Vegan Marathoning
I’m currently training for my first marathon and have been looking for tips for vegans. Most of the forums and sites I’ve found have just been discussing the regular issues of marathon training. I’m left to think that vegan training is no different but without specialized products that cater to us or vegan meal plans, I don’t think it’s the same at all. I intend to post on here any tips or products I find that are specifically vegan and also to post any advice I find or have on what to eat as well.
All marathon trainers recommend replenishing your body’s protein stores as soon as possible after every run to help repair muscle damage and prevent soreness and injury. Most sites I’ve seen stress that the first 15-30 minutes after a run is the optimal time for protein absorption and that, following a run, the first thing you should do is wolf down some high-protein energy bar or shake. I finally found a Vegan Protein shake (SAVAS Aqua Soy Protein--see post).
So far I have developed the habit of eating a can of minced seitan (Saniku’s “Gluten Burger”) mixed with ½ Tbsp of ketchup and ½ Tbsp of sweet chili sauce (just for a bit of flavour) and accompanied by a glass of V8 juice (from Costco) with a tsp of spirulina mixed in (ordered from home). This power lunch seems to be doing a great job of keeping my body energized and free from pain. 
Today’s post-running meal was even simpler than the one above. I just took a block of tofu, pressed out some of the water, put it in a bowl, and added a swipe of ginger paste and about 1-2 Tbsp of ½ sodium soy sauce. It’s a delicious, high-protein, low-calorie, quick, filling, easy snack. 
One of the obstacles I have faced with vegan protein sources is that they tend to also be high in calories. I am hoping to lose weight (or at least not gain) while doing this training and so have compiled a little chart of my favourite vegan protein sources as arranged by calories per gram of protein and yen per gram of protein (I know, I’m an excel nerd, what can I say). Let me know what you think…
| Calories/gram | Yen/gram | Soy Protein Shake | 4.79 | FD Tofu | 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gluten Meat | 6.23 | Tofu | 4.1 | |
| Gluten Burger | 10.12 | Soybeans | 5.5 | |
| FD Tofu | 10.14 | Kidney Beans | 7.5 | |
| Tofu | 10.90 | Gluten Burger | 8.7 | |
| Tempeh | 12.23 | Mixed Beans | 8.7 | |
| Mixed Beans | 12.88 | Chickpeas | 9.8 | |
| Soybeans | 13.33 | Gluten Meat | 11.2 | |
| Kidney Beans | 14.98 | Tempeh | 13.0 | |
| Chickpeas | 19.02 | Protein Shake | 13.64 |
