April 18th

I'm Back. Had a bit of a technology time out as school got down to crunch time with a bunch of assignments and tests and that. I still have one exam left but its in a week so no worries. Rugby training has been going very well and I've started doing contact and the knee feels great, no problems at all. I actually just got back from a practice with the Ontario Blues; the mens provincial team. I was surprised to be asked out so early after my return to play but went out and felt pretty good. It was a good fast paced session and I held my own. I still have a lot of work to do to get back to the level I was playing at before the injury but I'm fairly happy with how things have gone so far. That was my workout for today and I have a club practice tomorrow night so just have to rest up for that. Here's what I ate today:

10am Muesli with soy milk
1pm Smoothie - pineapple, mixed berries, soy milk, spinach, flax meal; vitamins (multi,b,c,fish oil)
5:30pm Homemade Vegan Quesadilla
Gatorade during and after training
10:30pm Stir fry - red and green peppers, chilli peppers, green onion, carrot, edamame, peanuts, natural peanut butter, pineapple, noodles
12am fish oil capsule

Its about a week since I've decided to go vegan prior to the start of my season. I ate a lot while training to develop size and strength so now that I'm just maintaining strength and focusing on being healthy and energetic for rugby I decided to go back to veganism for a bit. I feel much healthier without the animal products in my diet and I'm losing fat which isn't the goal but a nice bonus. I feel a little more comfortable at a lower body fat percent then I'm at anyway and looking good never hurt the confidence. So far I feel great despite being in exams and a little stressed.
The Vegan Quesadilla was a recipe I came up with as I was grocery shopping today. I sauteed up some red peppers, red onion, jalepenos, and garlic, then mixed it in with some chopped spinach and an avacado. Mashed all that together with some lime juice, chipotle chilli powder, paprika, cumin, sea salt, and pepper. Then put the filling between two whole wheat tortillas and put it in the oven until the tortillas were crunchy and served it with some salsa. This recipe kicked ass and I'm rather proud of myself for coming up with a great tasting vegan version. Didn't miss the cheese or meat at all, I actually prefer the version I made

Thurs March 17th

St. Paddy's day. Didn't get drunk though, just a couple pints after rugby training. Spent the entire day before rugby doing homework. For some reason I tend to have assignments due or an exam the day after St. Paddy's; this year is no exception with a short nutrition assignment due. Just analyzing a study on the impact of a caffeine and 6% carbohydrate solution (think putting caffeine into Gatorade, not a red bull which has way too much sugar). According to the study, the group that got caffeine and carb mixture had much better endurance than a control group that received only the carb drink over a ninety minute soccer simulated training session. Might read a bit more into this kind of research and see if its worth trying. Anyways, the rugby session went well. Really starting to get my quickness and sprinting speed back and getting back used to reading situations. My fitness level is already starting to get much better also. Here is what I ate today:

8:30am Muesli with soy milk
10:30am 2 eggs, spicy genoa ham, spinach, tomato, cheddar on whole wheat
1pm Whole wheat spaghettini, tomato, spinach, walnuts, basil pesto
3pm Whey protein, peanut butter, natural honey, soy milk
5pm Beef and Guiness stew
9:30pm Steak and mushroom pie, mashed potatoes and gravy, beer (Cheat meal)

The beef and guiness stew was homemade, big chunks of beef, carrots, potatoes, peas cooked in a rue of spelt flour and guiness. It was pretty good but not the best stew I've made before. Made a big batch so I'll toss a couple servings into the freezer for quick meals. Had the pie and potatoes and beer after rugby in the clubhouse to celebrate the festive occasion. I was done my assignment by then so I could have had more drinks but just didn't really feel like it. That's all for now I guess.

Tues March 15

Woke up early and got to the pool. I am not a swimmer in any sense of the word. I can swim, I'm just not efficient at all. That being said I was focusing on a few aspects of technique; unfortunately I don't have a swim cap yet so I couldn't keep my face straight down so I'm going to buy one asap. Due to my lack of good technique I am not very good at pacing myself. It was a good workout though; swam for about thirty minutes, consisting mostly of about 2-3 lengths followed by either a short rest or switching to the breast stroke for a few to catch my breath. Spent the rest of the day in class or working on an assignment. Here's what I ate:

9am - Protein shake, apple
10:30am - Muesli with milk
12:30pm - Turkey, cheddar, spinach, tomato, mustard on whole wheat; 2 clementines
3:30pm - Amy's Organic Vegetable Barley Soup, 2 slices whole wheat bread
6:30pm Whole wheat spaghettini, spinach, tomato, walnuts, pesto
10pm - Smoothie - Mixed berries, 2 bananas, soy milk, spinach, flax meal

Pretty normal day food wise. Not a very exciting day in general; just the swim and some homework today.

