Healthy Living Summit Saturday!

Wow, today was AMAZING! I felt so honored to be in the presence of so many smart, savvy, and seriously beautiful women (and two pretty awesome men) today!   There are so many bloggers I have been wanting to meet and finally my wish came true. Of course I am talking about the Healthy Living Summit!  Thank you so much to Meghann, Kath, Tina, Jenna, Caitlin and Heather!  You are all amazing, the program was FLAWLESS, so special and full of swagger, not to mention swag!

I left work at 4 on Friday to hop on the bus to Boston, after quite the ride—5 1/2 hours, I met a friend from high school, who gave me a great deal on accommodations   And I found out she is going back to school to become an RD.  Go Ali!

I arrived at the Radisson just before 8, and the first person I saw was Heather!  Yay for a familiar face!  The second person I saw was a person I was absolutely dying to meet!  Chandra!  Chandra is one of my very favorite bloggers, and I have been reading her blog, Chandra’s Shenanigans, forever.   Of course Chandra, was as sweet, funny, awesome and adorable as she is on her blog and via email!  I can’t wait until you come visit me in the city C!

Here she is digging into the swag bag!

I have to say, these did not disappoint, actually I don’t think could have so far exceeded my expectations of a goody bag if they had tried!

So thank you to Stoneyfield, ZestyCook, and Foodbuzz, not to mention Vega, Barney Butter, Angela from Oh She  Glows, Amy’s Kitchen, Amazing Grass, Purebar, Probar, Body and Soul Magazine (which i thoroughly enjoyed reading on the way home) and many more! Also, thanks to the organizers for picking products with so much integrity, these products are all convenience food and whole food you can feel amazing about putting in your body.

I would show you my amazingly stylish and soft Summit T-shirt, but I am wearing it!

    Gena and I enjoying time in another great city! 

I did my best not to be shy and to introduce myself to as many people as possible and let people know how much their blogs meant to me.  I was a bit shy with the organizers, but I had lovely conversations with Meghann, my absolute running inspiration and an amazing model of a woman with poise, confidence and the drive to take over the world, all with a great sense of work/life/family/love balance.  No matter how busy I get, I can’t not stop by The Inner Workings!  PS Meghann, I didn’t think it was possible, but you are even cooler and more gorgeous in person.  Great skirt btw!

And Tina!  I think this was the third blog I ever read! Tina, it was amazing meeting you. Carrots N Cake is one of my favorites not only because we share a love of Adora calcium supplements , but because you show that you can have everything you love in a perfectly healthy balance and plenty of fun too.

And I actually got to meet Kath!  I am pretty sure she had no idea who I was, but boy was I psyched to meet her!  Kath had some great insight into making your blog attractive to readers and for making it simpler on yourself as a blogger, for example: the quality of photos trumping the text!  Who will read something if they are turned off by the photos? 

Not only did I get to meet a lot of great people, but I learned a lot about blogging too. I am actually ridiculously inspired and enthusiastic to implement the tips I learned from Zesty and fellow bloggers!  I have to say several people at the conference told me they read and really enjoy my blog.  I was shocked and flattered.  The feedback was actually incredible useful; it is great to know what people like and truly find useful so you can add value, as Zesty would say! Even just speaking with Gena on the bus ride home gave me tons of post ideas!  What a wonderful community we are a part of!

So a few tips from Zestycook:

• Building your brand. Have a distinctive logo and carry your brand through to everything you do, blog, twitter, stumbleupon, etc.  These social media sites are your friends!Need to work on that!
• The placement of your RSS feed is important, essential to having return readers!
• Every post should add value to the blog world
• Consider having related posts, recent posts and active comments to encourage readers to click through to your blog.
• Stick with content left, sidebar right, this is the proven format for successful blogs!
• Photos make or break your blog, for food try light from both sides as well as on top!
• Monetization strategies, try adsense, blogher, foodbuzz, amazing, marketing and direct sales.  You can target these so that for example, only people that click through from google see google-based ads.
• For stats info, try site meter and google analytics
• Post titles are very important, think them through!
• Make your guest posts your best work.

