The perfect fuel for my relay! Vegan banana protein bars!
Where have I been? Not on my blog obviously. It has been a busy summer of travelling around and I enjoyed every minute of it. However, I am very thankful to be home and hopefully I will be able to get back into my regular workout routine (and blogging of course!).
Yes, I am in training mode. I can’t go too long without training for something. Goals are important. Without goals I would be lost. Without goals I would get lazy and sit on the couch all day. August is a busy month for accomplishing goals. Tomorrow I set sail on the goal of completing my first relay… 200 miles through the mountains. I think I will spend about 19 miles with my feet actually hitting the pavement (or dirt) while the rest of the 181 miles will be spent in a van. The more I think about it, the less fun it sounds. Oh well, at I will be able to check “relay” off my bucket list.
Since my friend talked me into spending 2 days living out of a van (sleeping bags, too many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, porta potties, stinky socks, etc.), I decided to talk her into doing a triathlon. She hesitated for a bit, but eventually agreed. Not sure if she is happy with her decision, but she isn’t the type to give up. So, that sprint triathlon is scheduled for this month. Not only did I talk my friend into doing a triathlon, but I also managed to talk my 9-year old daughter into doing one. Score! I was elated, but then I was curious about her motive so I asked her if SHE really wanted to do it and wasn’t doing it because momma wanted her to do it. When she said that SHE wanted to do it, then I was able to jump for joy and take her for a ride on her bike.
But that’s not all. My biggest August challenge is focused on my diet. I have decided to go dairy free for the whole month of August. And no, I am not following a vegan diet. I will call this Heidi’s feel good diet. I just want to find out if I will feel better without dairy. Dairy is known to cause inflammation so maybe I can hone my body down a bit and create more energy (since I am lacking in that department). I am not trying to lose weight. I am not trying to follow a fad. I am just trying to feel better. My diet will still include seafood and eggs (I am only a tad crazy… not that crazy).
Going dairy free is much harder than it appears. I already have some tools of the trade because my husband is lactose intolerant. However, after reading a few labels at the grocery store last night I realized that some kind of dairy (milk, whey, casein, etc.) is in almost everything! Even in most bread! I won’t go overboard, but there are a few vegan options I am willing to try. However, if someone cooks the potatoes in butter I won’t have a fit. We shall see how I feel at the end of August. I will probably be craving a pizza with extra cheese.
Good luck to me (and to my family who has to put up with me)!
Run Like My Mother 
Wow – the Wild West Relay sounds like it will be a fantastic experience. I’ve just completed a 24 hour team relay (adidas Thunder Run) in the UK, but it was based on a different model – there was a 10k course and each member of the team (solo, pair, 3-5 or 6-8) completed as many laps as they wanted to in whatever order they wanted to. We had a baton to hand over and there was chip timing, but we all got to camp on site. I didn’t sleep as much as I’d hoped to and the weather wasn’t great (incredibly hot with some torrential rain thrown in), but it was a really enjoyable weekend.
Good luck with your dairy free diet. Will you be using vegan alternatives such as soy milk or almond milk?
Hi! Thank you for reading my blog! I just finished the relay and it was a lot of fun. Your event sounds like fun as well (minus the weather :). As for the dairy free diet, I have already been using almond milk regularly. I try to avoid soy milk because too much soy isn’t necessarily a good thing (especially for people with thyroid issues). I have tried a few of the vegan cheeses, but it is hard to find ones that are tasty.