took longer to cook than I expected and the crust got a little burned around the edges.

I decided a few weeks ago that I'm going to extend the Vegan Challenge indefinitely (and probably can't call it "Vegan Challenge" any longer...). I feel healthy and full of energy. Thanks to advice from friends and strangers, I've found pretty easy ways to get more than my share of food, including protein. I've put the Vitamix to good work and had a shake nearly every day this month.  Elizabeth is constantly amazed at how much fresh veggies we always have in the fridge.  I can't say that I won't "cheat", especially when I'm out of town, but there's no question that that will be the exception rather than the rule.

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* We got this email from Don Davis, the SOS race director today:

"Minnewaska State Park where much of our running and swimming takes place was extremely hard hit by Hurricane Irene and is closed for the foreseeable future. Your race committee is working to plot a new course for this year's race that will be both challenging and scenic. We will send you further information via another email by Monday September 5th."

Bummer, but I'm sure they're scrambling now to put together a challenging and fun alternate course.

Once

365 days ago, I was reveling in the joy of this:

That was a good day!

What a year it's been.

Vegan Challenge continues

Eighteen days into the Vegan Challenge and this is really becoming less and less of a "challenge." I'm still enjoying the vegan diet and haven't really struggled to find enough good things to eat.

The only tough meal last week was a surprising one. Elizabeth and I both got home from work late one night so I decided I'd run over to Whole Foods and grab dinner from their prepared foods section. I figured that for certain Whole Foods would have a bunch of vegan options. Maybe I picked the wrong night, but the vegan choices were few and far between and pretty disappointing. The basic salad bar is fine, but I can do that easily at home. There was a lentil salad and an edamame salad and some dry-as-cardboard vegan meatballs, but that was about it. Everything else that was meat-free (including the quinoa burgers and veggie burgers) had dairy and/or eggs. I ended up with a big salad, including some of the lentils and edamame. It was fine, but I was expecting more from Whole Foods. I was going to write "lesson learned" but I'm not sure what that lesson is!

We were at home in San Diego last weekend and my mom indulged us with a delicious vegan dinner - cold mango soup and roasted veggies and orzo. That dinner totally deserved a picture to post on the blog. Oops!

And yesterday, I met Pete at Native Foods in Culver City for lunch. On our way in, we ran into Tanya Petrovna, the chef and founder of Native Foods. She was super cool and gave us a quick lesson about how they make tempeh. I could definitely eat there every day. Yum!

In the "confessions" section of this update, I do have one to make. For years, my favorite cereals have been Kashi GoLean and Kashi GoLean Crunch. They're delicious, have a bunch of soy protein and seem relatively healthy for breakfast or a snack. I just assumed they were vegan. Silly me. In fact, they are sweetened, in part, with honey. It's pretty far down the ingredients list, but it's still there. This "revelation" brought up an interesting question for me - Is avoiding honey going "too far"? To my mind, meat and dairy and eggs are all in the same family of animal products, but if I'm doing this Vegan Challenge primarily for health, as opposed to moral, reasons, do I need to also cut out all honey? And what about all refined sugar. In truth, both honey and refined sugar are a minuscule part of my diet, but is eating any of it "cheating" or somehow diminishing my Vegan Challenge goals? For now, at least, I say "No".  Or am I just rationalizing now so I can "cheat"?

As for how I'm feeling, it's tough to tell. At the same time I started the diet, I started ramping up my training in preparation for SOS. So while I feel leaner and more fit every day, what portion of that is due to diet and what portion to the training? Either way, I do feel better about myself. I like having the fruit and veggie shake nearly every morning. I like eating tons of fruit and veggies. I like filling up shopping bags at the local farmers' market at least once a week. And I've been having fun exploring on-line resources and talking to people about veganism.

Vegan Challenge update + Vitamix

Nine days in and the Vegan Challenge is going great so far. I haven't had any cravings for anything outside of the diet and I haven't been particularly tempted to "cheat". The only time I questioned it was while sitting at the sushi counter at Izaka-ya by Katsu-ya watching my friend chow some nice looking pieces of fish. But I filled up on Shishito peppers, seaweed salad and some tofu with veggies and was (almost) perfectly happy.

I haven't really noticed much of a change in how I feel. As I mentioned in the initial Vegan Challenge blog post, this isn't a huge change in diet for me, so I'm sure what to expect. I do notice that I don't feel the need to snack as much during the day. My activity level is higher than it's been in a couple months, so the lack of constant hunger is something of a surprise. Maybe it's because what I am eating is more nutrient dense? I'm also feeling a bit leaner (though not lighter - i.e. more muscle), but that is also related at least in part to the increased training volume.

