Going Vegan

Hi Healthy, Happier Bear Readers! I’m Tori from In Love and Peanut Butter. Ashley was kind enough to let me take over the blog today to tell you my Marathon + Moderation story.

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I’m a twenty-something from St. Pete Florida completely obsessed with running, biking, swimming and, yep, peanut butter. I live in Saint Petersburg, Florida with my amazing boyfriend, Patrick. I started running in 2009 as a part of Team and Training and have been constantly training for my next race ever since.

I decided to tackle a huge milestone this year, my first ultra-marathon.

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Call me crazy, but I knew if I put together a well thought out training plan and took it one day at a time this goal was completely feasible. However, I needed to take care of one thing before setting off on my training journey.

For more than 5 years I’ve suffered from chronic stomach pain. This made my relationship with running a bit complicated. I’d often had to skip trainings because I just wasn’t feeling well. Any runner out there knows just how frustrating that can be.

Generally, chronic GI issues and ultra-marathons don’t mix well. I was determined to find a solution. I’ve been to 2 primary care physicians, seen multiple GI specialists, had food allergy testing, gone through more ‘oscopies than I care to remember, and yet nothing of concern was ever found.

I was prescribed a long list of medications for everything from stress to digestive issues and still, nothing helped. To be honest, the side-effects of most of the medications inconvenienced me more than the chronic pain. In my time in and out of the doctor’s office I started reading a lot on holistic approaches to health and healing without medicine. It was amazing to me to find out just how much a healthy diet can do for total health. I decided that I needed to find a diet that would allow me to accomplish my goal.

I made a slow transition to a vegan diet. I eliminated dairy and red meat first then slowly phased out turkey and chicken. The last thing to go was eggs. With every small change I began to see a dramatic improvement in my health and an even greater improvement in my running.

One of my biggest concerns was the effect it would have on my training. I was concerned that I wouldn’t have the energy to put the miles into 50k training that I wanted to. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Since transitioning to a vegan diet I have set a PR in every distance and found that I have more energy than ever before.

The new found energy made training enjoyable. I began running 4 or 5 days week and joined a local running group. I actually looked forward to my 20-mile days knowing that I didn’t have to worry about my stomach keeping me from finishing.

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I’m happy to say that on April 7th I completed the Croom Fools Run 50k. I ran 31 miles without a moment of GI trouble. It was without question the hardest thing that I’ve ever done, but worth every step.

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While adopting a vegan diet was the best decision for me, it was an incredibly personal decision. I certainly don’t feel that vegan diet is right for everyone.

Getting my health under control has given me the confidence to tackle new endeavors. That would be the best advice I could give about running. Find what works for you and do it. Don’t feel pressured to change your training or routine because everyone else is doing. Do what makes you happy, confident and feel good. Run because you love it. Run because it’s fun. Just run for the heck of it. Its just one foot in front of the other. Most of us aren’t going to get out there and win the race, so you might as well enjoy the moment.

Next Monday I start training for my next adventure, the Ironman 70.3 Augusta this September. I’m looking forward to the healthier, happier road ahead.

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Reach the Beach Runner #12: Leg 1

It’s a rainy Tuesday in New York City and I’m still in denial that the weekend is over. Running Reach the Beach with Team Off Balance was something that didn’t happen overnight. In fact, the first emails started circulating back in January! That’s four months of anticipation, planning and emails that all culminated in 31:47:24 hours of running 200 miles through the ski resorts, back roads and beach towns of Massachusetts.

I had great intensions of posting this last night, but I had a last minute opportunity to attend the 40th Anniversary FiFi Awards at Lincoln Center. Having never been to Lincoln Center before, the night was amazing! Jane Lynch, the master of ceremonies, was hilarious and it doesn’t hurt that our number one fragrance launch of last year, Gucci Guilty PH, went home with some awards! IMG_2547

It was a wonderful night of celebrating but I don’t think wearing 4 inch heels helped my sore legs at all.

Sorry, now that I’m done with that tangent, let’s get back to Reach the Beach Day 1!

We were able to sleep until 7am on Friday as we didn’t have to hit the road until 8:45. The group gathered in the hotel’s restaurant for a hearty breakfast of champions. While I knew I wasn’t running until far later, I still didn’t want to risk it by eating anything to heavy. Therefore, I had a piece of toast with peanut butter, a small portion of scrambled eggs, and lots of fruit.

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*Photo courtesy of Tina

When we headed out the vans we were greeted by the most amazing weather you could imagine. The sun was shining, blue sky abound and the temperature was a perfect 70 degrees! Since I missed the van decorating on Thursday, it was exciting to see the vans in all their glory for the first time! I loved the fun sayings covering the vans’ windows.

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Getting us all loaded and in the vans was a bit of another story. It was kind of like hearding cats as we were all so excited that getting into the van was the last thing on our mind.   Eventually we got our acts together and sorted through all our gear making sure that our running clothes for leg 1 and food was most accessible, while storing everything else in the back and under seats.

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We headed to the start of the relay at Wachusett Mountain, a ski resort about 20 minutes away from our hotel. IMG_2449I was immediately overwhelmed when we pulled into the lot and were surrounded by at least 60 other vans and teams of women, men, and ultra teams who were prepared to run more than 26 miles per person in the next 24 hours! Before we could get separated, our photographer snagged us for an official team picture, filled with smiles and clean hair versus the sweat and muck that would grace our finish picture.

IMG_4816 (640x480)Luckily, Reach the Beach is very organized and wants everyone to have a safe experience. Amongst the chaos of the race start, they organize the area into four clear stations which teams must go through before they can start.

