<p>Kudos, MomWC. I was going to ask what the streak goal was, but it sounds like its just to keep going ;)</p>
<p>Congrats, MOfWC!!! </p>
<p>No streak for me, but I’m still running… :)</p>
<p>Been reading the book “Eat and Run” by Scott Jurek — the champion Ultra Marathoner. He has been a plant-based eater since 1999 which surprised me that an extreme ultra endurance athlete could maintain that type of performance on a vegan diet. I’ve been thinking of embarking on this kind of a diet. Anyone else explored/considering/doing a plant-based diet? Seems like it is a lot of WORK just in terms of preparation/cooking/etc. I was vegan for a week back in 1980 when I was trying to impress my vegan girlfriend. Had a steak at dinner the first night I met her parents and it went downhill after that.</p>
<p>I read Jurek’s book and was very impressed, but like you said, he puts a LOT of time into his food preparation. Look at some of the stuff he carries with him, too! I honestly think that if someone prepared my food for me and that my social activities were restricted, I could do it. I DO think it is a healthy way to eat. I think it is difficult for people in normal life, though. I have become a believer in grass fed beef (I don’t eat much beef anyway- but I love hamburgers) and other more organic meats. </p>
<p>I’m thinking that preparation/cooking would be my downfall. I think I’d rather run for an hour than spend an hour in the kitchen. Unless of course McDonald’s offers the Big MacLentil burger soon. (His Lentil Burger recipe sounded delicious)</p>
<p>Chuckle… I think it’s fair to say that I have never considered a vegan ultra-marathon lifestyle. 
</p>
<p>I did have a salad for lunch, though… </p>
<p>Half serious- the problem with the Big McLentil Burger is God knows what’s in the bun! You basically can’t eat ANY processed foods. Which is a good idea, but not all that practical, unfortunately.</p>
<p>Awesome streak, MOWC. When I eat beef, I buy grass fed (I can usually find it in Whole Foods). Fish is my primary source of protein; I like it and I can get great fresh fish because I live in the Boston area. I grew up in the midwest and thought I hated fish because I never had the real stuff–my mom made fish sticks and other processed, breaded kinds of fish.</p>
<p>Walked 6 miles today–there was still snow on the ground but it was in the 30s. Should be warmer tomorrow.</p>
<p>4.75 miles of trail running today. I found a really nice place to run.</p>
<p>Gotta love New Hampshire. Where else can you go to a concert and every single person in the audience is wearing a fleece and LLBean boots? :)</p>
<p>What a show. Robert Randolph and the Family Band. Amped up. Third row aisle seat, my ears are ringing. Where else can you hear a pedal steel guitar version of Jimi Hendrix’ signature song:</p>
<p>[Voodoo</a> Chile](<a href=“Robert Randolph - Voodoo Chile - YouTube”>Robert Randolph - Voodoo Chile - YouTube)</p>
<p>No food tracking for me today. Nice little restaurant down the street from the venue. Martini. Crab chowder. Spinach salad. Fried oysters. Crab cake.</p>
<p>Sounds like you had a wonderful evening, idad.</p>
<p>So did I - ran 5 miles on my Precor. A friend called me on my cell in the middle of the run, and we chatted for a while. She did not even realize that I was running until I told her so. :)</p>
<p>So, that means that you must have been running in MKAT’s Zone 1… :)</p>
<p>Sounds about right ;). Running at 8:30 min pace allows me to chat. I have no idea what my heart rate was, since I’m just not into adding another piece of elastic around my chest. :)</p>
<p>^i have a feeling if someone called me during exercise they might hang up and call the paramedics :)</p>
<p>Temps dropping back down to freezing today and its Barry Robaix road race in these parts (big gravel cycling race.) I’m hoping for no major crashes with the ice. I think it was last year a friend actually pulled out mid race because the ice was wicked – several people were injured. Too bad we don’t have yesterday’s weather today. It was sunny and 40s. I’ll be down at the race for a spell and suspect a little sliver of spring might have been groovy for both riders and spectators Oh well.</p>
<p>Growing up, I had a friend whose family was vegetarian, which was rarer back then than today. A lot of food prep went on in that house. The same family later went to live in an ashram in Cali. My friend left there and ended up at the same college as me. By the time we reconnected, she’d “rebelled” and become a meat-eater. Her theory, tongue in cheek, was all the labor around pure food prep, particularly at the ashram, seemed to serve the purpose of keeping women in the kitchen or the garden while the guys sat around and meditated (or medicated) :)</p>
<p>I do think the crap in processed foods cause as much dysfunction in our bodies as everything else, but like MomWC, I think I’d need a cook and a nearby coop to manage ;)</p>
<p>And I worry about young vegetarians like my son’s gf who are vegetarians on principle but not necessarily cooks or into nutrient science. It’s so easy to rob yourself of protein and load up on useless carbs and sugar when you’re busy and hungry. That’s true whether you’re vegetarian or not, but its pretty hard to get enough good protein even when you’re not restricting a major source of it!</p>
<p>Treadmills + cell phones - I think I would pull a “George Jetson” within 30 seconds. Am I dating myself :)?</p>
<p>My sister is a vegan and when we’ve gone to restaurants of her choosing, I’ve found it very difficult to find food that meets my needs. Either way too many carbs and starches (yes, IDad, even I have a limit on the amount of carbs I will eat at a meal 
) or too much oil in the food for me to tolerate well. Some vegan foods and meals can be tasty but in general vegan just doesn’t work for me.</p>
<p>Experimenting with my upper body weight routine. 3 x 4-8 rep heavy work sets for each exercise with a couple of warmup sets of 10 reps beforehand and a 10 rep pump set at the end. Very traditional exercises like benches, lat pull downs, shoulder presses, DB curls and tricep push downs. What makes it different from other routines I’ve done is that instead of increasing the weight for each work set, I’m keeping the weight constant for all 3 and when I hit 8 reps for all 3 work sets, I’ll increase the weight by 5%.</p>
<p>Suppose to hit the 60’s today so it looks like a 50+ mile ride at 9:00. Finally, a cure for my indoor cycling induced psychosis!</p>
<p>BunsenBurner - and that’s the beauty to using ventilatory thresholds to set your training zones, no gadgets!</p>
<p>I’ve wondered about talking on the phone while on the dreadmill, but like kmcmom, I’m afraid it would frighten the other party. </p>
<p>Sounds like a good evening, iDad. </p>
<p>50 miles, outside, high 50’s - low 60’s, ah, so good. My best therapy for the soul.</p>
<p>MNK- as a person with plenty of experience in treadmill running, I can imagine how painful indoor cycling feels compared to the real deal. It is awesome that the weather gave you a break. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I get a break, too, for my long run tomorrow.
Speaking of random cartoons, have you seen The Triplets of Belleville? Plenty of indoor cycling in there. :)</p>
<p>Mnk, you should have come north to the Barry Roubaix and done the 62 “killer.”
Conditions were decent, bit of sun and temps hovering 32-34ish. My friend won her age group in the “chiller” (25) and her team fared faily well in the “thriller” (36). No crashes! Yay!</p>