Before we started the Vegan Challenge, we bought a Vitamix blender. Whether we bought the Vitamix to help with the Vegan Challenge or if we decided to do the Vegan Challenge to justify the purchase of the Vitamix remains an open question! :)

I made a shake every day last week. Most days, I have it after my morning training. I'll admit that the shakes I made the first couple days we're all that good. But through trial and error I'm figuring it out. Initially, I tried to jam too much in there at once and my first few shakes were pretty much all veggie, with a little bit of fruit thrown in almost as an afterthought. But I've learned that more fruit is definitely better. Also, unlike a juicer, you do have to add water or coconut water or fruit juice or you'll end up with a "shake" that's closer to the consistency of tar.

I've also learned that what would usually be considered a very strange combination of foods, might actually taste good once it's been through the Vitamix. Sunday's was one of my best: some kale, one stalk of celery, a handful of grapes, three or four strawberries, about a quarter grapefruit, about half a scoop of Vega protein, a chunk of fresh ginger, a couple almonds, some chia seeds, a teaspoon or so of Udo's oil and about 1.5 cups of water. Today's combination (pictured above) is similar, but with apple and carrots instead of grapefruit.

I've also done combinations with pears, lemon, garlic, jalapeño, parsley, avocado, pineapple, blueberries (fresh and frozen), beets, red pepper, and probably some other things I'm forgetting.

Thanks to everyone for your helpful suggestions and guidance!

Vegan Challenge

This month is a special month in our house.  Yesterday, Elizabeth and I started a month-long "Vegan Challenge"!

That's right, Elizabeth and I are going to eat a vegan diet for the month.* Just in case, that means we're cutting out all animal products - including meat, eggs, dairy and even honey.

The obvious question is "WHY?"

The standard reason for a vegan diet are:

• ethical concerns about the mis-treatment of animals;
• worries about the environmental effects of raising animals for food; and 
• health reasons

Although the way animals are treated and processed at factory farms is pretty disgusting and I do believe that raising animals for food has all kinds of nasty environmental effects, such as deforestation, and water and air pollution, I'm probably too selfish for those concerns alone to cause me to make a wholesale change to my diet. Proponents of veganism cite studies claiming that a vegan diet helps people lose weight, keep blood pressure and cholesterol under control and stave off heart disease. Honestly, though, none of those are big issues for me right now.

For me, it's mostly a health experiment.  I'm very curious, especially when it comes to health, fitness and diet.  I've done research and have been finding out about all kinds of people who are vegan (including incredible athletes like Rich Roll, Scott Jurek, Brendan Brazier, Mac Danzig, Mike Tyson, Carl Lewis, etc. etc.).  I want to see how cutting out all animal products affects my energy and mood and endurance and general well-being. One big vegan diet claim is that people have higher energy levels and feel "lighter". I want to test it for myself and see how I feel. And, if nothing else, eating more fruit and veggies (and being conscious about it) is definitely a healthy thing. This is part of the reason I'm initially only doing it for a month.

I'm not very concerned that the "Vegan Challenge" will be too much of an actual "challenge" for me. I already maintain a generally healthy diet. I already eat a lot of fruit and vegetables. I stopped eating red meat a few months ago and while I eat poultry, I think I mostly eat it because it's a convenient, easy source of protein. I don't eat much dairy and really only have eggs once or twice a month. The main thing that I'll miss is seafood; I really like salmon and I love sushi. I enjoy the occasional cookie or ice cream (what really hurts is that Coolhaus is opening a brick-and-mortar shop in Culver City, right around the corner from my office).  But I know that I can live without those things. Weekday lunches will take a little more thought; I'll adapt when eating out and I'll have to find vegan options for my occasional craving for sweets. Getting enough protein will be a challenge initially, but there are so many vegan options that I already like (tofu, tempeh, quinoa, nuts, lentils, beans, etc.) and I'll just have to get used to eating more of those.

There are a few exceptions to the vegan diet that I already know I'm going to make.  First, I have a cheeseburger with bacon for dinner most nights... ha!  For real though, pretty much every day for the last three years, I've taken Metabolic Diet Joint Support IV.  It's a mulitvitamin/supplement that promotes joint and soft tissue health and controls inflammation.  Each serving has a little fish oil and shark cartilage, so therefore is not vegan.  I know there are similar supplements that are vegan, but I believe in this product, so I'm going to continue taking it.  Also, my bike "mix" from Infinit contains 3.22 grams of whey protein per 280 calorie serving. I average 3-4 servings per week.  Infinit works great for me and I'm not going to give that up. Elizabeth has a few of her own small exceptions.

We've been doing our research and collecting recipes and vegan food ideas, but if you have any suggestions or resources, please send them my way!

*True veganism actually includes cutting out animal products for all purposes, including clothing. I don't have much leather clothes, but I'm not getting rid of my belts or dress shoes. For me, for now, it's just about the diet.