I have to say the conference was a much needed escape from my life over the last week.  I had my first breakdown of 2009 and the worst of probably the last 3 or so years on Thursday.  I wasn’t sure if I should even come because, train wreck is not exactly the best first impression.  However, I am so glad I came, it took my mind off things and was a truly incredible experience.  Can’t wait until next year!  Unfortunately, I had to leave a little early because I have two big papers due on Monday and I took home quite a bit of work this weekend—all unrelated to the aforementioned breakdown.

So we decided to catch an earlier bus, but fortunately, we had just enough time to do a very quick tour of Boston on one of the loveliest days of the summer.  This was also my first physical activity in 5 days, like I said, long week!

I can’t wait to read the recaps of summit!

Katherine and Gena in Beacon Hill.

Some beautiful flowers in our power walk through the Boston Public Garden!

 

Some pretty girls in the park

And the Charles, a favorite of runners everywhere! 

  

I definitely gained an appreciation for just how beautiful Boston is today!

After our quick tour to stretch our legs, it was time to board the bus!  Fortunately the trip was incredible quick (maybe it was the company? ).

In less than 4 hours  and 15 minutes total, I was home, and this was waiting for me: ING New York City Marathon Official Handbook 2009!  If that’s not encouragement for my long run tomorrow, I don’t know what is!

Thank you again to all the Healthy Living Summit Organizers, Sponsors and absolutely amazing bloggers  I met today!

South African Noshing Serving 2

*I just wanted to make a note about a few great comments on staying vegetarian while traveling.  I actually had zero problem finding veggie options on  the trip.  Our professor and the program coordinator did a fabulous job catering to all dietary needs.  Even on the homestays, she told us not to feel rude for refusing anything offered.  In general,  one problem I run into with being a vegetarian is that the veggie option can be quite unhealthy–french fries, pizza, alfredo anything; fortunately, on this trip that wasn’t an issue. Fresh veggies, fruits and salads were almost always served–and while sometimes they had a lot of butter or cheese sauce, that was the exception not the rule.  I was surprised by how often whole grain cereals and breads were served too.  I definitely indulged my curiousity and tea was pretty much a lost cause for healthy options, but sometimes it is worth it.  I will admit that I did try one bite alligator on the trip.  It was good, but I am not missing anything.

In addition to the large amount of traditional food I ate in South Africa,  we also had plenty of “western” food.  Before I left, I knew the  bed and breakfast served a health and English breakfast.  I was quite curious to see what such a breakfast would involve!   Our bed and breakfast was casual, but cozy, and they let us pretty much take over the entire place.            

The daily breakfast included, lots of different cereals, yogurt, granola, juice, coffee, toast and jam.  There were also a few hot options each day, such as eggs, creamed corn casserole, bacon, avocado and tomato slices and sometimes baked bean, one day there was even steamed broccoli.

I was all about the cold breakfast, which included amazing fruit.  There was almost always big bowl of fruit salad, a big bowl of papaya or granadillas, and a bowl of rehydrated dried tropical fruit.  We were all about the cereal yogurt messes.  I started each day with a mix of fresh and dried fruit, yogurt and cereal.

TEA TIME!

Tea time became a HUGE part of my life in South Africa.  It is such a wonderful tradition, we had it either mid-morning or afternoon.  Typically when we were visiting schools, universities or talking to speakers, it was a great time to speak informally and learn more about our research topics.  While I have no pictures, I actually drank more coffee than I ever have in my life.  I probably should have tried the rooibos tea everyone loved so much, but I have never drank much coffee or tea, so I stuck with the one I prefer. In addition to the beverages, tea always included a yummy sweet or savory item/s.  Such as biscotti, tea sandwiches, muffins, cake or cookies.  It was definitely an indulgence, but quite often I decided it was worth it.  One thing I didn’t love was that they put cheese in so many of the baked goods.  Breads have cheese baked in and often muffins are topped with butter and shredded cheese, weird.

COOP Dinners!  One week 18 of us decided to have a dinner coop.  We divided into teams and cooked for each other. It was really fun, but took a lot of time to cook and clean for 18 people, so we had fun for one week, and then took the rest of the trip to enjoy the local restaurants or have more casual meals.   I will say that after three weeks of buffet after buffet, I felt that my portions were getting huge and I was always feeling too full!