IMG_2450 IMG_2452 The safety check is where they ensured that we had proper night running gear such as headlamps, vests, and flashing lights which are required to be worn by runners from 6pm to 6am, regardless of how much sunlight is shining.

Photo via Tina

After safety we were able to pick up our bibs which featured our team number and our individual number which would coincide with the order which we’d run for our team. Team 96 and runner number 12 meant that I’d have lots of fun but be faced with the most anticipation of anyone on our team! Early in the planning for Reach the Beach when Tina requested our input regarding legs I knew I wanted to be the last runner. After reading so many relay recaps, I thought it would be fun to be the final runner everyone cheered through at the end and if I know anything about myself it’s that I’ll always finish a race, which made me a dependable number 12 choice.

IMG_2456Sadly, Melissa was in Van 1 which means that this is one of the few pictures we shared together before we went our separate ways!

We headed out to the lift area for a few more team pictures and a New York City picture before the action started. IMG_2457

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We were able to spot Gia who was on another relay team for some last minute motivation and a quick picture before heading down to the start.

At 10:20 Gretchen toed the line and headed straight up the mountain for her rigorous first leg of the journey. This is the shortest leg of the entire relay but also straight up the ski slope!

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Then the waiting began for Van 2. We had five hours or so before our first runner, Tina, would kick off the excitement for us. We spent the day lounging on grassy knolls, sipping Dunkin Donuts iced coffee, eating lunch at Panera, and getting to know each other better. I really enjoyed having this time as this was my first chance meeting our team mom and epic driving, Monica, and fellow blogger Elizabeth.

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PhotoIMG_2466 Our last spot allowed us to cheer runners heading into the last half mile of leg 6 right before they transitioned to runner number 7 of Van 12. It was a blast seeing all the different types of runners. Before long we headed up to the hill to watch for Sarah who was going to be blasting through the transition area within minutes. This girl may have been worried about her first relay but you would have never known. She was smiling ear to ear when she ran through and even had energy to bust out a burpee post transition!

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This is when the real adrenaline started. For the next few hours our van would drop the runner off in the transition area, cheer her on as she started, meet on the side of the road around the half way point with water and motivation, hop back in the van and get to the next transition point to cheer the runner through their sprint to the transition. One thing that I didn’t realize was that there were no aid stations along the course. Therefore, having the van along the course was really important especially during the hottest and darkest parts of the relay.

IMG_2471 IMG_2473 201205202240.jpgIMG_2476 IMG_2480 IMG_2489 Before my run I fueled with half a New York bagel which I brought from the city, some nut butter and half a banana.

IMG_2483 The wait was finally over and it was my turn to experience the relay! After waiting all day I was super excited and knew that it’d be a wonderful leg as it coincided with sunset! In fact, we realized that I’d have the chance to run at sunset, sunrise, and the finale. Not too shabby!

Leg 12 was 6.01 miles and would take me through a few small towns and into Hopkinton State Park.

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Luckily, the run was just as gorgeous as I’d hoped!

 

The run itself felt pretty good since my legs were so anxious to run. The hills were an expected challenge but I just kept pushing through them knowing that my team was waiting on the flip side. I had the great fun to run with a fellow blogger from Team Vansome for about 2 of the miles. We chatted about the relay itself and our preparations. Going into the state park in the pitch black made me thankful to have her by my side though it was fun to crank my legs up into full gear and sprint the final quarter mile to pull ahead. Call me competitive but that final sprint is my favorite part of any race!

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Reach the Beach: Thank You

I am currently coming off the best runner’s high I’ve felt since November of 2010 when I finished my first marathon! Send me to the back roads of Massachusetts with 11 other health and wellness bloggers who also love running and there is no way I can’t leave the weekend feeling inspired.

Team Off Balance

Before

After

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Van 2

Going into the weekend I had a lot on my mind.

  • I had to miss the New Balance tour on Thursday due to work. Would I miss all the team bonding?
  • Will my lack of speed annoy or upset my other teammates?
  • How will my legs handle the 17 miles within a 32 hour time period?
  • Will we get on each others nerves due to the tight space and lack of sleep?

Luckily, my nerves didn’t get the best of me and tonight I’m lying on the couch with my compression sleeves on, water and champagne both within arm’s reach, texting my van mates, and still smiling at the fact that I feel that my running brain and muscles are stronger than ever.

Thanks to some awesome mental and hill coaching in Van 2 and the enthusiasm of my support network, I rocked 3 hilly legs this weekend and kept an average pace of 9:47 which is a wonderful way to enter marathon training.

So, let’s work backwards and start this recap with officially thanking the people who made this weekend possible. Come back tomorrow and Tuesday for my recap of Day 1 and Day 2!

Lovely ladies of Van 1 & 2: Thank you for cheering me through each of the legs, motivating me to stay strong, introducing me to the Harvard baseball team, and for cheering for me in the heat and sun last night at 5pm when the beach and beer beckoned you!

Monica & Nicole: Thank you for serving not only as our New Balance resources over the past few weeks but also as our inspirations and coaches this weekend. You kept us strong during the wee hours of the night, donned banana costumes to scare away the monsters in the dark, kept us on track and at the right place at the right time, and allowed us to enjoy the weekend virtually stress free!

Kristen: None of us can believe that you not only organized this partnership between Reach the Beach, New Balance and the bloggers but also rocked out the relay yourself! Thank your for being such a huge cheerleader and organizing everything from A to Z. You really thought of everything!

Martin: We were each elated to partner with you and your passion, Reach the Beach. It is hands down the most well organized race I’ve ever run. Your awesome race left me dreaming of next year and the New Hampshire one as well!

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