Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life

strength.
     
    When selecting an exercise, consider your likes and dislikes, and aim to find one that suits your personality. This sounds like basic advice, and it is. Yet, many people participate in exercise programs they don’t find enjoyable, slogging their way through their workouts. And as you read in Chapter 1, will power is finite. If you force yourself to do daily exercise that you don’t like, it will deplete your will power, making various challenges that crop up in life harder to deal with.
     
    If you want to use exercise to clear your head after a challenging day at work, a run or walk by yourself might be a good choice—if you want exercise to be your time of the day, away from others, solo activities are the way to go. If, however, you like the camaraderie and social aspect of exercising, choose an activity such as an aerobics class or circuit training. If you need motivation to exercise, arrange to work out with a friend: Like any other meeting, scheduling to meet a friend for a workout will help get you into an exercise routine and encourage you to stick with it.
     
    There are other considerations, too. Ask yourself if you would like a vigorous activity, such as boxing, or are you more suited to introspective movements, such as yoga? Do you prefer competitive activities to keep you motivated or is competition a turn-off for you? If you flourish with head-to-head competition, try tennis or squash. Do you like team sports? Consider joining a local soccer or ultimate league. Or, if you prefer indoor team sports, check out the local volleyball or basketball court. There are as many activity choices as there are personality types. Check with your local recreation center to see what it offers. You will be amazed at the diversity of activities available.
     

keep a training and nutrition journal
     
    I suggest you keep a training and nutrition journal to help you stay on track. You might find it inspiring to document your exercise routine in particular. Simply write down what exercise you do each day and how you felt doing it. Include the duration of the exercise and perceived intensity (more on intensity levels below). Also note what you eat each day and when you eat it. Even if what you eat remains the same, the timing of each meal and snack can affect the way you feel and perform. After only a month or two, a pattern will likely emerge. The days that you felt best exercising were probably preceded by the best days nutritionally—a clear indication of the bond between nourishment and performance.
     
    I have kept a detailed journal ever since I began training and racing. It started as both a nutrition and training journal, but then I scaled it down to simply a training journal. Since my diet was so clean, it could be taken out of the equation. I knew that if my performance faltered or improved, something other than nutrition was responsible. I could work backwards from the date of a race and see what I had done correctly to yield a good performance, or what I had done to result in a less than satisfying outcome. It has been by far the best tool that I have had. When I compare a few months leading up to a good performance to a few months leading up to a poor one, what differs immediately stands out. From that information, I know the good points to incorporate and the bad ones to eliminate, and so can design an optimal, tailored training program.
     
    Everyone is an individual when it comes to exercise programs. There certainly is no one-size-fits-all program; if there were, everyone would excel with the same regimen, which we know is not the case. I believe a training journal is of great value, whether you have a coach or not, and even if you are not a high-level athlete. Simply by helping you track your progress and, more importantly, spot those areas where you could improve, a training journal is the best tool for helping you achieve your goals.
     

proper nutrition boosts exercise’s positive effects
     
    The guiding principles of the Thrive Diet are ideal for active people. Efficiency of nutrition—and therefore energy—transfer from food to the body is a key element. As you know, the Thrive Diet began as an athletic performance diet and evolved into an everyday, health-optimizing one. Its fueling and recovery strategies can be applied to any level of activity. Its eating principles will help raise the value of even small amounts of physical activity by quickly aiding cellular tissue repair,