There must be a trick to exercising while on travel. Because so far it's been really really hard.
Heck, it's been hard just to eat well and at decent hours!
Now, to be fair I do know how to work out while on travel for work. But that's mainly because I'm staying in a hotel with a few workout machines, I keep quasi-normal business hours during the day, and I get to bed at a decent hour.
Traveling by myself to see family is a whole different ball game. I haven't gone to bed before 01:00 in three days, consistently sleep through breakfast, only have time for a light lunch between doing things and seeing people (all on other people's schedules because I am getting rides from friends/family to avoid rental car fees), and then my family insists on spoiling me for dinners - despite me telling them I would rather do something light. Instead mom wants to make me all of my"favorites" from when I was growing up or go out nice. *sigh* I love that my family loves me and misses me... they just have funny ways of showing it.
Happily, my teenage sister is still a bit vain about her body image and works out almost every day. I tagged along with her for a long run today and got 5.5 miles in, which felt awesome. And we were outside running alongside the wheat fields and totally flat horizon where you can see for miles on end... loved every minute of it! I do like where I live now in Alabama, but it's just so different from the Red River valley where I grew up! I missed it.
But anyway, that made today the first time in the past 3 days I've worked out at all. And I'm not eating well, and my sleep schedule is WACKED. Traveling even further north tomorrow to see my uncles and my Grandmother. I doubt Grandma will be keeping me up past 01:00 every night! so maybe I'll get back on schedule.
Other than that... having a Great Time because I only get to see my family maybe once a year! :-)
Monday, June 25, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Consistency
Finally getting the mileage up where it needs to be...
Saturday: Long bike ride
Sunday: Long run
Monday: Morning gym workout, abs and upper body.
Afternoon pool workout.
Tuesday: Morning gym workout, abs and lower body.
Afternoon short run
Wednesday: Quick ab workout at home, then pickup the car from the mechanic before work.
Afternoon short bike (maybe a 60 min. spin class if I'm feeling up to it).
The plan is to do morning workouts on Thursday and Friday. Then I'm on vacation for two weeks and workouts will be impromptu, depending on opportunity.
My Vibrams got back-ordered. Really hoping they come in before I leave on vacation! :-(
Monday, June 18, 2012
Not A Morning Person!
But when necessity calls, I will answer. Even if it's 5:45 am.
And that may not sound "too early" by many people's standards, but when I'm not usually up until 7:00am, that missing 1.25 hours is a killer. I'd much rather stay up late, go to bed with everything handled, then wake up a little later. Verses going to bed early with a big To-Do list waiting for me to wake up early and hit the floor running. That's just not the way I prefer to start my day.
Even the logical argument that if there's consequences I will do it doesn't apply. Or it didn't until very recently. Even when I was on college swim team I was perfectly willing to skip 6am practice and take the consequence of 2 afternoon practices rather than get up early. I went almost an entire year of 2 afternoon practices and only made a tiny handful of morning practices. My coach was exceptionally annoyed, but I was quite content ;-)
But this morning I was in the gym by 6:45 am, and will be for the rest of the week because my afternoons are jam-packed with things that need done before I leave for a 2 week "vacation." And I say that with emphasis because it's to visit my parents in Minnesota for a few days, before going up to see my uncles and grandmother in Canada... and vising family - while always worth it and something I do really want to do - is never the relaxing endevour usually associated with "vacationing."
Here is my morning attitude in a picture, by one of my FAVORITE artists Ursula Vernon.
(If you like her print as much as I do, check out her Gallery and order yourself one! http://www.redwombatstudio.com/wpg2 )
And that may not sound "too early" by many people's standards, but when I'm not usually up until 7:00am, that missing 1.25 hours is a killer. I'd much rather stay up late, go to bed with everything handled, then wake up a little later. Verses going to bed early with a big To-Do list waiting for me to wake up early and hit the floor running. That's just not the way I prefer to start my day.
