The quick road to being vegan...

So a quick update from the last month or so.  In an earlier post I had set out racing plans for all of this winter and spring, as well as most of next year beginning with the Topeka to Auburn Half Marathon in late January.  That date has come and gone, without me running a race.  So what happened?   A couple of big news type of things.

In early to mid December I decided I wanted to give vegetarianism another shot for a couple reasons.  First, I've had problems controlling my weight while running, and had read that vegetarian diets can help balance out calorie intake, and also leads to higher quality calories (more micro-nutrients per calorie consumed).  As a society, our access to meat isn't really idea, most of it coming from corporate outfits at high fat and crappy quality.  So since that time I have been a full vegetarian, with two relapses onto meat (both came while visiting family, not wanting to be rude and turn down their food). 

In early January, I took time to evaluate my diet, and how everything was going.  I was feeling much better, while running and not running.  The overall advantage seems to be more high-quality nutrients taken in, and not having heavy foods in my stomach while running.   While feeling better generally, I noticed that I was still taking in a lot of unhealthy fats through dairy products.  I'm now trying to phase out dairy products which is going well, and I'm again feeling better. 

So, what do I eat now?  Mainly fresh foods that I make at home.  One disadvantage is it's difficult to  find foods in restaurants.  Here's a quick list of some of my current favorites:

• Vegetable stir fry with brown rice.
• Black bean burritos with avocado.
• Pan-seared brussels sprouts with peantus.
• Hummus with habanero sauce on pita.
• Cumin lentils with fresh cabbage and lime juice.

In other news, I had an injury at the end of December, which is what prevented me from competing at Topeka to Lawrence, and has put off any current plans till April.  The injury appears to be extensor tendinitis in the toes/forefoot of my left foot.  This injury can be caused by (among other things) running on icy and snowy surfaces as mentioned here. 

So I've been taking it easy for the last few weeks.. even took nearly an entire week off. We'll see what happens.  My weekly mileage totals since mid December look like this:  60,61,35,10,4,0,20,34,41.  Point is I'm on the upswing of this, and happy to be back to running.  I think a conservative strategy, as well as my new diet will keep me healthy.

My next race will be the Kansas Marathon.  The starting line is less than a mile from my house, so I guess I can't really skip it in good concious.  :)   Also I've been tracking my mileage on dailymile.  Cool program, my profile can be found here.