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.

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.

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.

I’m happy to say that on April 7^th 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.

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.