a vegan cyclist's foray into IMOVIE

Although I maintain a cycling blog and a vegan blog, I haven't been blogging much for a while, and haven't contributed to this blog for ages. Apart from my wife and I now having a six month old (vegan) baby, I think the other reasons I'm not blogging are that a) I might have said all I have to say (how many times can you actually point out how silly it is to eat red meat?) b) I'm probably a good example of this goodbye-blogging trend, as discussed recently in Newsweek.
One quote from the article reads as follows "Blogging has withered as a pastime, with the number of 18 to 24 year olds who identify themselves as active bloggers dropping by half between 2006 and 2009".

Instead of blogging, the new hobby might be playing with camcorders and IMOVIE on the mac laptop I now have access to through work. I've had some fun recently recording my bike rides through the local countryside, and piecing a video together in IMOVIE.

One example is here (and the embedded video below is cut off, so if you're interested, use the YouTube link and watch the video there):



Another one is here.

So that's my fun these days - hope everyone is doing well.

McMocking Compassion?

Has anybody noticed the new McDonalds add for the fillet o fish?

Vegan Ultraman

Richard at JAI Ultra has written a couple of good posts about vegan nutrition and ultra-endurance sports training on his blog. He competed (and did really well in) the Ultraman Championships last year—It's a two-day event, covering twice the distance of Ironman...

Part I

Part II

Hope everyone's having fun getting ready for 2009 races/events/training. I know I'm LOVING getting back into it after a year off. Can't wait to read about what everyone's got planned!

-Jen

What I learned from injury. Part I

I've been away for a while.

For more than a year, I've been nursing a mystery left hip injury that no one has been able to figure out. The injury first appeared in October 2007 after an especially long and hard road season. Two months into the cyclocross season, the pain was excruciating. I played tough guy and finished out the 'cross season. Despite the limitations, I won a collegiate conference championship and placed 28th at the US Cyclocross National Championships - my best result at Nationals ever.

I took a month off and hoped that the hip would heal. It didn't. I trained on it through February 08 in preparation for the road season, and it only got worse. The pain progressed from just being in my hip to full blown sciatica that radiated from my lower back to my left foot. At its worst, I couldn't sit, walk, or stand comfortably.

My doctor ordered a series of tests: MRI, X-Ray, EMG, blood tests, and bone scan. Each one showed nothing wrong. I started Physical Therapy and saw some relief of my symptoms but the underlying cause of pain still eluded us.

I got bounced from specialist to specialist. The orthopeadist wanted it to be my spine. The sports med specialist who worked with cyclists wanted it to be vascular. When it wasn't what they wanted, they lost interest.

For the first time in my racing career, I missed the entire road and cyclocross seasons.

It was hard to sit on the sidelines.

I trained just enough over the course of the summer to maintain my fitness but once September came, and it was apparent that I couldn't race cyclocross, I lost all hope in cycling.

I have been fortunate enough to work with a persistent and compassionate sports medicine doctor who has stuck with me. Finally, in September, with the help of a dynamic ultrasound they diagnosed the injury. It is a hip flexor injury. My psoas minor is very, very unhappy and has been so for a while.

It took almost a year for the correct diagnosis. It's taken even longer to see positive changes in my recovery. In the second part, I'll explore what I learned from being so injured for so long and what I'm doing to come back to cycling.

Ironman Louisville

I am racing tomorrow. You can track my race at Ironman.com
I am bib #1649.
Whole Foods Buffet in Louisville was lame. not veg freindly.

Just Three Days Left...

to Vote in the 2008 Veggie Awards!

VegNews is just three days away from closing the 2008 Veggie Award polls, so now is the time to get out the vote! Some of the categories are very close, so let your voice be heard and vote for your favorite vegetarian people, places, and products today.

I would LOVE if you could vote for me under the "ATHLETE" section a few pages in. Keep in mind that you do not have to vote in every category. THANKS!!

All ballots are entered into a Grand Prize Drawing for a chance to win these great prizes:

Grand Prize: NEW YORK CITY URBAN GETAWAY
Second Prize: GLAM GIRL GOODIE BAG
Third Prize: MARSHMALLOW MADNESS GIFT PACK
Plus, Weekly Giveaways! VEGAN COOKIE SMORGASBORD

Click here to vote NOW.

P.S. Polls close at midnight on August 31. Vote now while you have a chance to win these fantastic prizes!

THANKS so much.