The coop dinners had to accommodate vegan and gluten free diners, so there was always an abundance of options!

Night 1:

Bulgur Salad

In addition there was pasta with butter garlic sauce, a pasta with cream spinach sauce, and chicken-which I skipped obvi!

My night to cook our team did a comfort food theme.

This included chickpeas roasted in peri peri sauce (my contribution), fried chicken, mac and cheese, strawberry walnut spinach salad, spicy eggplant butternut squash stew with honey apricot parmesan polenta and vegan polenta (also my contributions), and assorted rolls.

 

 

   The stew and polenta was based on a Rachael Ray recipe I first saw on Kath’s blog.  I have made it before and really enjoy it.  I had a very hard time tracking down the same ingredients in the South Africa, but the stew was a big hit—people were pretty psyched for veggies in abundance by that point.  

This was Nico’s plate:

And mine, making polenta from scratch is hard work!

Nicole’s salad was so amazing!  This bowl was HUGE!

FIESTA NIGHT!

Mexican night was a holy yum experience!

DIY Fajitas with peppers, onions, chicken, cheesy refried beans, guac, salsa, chips and corn!  Sorry the photos are so dark and blurry!

               

   My plate:

And of course, each night featured its own playlist:

And a signature cocktail:

And just for fun:

My Study Abroad Health and Fitness Plan

Yesterday I shared a round up of healthy travel tips.  So today I thought I would go into my specific strategy for this three week trip.  My attitude is always go with the flow and as much natural exercise as possible.  This is a busy study trip and I won’t be back in Africa anytime soon, so I don’t plan to spend all my free time in the gym, but as I do have a marathon to run in November, I hope for a little more than that if possible!

Fitness

(Fitness, Fitness is my Favorite! Insert Will Ferrell SMILE!)

So when I arrived at orientation for the program, the first question I heard someone ask (I was a little late since I had to come from work), was “is there a gym?”  God bless that guy’s heart!  I never would have asked but I almost cried when he did!  JK.  So I knew I was in good company, I hadn’t thought I would join a gym, but since our classes start at 10, there is not a whole lot to do between wake up and class, and the gym seems like a productive use of time for early birds like me.  Actually, almost half the students wanted to join the gym, which is only $35 for 3 weeks!  The cost of 1 Physique 57 class!  So even if I only go a few times a week, it seems worth it!  I am not sure what gym it is, but I am praying it happens to be the Virgin Active that is in the city!  The gym looks awesome and has lots of early morning spinning class-woo-hoo!

I will also be there with one of my biggest sources of gym-spiration, my friend Nico.  He works out twice everyday!  I hope we will run together fairly often, and he will push me outside my comfort zone to improve my speed and endurance.  I do plan to run 3 times a week with at least one long run. And hopefully, when we aren’t traveling, to take advantage of whatever is popular at the gym.

I ordered the Garmin FR60 in early May.  It was supposed to be available for shipment by June 2nd, but unfortunately, it still hasn’t arrived.  I give Garmin credit for being quick to respond; I have exchanged over 15 emails with 4 different people, but even though my watch was supposed to  definitely have shipped by June 24th, it never arrived.  I am a little bummed since it was a $175 investment that I will not be able to utilize while I am away, but I pray that when I arrive home it will be waiting for me—preferably with a huge bow!

Nutrition!

In South Africa you don’t have to worry about eating things cooked or even drinking the water, so I am not too worried about adjusting my diet.  For the record, the second question asked at orientation was, “will there be vegan options?”, so I figure I am pretty safe.   The only supplement I am bringing is probiotics.

For the 17+ hour flight, I am bringing the extra veggies in my fridge: baby carrots, celery, cucumber slices and sugar snap peas, plus a couple energy bars and buying huge bottle of Evian at the airport.  I also requested the vegetarian meal, so hopefully that will be honored.

Every morning the place  where we are staying will provide a “health and english breakfast.” I am not sure what a health breakfast is, but it sounds good to me!

