Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

wahoo Karen-WAY TO GO ON YOUR 5K JOURNEY!! I'm so proud of you girl-what an accomplishment and your time is excellent.....LOVE the pic too-all decked out in green and great t-shirt display of veganism and fitness!

I'm happy to hear that you've set your sight on yet another 5K......it's great to have a goal! (I too work best with goals in mind!) Cinco de Mayo run would be fun.....maybe Mexican food and margaritas to complete the festivities that day?!?! haha!

Take care and keep up the awesome work!

Yeah, Karen rocks!

I'm so proud of her. She did this training while running and facilitating the New You for the New Year Challenge too, which was a huge project!

Team High Five!

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Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

Thanks so very much, you guys! Your encouragement and praise means so, so much and helps motivate me to keep pushing. So, thank you. I feel very lucky to be part of this community.

Today I ran another 5K!!! Well, it was on the treadmill at the gym, but still! I should've pinned my race bib on my shirt to inspire me! Hahaha, can you imagine seeing that at the gym?!?! Anyway, my goal now is to improve my 5K speed, so what I'm thinking is to run 3.1 miles 2-3 times per week, increasing the speed by 0.1-0.2 mph each week. I'd love to be able to run my next race (May 5?) at a 10:00 mile (6 mph). My average pace on Saturday's race was 11:45 (5.1 mph), so that's what I did today on the treadmill. Then next week I'll bump it up to 5.2/5.3, and so on and so forth each week.

What do y'all think of that plan? Does that make sense? Or would something else be more effective? How many times a week should I plan to run?

I'm so excited! (And I just can't hide it! I'm about to lose control, and I think I like it!) But seriously, I feel like maybe my life has changed this week.... And if so, it all happened on my Gramma's 100th birthday...

Awww, you're so excited!

I love it!

Keep after it. I think your goal and your approach to attain your goal is well thought out and awesome!

All the best with your training.

Keep on smiling. You're looking fantastic! Seriously. I've heard that from a bunch of people recently, and you're hearing it from me too!

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Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

Karen- great idea to have a goal- go girl!
I think you have an effective plan in mind to increase your speed. Just a few thoughts/questions....
Do you plan to crosstrain? How about body weight/weight training 1-2 days pet week? From what I've read borh can help with speed and prevent injury. Do you stretch before and after?

I didn't exercise yesterday, and so even though I'm getting ready for a long trip and leaving very early tomorrow morning, I was determined to fit some exercise in today. So, I went to the gym this evening, thinking I would get a run in. I figured that since I was kinda short on time, and I also thought this would be a good thing to do anyway, I figured I'd run a shorter duration -- 20-25 minutes -- but at a faster speed. So, I set the treadmill to 6.0 mph. That's the speed I was able to run at several weeks ago when 20 minutes was part of my Couch-to-5K training. But, damn, I just couldn't keep at it tonight. I had to stop every several minutes for a 20-30 second break. And even at that, I backed the speed down to 5.5 mph. I SUCKED! I'm not sure which would have felt worse/better: A) skipping the gym today (which would probably make it 3 days in a row, since I'll be traveling all day tomorrow), but believing I could easily run a shorter duration at a faster speed, or B) going and sucking so badly. Oh well. My legs are aching and I'm just so very tired. I'm sure it was just a bad day. I'll be back at it soon.

To be honest (and to answer your question, Lisa), I'm looking forward to getting back in the gym and doing some weights. It felt really good the other day. I would like to make it part of my routine, 2-3 times/week. We'll see how things go.

So tired.... And still have packing to do.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

You'll bounce right back!

Looking forward to seeing you again soon. We'll get some weight training workouts in and it will be awesome!

You can also enjoy running at sea level for a bit this week too

Keep after it! You've made such great progress, so quickly! And you're having a lot of fun too, which is great.

RC

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Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

hang in there Karen! Some days are just like that, I bet there were still people in the gym that saw you running and thought to themselves "I wish I could run like her" even if you were not happy with the total workout overall as long as you gave it ALL you have on that particular day thats all that really matters, and you got there and did it which is sometimes the hardest part. yeah definitely get some lifting sessions worked into your routine, so much fun!

Yeah for you Karen for making it to the gym! That itself is awesome-don't beat yourself up too much over a workout and feelings that you/it "sucked"..... My motto is "some is better than none!"
Feel free to adopt my motto!!! ))

When I have a workout that I feel is sub-optimal, I determine the possible reasons as to why I performed and felt the way I did...... Was it physical factors such as sleep deprivation, hydration status, adequate nutrition, hormones, etc..... Are environmental factors involved? Emotional factors ie STRESS, neg feelings, fear.....After coming up with answers ( NO they are not excuses!), I look at what I can improve upon next time I step up for a workout!

Good for you on wanting to incorporate strength training into your plan!
Hope you enjoy your travel time..... Going for business or pleasure or BOTH?

Great time on your 5k! Well done!

And I hear you that it's frustrating the days when you put in the effort to go and then it feels like it's all wrong. I wholeheartedly agree with poster above that something is better than nothing. I sometimes go out and run just a mile, or lift for 10 minutes, and feel like people at the gym probably think I'm crazy, but to me it's important to just try and keep up the habit.

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Don't forget to be awesome.

Karen, that time was awesome! Congrats!

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Blessed be!
Sherrie

Getting healthier one day at a time
http://www.sherriet.blogspot.com

Heading back home tomorrow, but finally got in some decent exercise today. There's been a little here and there over the past couple weeks of traveling, but not nearly enough. Anyway, here was today's workout:

~5 minute jog to gym
Mountain climbers: 4 sets x 25
Arm Circles: 2 sets x 10 of 4 sizes, both arms

DB hammer curls:
12.5 lbs x 10 each arm
15 lbs x 12 each arm
20 lbs x 8 each arm
15 lbs x 12 each arm

DB concentration curls:
12.5 lbs x 10 each arm
15 lbs x 10 each arm
15 lbs x 10 each arm
15 lbs x 9 each arm

Standing 2-arm straightbar bicep curls:
30 lbs x 10
30 lbs x 10
30 lbs x 8
30 lbs x 10

Reverse grip straightbar bicep curls:
25 lbs x 8 (or 10, couldn't remember)
25 lbs x 10
25 lbs x 10
25 lbs x 10

~5 minute jog home

nice bicep workout!

Great workout! Way to go!

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Check out my Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Bodybuildin ... 497&sr=1-1

Yesterday I did 5K on the treadmill, followed by 20 minutes on the stationary bike. My run wasn't awesome, but considering that I hadn't really run much the past couple weeks, I felt pretty good about it. I ran most of it, with a couple short breaks (I stopped the clock for those) and several minutes of walking. Overall, it was 38:27. Again, not amazing, but I felt good about it nonetheless. I'm also learning that I like running outside more than I thought. Running on the treadmill is starting to bore me, but the main thing is that I overheat. Running outside helps keep me cooler and able to sustain longer, I think. A couple of times I've ran on treadmills that had a built-in fan or had a fan closeby, and that helped a lot. But at my gym, there are no fans.

Yesterday's food was oatmeal with chia and blueberries, a couple of Odwalla bars, bean and spinach burritos, and popcorn with peach habanero hot sauce. (Mmmmm!) Should've had more fruits/veggies. Was dealing with a headache the past couple of days, though, so I was probably choosing more comfort foods.

Back at it today!