Mon March 14th

Had a good training session today. Lifted heavy but cut down on the number of sets because of it being a deload week. Body felt good. Squats are almost at my pre-surgery weight; that being said I never used to squat as much as I should have. My modified glute ham raises are getting very strong. Also been getting some definition on my abs. This is just a bonus as it was never really a goal... It also goes to show you that you don't need to do 100s of crunches or sit ups. The only time I ever do them is at rugby training because the team is doing them. I just focus more on things like planks and rollouts and avoid spinal flexion exercises. I do need to start working on my cardio a bit more though. I did ten minutes of intervals on the treadmill at the end of my workout and although not terrible I need to put some extra cardio work in. Here's what I ate today:

7:30am muesli with soy milk
10:30am Protein shake, apple, vitamins (multi,b,c,fish oil)
11:30am Turkey, spinach, tomato, mustard on whole wheat
3pm - Smoothie - mixed berries, 2 bananas, soy milk, flax meal, spinach, olive oil
7pm - Gnocchi, bacon, onion, mushrooms, olive oil, lemon juice, sage
10:30pm - almonds, peanuts, cashews, pecans, raisins, dates; fish oil capsule

Happy with my diet today, my dinner was really good. Bought some stewing beef and other stuff at the grocery store today so I think I'm going to make a beef and guiness stew for St. Patrick's day this thursday, and make enough to freeze for future meals. I'll post the recipe I come up with. Never made one before but I've had enough to know the ingredients; so I'll just figure it out from there (who needs recipes when you can experiment). I've decided to go swimming tomorrow morning to get that cardio work in while not beating the body up too much, hopefully I can do this once or twice a week until the end of school. Off to bed so I can get up and get to the pool.

Sun March 13th

Another day of mostly school work. Did some reading on Lionel Conacher for an assignment. He was one badass dude. First off his nickname was The Big Train. In one day he scored 15 points for the winning Toronto Argonauts in the Grey Cup final then rushed across town to help win a hockey game. Another day he hit the winning double in a baseball game then went across town to help his lacrosse team that was down 2-1; he scored two goals and they won (What did you do today?). He was a national light heavyweight boxing champ, won a couple Stanley cups, and was named Canada's Outstanding Athlete of the Half-Century. Oh he then went on to become a member of provincial parliament for Toronto. Like I said... badass. Makes me feel like I waste a lot of time. Anyway here is what I ate today:

9:30am Muesli with soy milk
12:30pm Bacon, egg, spinach, tomato on whole wheat; vitamins (multi,b,c,fish oil)
4pm Smoothie - Banana, soy milk, whey protein, peanut butter, natural honey, oatmeal
8pm Salmon, baked potato, asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms
10:30pm Smoothie - Mixed berries, 2 bananas, soy milk, flax meal, spinach; fish oil capsule

Ate pretty well today; slept in a bit though because of the time change and a late night out last night. Got in a fair amount of fruits and veggies today though which makes me happy and healthy. Gonna go plan out my workout for tomorrow and get stuff packed up.

Sat March 12th

Hit the gym today; I love my school gym on the weekends when everyone is too hungover and busy recovering to get to the gym. Never have to wait for anything. Nice easy workout to start my deload week and finished off with some sport specific medicine ball passes off a wall. Other than that I relaxed a bit, did some school work, and watched the Canadian University Seven's Rugby Championships online. Saw UBC take down Mac for third place then UVic beat Western in the final. Neither of the games were close; likely because the teams out east are coming to the end of their season while Mac and Western came together for this tournament. That being said UVic and UBC always have strong programs and have a few national players. Also went to the movies at night and saw Drive Angry 3D; it was surprisingly great. Over the top, cheesy action movie full of terrible one liners... all that in the greatest way possible. This is what I ate today:

9:30am Muesli with soy milk

11:30am Chocolate milk; vitamins (multi,b,c,fish oil)

2pm Cheddar cheese scrambled eggs, bacon on fresh baked roll

5pm Whole wheat rotini, spinach, capers, tomato, walnuts, olive oil, lemon juice

8:30pm Gnocchi, spinach, tomato sauce

11pm Almonds, peanuts, cashews, raisins, dates

12:30pm Fish oil capsule

Had the nuts and dried fruit at the movies (sneaky sneaky) instead of candy and crap. Another pretty good day of eating. Had the chocolate milk post workout. Should have had more fruits in my diet, especially since I've been fighting off a cold lately. Oh well, just another lesson for tomorrow.

Fri March 11th

Took a day off today from lifting and training. Much needed with how I've been feeling over the last few days. So I spent the day cleaning and doing chores. I have a bunch of assignments coming up and I hate working in a mess so got my room nice and organized. That's really all I did today, went out for dinner later and just relaxed at night. Here's what I ate:

9am - muesli with soy milk
11am - 3 egg spinach and cheddar omelette on whole wheat; vitamins (multi,b,c,fish oil)
3:30pm - Smoothie - Mixed berries, 2 bananas, soy milk, soy protein, flax meal, spinach
7:30pm - Bacon poutine, chicken wings, beer (Cheat meal)

Didn't eat a whole lot throughout the day when I was cleaning just because I was sidetracked but ate a few pounds of wings later that night at Wild Wing. Have a workout planned for Saturday so I'm looking forward to that after a nice bit of rest today.