In general, I tend to eat richer food in smaller amounts while I am traveling. I am usually too busy for lots of snacks and grazing, and obviously I don’t have to worry about boredom eating, plus that tends to be the general lifestyle in Europe.  The three meals plus afternoon gelato tends to work out well for me.  In addition to less grazing, I truly believe the limited consumption of processed and packaged foods makes a huge difference. Even though I find I am served food prepared with much more oils, fats and white flour than I am use to, the overall quality and minimal processing of the foods seems to make them more acceptable to the body–in my experience anyways.

I know that we have access to the kitchen and there are regular grocery stores nearby.  Even though it is winter in South Africa, I hear the produce is amazing! Tshwane is pretty cosmopolitan, so there is a huge variety of restaurants of all ethnicities. I plan to prepare most of my own lunches, and save eating out for dinner when possible.  I want to try the regional flavors, but I would rather spend my money on elephant rides than food.

I am bringing some snacks and supplies with me!

I almost never eat bars at home, but they are great for on the go.  I also decided to bring some of Newman’s Own Organics Dried Apricots and Prunes to help bulk up my salads and for my sweet tooth.  And some oatmeal–because why the heck not?

Round Up of Healthy Traveling Tips!

Traveling is one of the greatest pleasures in life!  You get adventure, new perspectives, great memories, new friends, relaxation, an escape from your daily routine and environment, heck, if you are lucky, you even get your bed made for you!  However, most of us do a lot of traveling—business, social, leisure, academic–not just a once a year vacay, so it never hurts to do a little planning and preparation to keep your health and fitness routine on track, so you feel your best during and upon returning from your totally awesome adventure!

I put together a round up of great posts and articles and tips for having a healthfully indulgent and fitness friendly sojourn from around the blog world, I am sure you have seen them before, but they are worth another glance!

Kath-Snack Packing for International Travel—covers that often forgotten vacation period the transit time to and from your destination!

Meghann-Healthy Snacks and Running Gear!

Tina-Easily Transportable Fitness Gear!  I love this post.  And also be sure to check out Tina’s great  travel articles for Health!

•  
  • 3 Tips for Staying Slim on Vacation
  • Vacation Dieting Part 2

Gena—Travel Wrap Up-Be Prepared

Me!  I did a LONG post on Staying Fit While Traveling a while back covering everything from weekend trips to study abroad, my attitude is much the same, as when I wrote this post.  However, tomorrow I will share my specific fitness plan for this trip.

Checklist for travel friendly fitness:

-take advantage of all the time you have to be away from a desk and on your feet—walk, walk, walk

-sightsee rigorously—blasting hundreds of calories per hour at the same time—doing it on foot rather than on tour bus will help you in this effort

-plan fun natural exercise activities including, but not limited to: hiking, golf, mini golf, sailing, water skiing, surfing, rock climbing, basketball, tennis, swimming, scuba diving, volley ball, beach walks and runs, skiing, snowboarding, snow shoeing, etc.

Easily packable items:

-Ipod

-Ipod charger for wall outlet (I have a Griffin-best purchase ever)

-sneakers

-weather appropriate workout clothes

-bathing suit

-Dyna band

-workouts torn out of magazines

-workout dvds

-deck of workout cards

-misc. books such as the NYC Ballet Workout

 

Other things to look out for:

-FitTV

-one day gym passes, guest or daily fee

-friends that want to get in their workout and will take you along for a run or exercise class

-hotel stairwells or football field stairs

-Wi Fit and an energetic nephew

-opportunities for power shopping

-turkey trots/local races or even City Running Tours

-youtube workouts

-downloadable ipod workouts such as my beloved Serena Williams’ Workouts and numerous coached runs

Happy Trails!

London: Part 1

Hi bloggies, I missed you and I will be commenting again soon.  This is part one of two recapping my London trip.  In between, I will post some great deals I can’t wait to share with you.  Also, my friend Heather (who I met training for the SF marathon and stayed with in London) is new to the blog world, so I will be recommending all your wonderful blogs to her!

Wow, what a brilliant trip from start to finish! 