Even the logical argument that if there's consequences I will do it doesn't apply. Or it didn't until very recently. Even when I was on college swim team I was perfectly willing to skip 6am practice and take the consequence of 2 afternoon practices rather than get up early. I went almost an entire year of 2 afternoon practices and only made a tiny handful of morning practices. My coach was exceptionally annoyed, but I was quite content ;-)
But this morning I was in the gym by 6:45 am, and will be for the rest of the week because my afternoons are jam-packed with things that need done before I leave for a 2 week "vacation." And I say that with emphasis because it's to visit my parents in Minnesota for a few days, before going up to see my uncles and grandmother in Canada... and vising family - while always worth it and something I do really want to do - is never the relaxing endevour usually associated with "vacationing."
Here is my morning attitude in a picture, by one of my FAVORITE artists Ursula Vernon.
(If you like her print as much as I do, check out her Gallery and order yourself one! http://www.redwombatstudio.com/wpg2 )
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Rain, Rain, Go Away...
Grocery shopping in the rain is Zero Fun. I do mean absolutely, positively, no fun at all. Running in the rain (and squishy sneakers) rates slightly above grocery shopping in the rain. But only very slightly. So with a large storm system coming into the area - and the weather man says it's going to hang around for a couple days - I opted to get the outdoor chores and the grocery shopping instead of my usual long bike and long run. I'll just have to make it up at the gym.
The longest workout I've ever done in the gym was an 18 mile run during the near peak of marathon training. I had to split it up over a couple of treadmills and even a short stint on the the elliptical to keep from getting completely bored out of my skull. BUT it was way better than the kinds of blisters I get when I run in wet socks and soggy sneakers, with zero risk of getting hit by lightning, run over by drivers that shouldn't be allowed to drive in precipitation of any kind, or risk illness/injury from getting doused to within an inch of drowning!
And in more exciting news - my new Vibrams are on their way! For those that follow this blog, I purchased a pair of Vibram five fingers a couple years back for training purposes. Sine then I have maintained low mileage on any one training run with them, but I really do love them. And I did find a pair of racing flats on sale that I loved running in and wore the soles right off them. Getting upward of 10 miles at a time before I noticed any discomfort (and that's with my "normal" bad running form and no strength training of my foot muscles). I really do enjoy minimalist and barefoot shoes. While I do not claim 100% devotion to the barefoot movement. I do ascribe to the general principals of forefoot running and ground feedback which both attribute to good posture and more efficient running.
But the fact remains that I have a desk job, am required to wear "cute, professional women's shoes" 5 days a week, and own more than one pencil skirt and matching suit jacket. There is no room in my wardrobe for thick soled, scraggly calloused, eternally dirty feet. I do not run barefoot and have no intention of ever doing so when 99% of the terrain available to me is paved. If I wanted to bad enough I could find places to run not so dirty and take extra care of my feet to prevent the worst of the above foot hygiene issues. Instead, I choose to invest large sums of money on barefoot shoes that provide a barrier between my little tootsies and the world at large.
My New Shoes! (Not being picky about colors means I got them for 40% off!)
The longest workout I've ever done in the gym was an 18 mile run during the near peak of marathon training. I had to split it up over a couple of treadmills and even a short stint on the the elliptical to keep from getting completely bored out of my skull. BUT it was way better than the kinds of blisters I get when I run in wet socks and soggy sneakers, with zero risk of getting hit by lightning, run over by drivers that shouldn't be allowed to drive in precipitation of any kind, or risk illness/injury from getting doused to within an inch of drowning!
And in more exciting news - my new Vibrams are on their way! For those that follow this blog, I purchased a pair of Vibram five fingers a couple years back for training purposes. Sine then I have maintained low mileage on any one training run with them, but I really do love them. And I did find a pair of racing flats on sale that I loved running in and wore the soles right off them. Getting upward of 10 miles at a time before I noticed any discomfort (and that's with my "normal" bad running form and no strength training of my foot muscles). I really do enjoy minimalist and barefoot shoes. While I do not claim 100% devotion to the barefoot movement. I do ascribe to the general principals of forefoot running and ground feedback which both attribute to good posture and more efficient running.
