Raw Plant Based Living!: triathlon

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Happy New Year! What to be expecting from me.

   Only four days into 2011 and it's still hard to believe that time has flown by so quickly. It seems like only yesterday that I was welcoming in 2010, and now it is passed. 2010 was a wonderful and eventful year for me and I hope it was the same for all of you.

   With this new year comes changes in my life. I enjoyed my first semester of college immensely. I feel that having the chance to live away from home allowed me to grow and explore who I am. I made some amazing friends and had the opportunity to try new activities. I got into rock climbing/bouldering and outdoor cycling; I was able to try my first triathlon and to preform a flying squirrel. However, all good things must come to an end and I am back at home. Union College provided me with a wonderful education but the tuition was just to high for me to stay. So I am now attending my local community college while I look for some scholarships and save my money. If I play my cards right I will be able to attend a very good private university for my last two years of undergraduate studies. My goal is to graduate with my bachelors degree debt free.

   Don't worry though, I still plan on keeping busy and updating this blog more frequently. I have so much planned for the future. Currently I am collaborating with my mom to write and publish a vegan recipe book. It's going to be half raw (mostly LFRV) and half cooked vegan recipes. The goal of this book is to help those who are transitioning from being SAD or vegetarian to being vegan and eventually (hopefully) raw or high raw. Personally, If I get enough feedback from you and those who purchase the finished recipe book I may publish a recipe book with just the raw recipes for those people who have already transitioned from cooked and just want the raw recipes. Also, I am working on starting up my own part-time business this summer. Stay tuned to find out what it will be! =)

   This year I also plan on training as hard as I can while going to school and improve my athletic performance. I have another half-marathon approaching in March and an obstacle course race called The Warrior Dash. I will training outside as often as possible but I will also be training at a gym on the days where the weather is unfavorable. My fitness goal this year is to become a bit more versatile in my athletic abilities.

   I will be working on developing my upper body more this year. I plan to do this through weight training, rock climbing, swimming, and yoga (hopefully). I will still be running and cycling, I just feel that increasing my upper body strength will improve my running. Remember that in running stronger arms give you more power to quicken your pace.

   How does all this effect my blog? I plan on documenting my training more often along with pictures of what I eat. I'm going to try to blog every day that I train, giving as much detail as possible. Blogging my progress will hopefully encourage me to really give it my all and maybe give you readers some ideas.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

2010 Fall Semester Recap

Hello one and all! So sorry for the large gap between my last post and this new one. This semester at school has been rough but I am forging my way through and am nearing the end (yikes!).

This semester has been very busy and intense, but I did manage to take them time to take a lot of pictures to share with you. So here is a brief photographic recap of my first semester of college at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. So far I have. . .

I placed 3rd in the Union College Sprint Triathlon, as I am sure you remember from my last post. These are just a few more pictures that I was able to get my hand on from other people at the race. I was also finally able to upload the video I made after the race to youtube. Click here to watch.

I have taken up bouldering on the rock wall that is located just below the girls' dorms.

I placed 3rd in the Union College Lazy Ironman Competition. The goal was to bike 112 miles, run 26 miles, and swim 2.4 miles in three weeks or less. Even with school and homework I was able to finish all the mileage in 10 days.

During Thanksgiving break I flew home to Georgia, and on Thanksgiving morning I ran the Atlanta Half Marathon. This was my second half marathon this year (and ever). I have a new PB of 2:14:42. My old PB was 2:25:55. I'm getting faster! =D I made along with the pictures I also made a short video on the way home from the race. Click here to watch.

Yes, I am wearing my Vibrams!

I've been working hard at school of course. Being a Biology major is tough, but a lot of fun. Here's me at my three hour (starts at 7:30 am) Bio Lab class running an experiment to measure the rate of oxidation through photosynthesis to determine the respiration rate of the Elodea plant.