But the fact remains that I have a desk job, am required to wear "cute, professional women's shoes" 5 days a week, and own more than one pencil skirt and matching suit jacket. There is no room in my wardrobe for thick soled, scraggly calloused, eternally dirty feet. I do not run barefoot and have no intention of ever doing so when 99% of the terrain available to me is paved. If I wanted to bad enough I could find places to run not so dirty and take extra care of my feet to prevent the worst of the above foot hygiene issues. Instead, I choose to invest large sums of money on barefoot shoes that provide a barrier between my little tootsies and the world at large.
My New Shoes! (Not being picky about colors means I got them for 40% off!)
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Try, Try Again
Second real attempt with clip-less pedals went MUCH better!
One of my running buddies also enjoys biking, and after relating to her how my first attempt went with my new pedals (not good!) she insisted I needed to get out of the garage and out on the road. The act of pedaling and naturally putting the forward/downward pressure on the pedal as I rotate around would help the clip snap in. And it Worked!
There was of course a fair amount of fumbling, but I already knew the trick to KEEP PEDALING with one foot while I continued struggling with the other to keep from losing momentum and falling over. And as much as I struggled to get INTO the clips, I luckily have no problem getting OUT of the clips. So, no falling over when I come to a stop :-)
I managed to put on 15 miles in a little under an hour by the time my feet were getting achy. A couple small blisters but nothing major, and I will continue to practice without socks because that's how I intend to race. I think a little extra Glide around my toes should do it, and if I need to take further measures I might start putting a dot of mole-skin on the hot spots.
15 miles today, on top of a 6.5 mile run yesterday morning out with The Girls, along with the usual house chores (much going up/down stairs), mow the lawn with the push mower, wash the car by hand (it REALLY needed it!), some minor woodworking to finish up the raised vegetable beds, and getting them planted before it rains... I do believe that counts as a FULL WEEKEND!
Short story about my vegetables: I started them from seeds in the front bay window, from a children's "Taco Garden" kit. It had a special little watering tray, those funny little expands-to-5-times-original-size-when-wet peat pods, and seeds for cilantro, lettuce, jalapenos, tomatoes. There were a couple close calls when I forgot to water them a couple days then over watered them the next day, but they all made it and got moved to nice big pots in the front window. Enter, the new kitten. It didn't take long for the kitten to make the front bay window her favorite place to play/nap. And her new favorite toy is my cilantro plant! (with the soft floppy lettuce leaves a close second!) After all that work keeping the silly stuff alive this long, I'm not about to let the kitten kill it out of simple curiosity! It's long past time for the plants to go outdoors, but I don't have a proper garden plot tilled up yet. So, I am putting together a set of raised boxes and filling them with soil for my veggies to finish growing.
One of my running buddies also enjoys biking, and after relating to her how my first attempt went with my new pedals (not good!) she insisted I needed to get out of the garage and out on the road. The act of pedaling and naturally putting the forward/downward pressure on the pedal as I rotate around would help the clip snap in. And it Worked!
There was of course a fair amount of fumbling, but I already knew the trick to KEEP PEDALING with one foot while I continued struggling with the other to keep from losing momentum and falling over. And as much as I struggled to get INTO the clips, I luckily have no problem getting OUT of the clips. So, no falling over when I come to a stop :-)
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| (not actually my feet here, but similar style cleat/pedal) |
I managed to put on 15 miles in a little under an hour by the time my feet were getting achy. A couple small blisters but nothing major, and I will continue to practice without socks because that's how I intend to race. I think a little extra Glide around my toes should do it, and if I need to take further measures I might start putting a dot of mole-skin on the hot spots.
15 miles today, on top of a 6.5 mile run yesterday morning out with The Girls, along with the usual house chores (much going up/down stairs), mow the lawn with the push mower, wash the car by hand (it REALLY needed it!), some minor woodworking to finish up the raised vegetable beds, and getting them planted before it rains... I do believe that counts as a FULL WEEKEND!
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| Me, Lisa, Nancy. The Crazy Girls from 4610 |
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