I happened to leave on a Continental flight from Newark at almost the exact same time the flight that went down in Buffalo left.  Fortunately, we had no idea until we touched down safely and the cell phones exploded with calls.  Overall, I was very happy with the flight.  I even had the only empty seat on the plane right next to me.  Plus, I had a tv with a choice of tons of movies, shows and cds.  In the total of 14 hours in the air I watched Philadelphia, High School Musical 3 (1 and a half times), the Mentalist, The Big Bang Theory and listened to the new CDs by Brian Wilson, Ti, Ne-yo and Kings of Leon.  I just can’t sleep on anything moving.

I arrived in London and Heather picked me up and drove me to her charming flat in Richmond.

 

 

My sister, Kristen, who was once named Bar Star in Columbus, Ohio, but you know as reviewer of another type of bar–nutrition bars.  Lol!

Jamie Oliver lives right down the street.

Last time I was in London, I felt like I had to spend every single minute running from palace to museum to church to market to government building to bridge to globe to play, this trip I was much more relaxed and hit the perfect balance of sites, museums, shopping and just soaking in the culture and feel of the city. 

I have to say for the foodies, we went to some really awesome places,  you can find good food in London if you know where to look!

The first night we went to Yauatcha on Gwyneth Paltrow’s recommendation.  This is a great, affordable dim sum place, make sure to specify that you want to sit downstairs, where the atmosphere is hip and super sexy.  We will know next time.   

 

 

 

 

The next morning Heather had a gorgeous spread of food laid out in her kitchen.  I am very jealous of spacious kitchens! 

 

 

After that we set off to meet my sister and see the London Tower and the Crown Jewels.

 

  

Don’t try to make a get away with the crown jewels!

 

After that we crossed the London Bridge to check out the Borough Market.   This place was truly incredible!  An absolute foodies paradise.  It put the Union Square Market to shame 15 times over, it was enormous with tent after tent of fruits, vegetables, olive oils, jams, truffles, cheeses, make your own veggie burgers, chili, salads, sandwiches, fresh juices, meats, seafood, bakeries and more! 

 

It was as crowded as a rush hour 6 train, so pictures were hard to take but I did my best!

 

After the market, Heather headed to a sesh with her pilates instructor and Kristen and I walked around the Picadilly area for a bit before stopping for lunch at Wagamama.

I had a great roasted vegetable salad with lots of veggies including aubergine (eggplant) and courgette (zucchini) and Kristen had a bowl of noodle soup.

After lunch we did a bit more walking, the churches in London are truly stunning.  I fell in love with London architecture, I could spend a whole trip just taking photos of buildings. we passed the Globe on the way to the Tate Modern. 

 

The museum was huge, but I prefer the MoMa if I am going for modern art.

After that we hopped on the tube and headed to Harrod’s! 

To give you an idea of the size of the store, they handed me a ten page store directory booklet when as I entered.  The store didn’t disappoint, it was  incrediblylavish and ornate, but tasteful.  Each item had plenty of room to breathe, but yet the each floor was brimming full of gorgeous goods! It was a bedazzled Macy’s Herald Square replete with restaurants and carousels and more!

It was quite the afternoon!  But what I was really excited for was what we had planned for the evening…and that will be in part 2!

Staying Fit While Traveling

I received a great request for tips to stay fit while traveling.  I love to travel, and with a little planning ahead, and realistic expectations I have never had a problem fitting in reasonable amounts of exercise—even when training for a marathon.

I think it is important to note that I never expect to maintain a rigorous daily exercise regimen while traveling, I mean I would rather spend time with friend or seeing amazing sights that spend time with a treadmill.  So I typically fit in every other day workouts, plus daily general exercise of some kind.  Enough to stay in shape, and whole heartedly and unabashedly indulging in all the delightful regional goodies—but that would be an entirely separate post! Although, you may remember my delight to enjoy a calzone bigger than me on vacation this summer.

This post will cover:

-tips for short trip

-tips for staying with friends with limited personal time and space

-tips for your typical vacation

-My experience and tips for training for a marathon while out of the country

-cheat sheet of travel friendly fitness items

Short trips

When I go home for a few days for thanksgiving or winter break or the rare and random other occasion, I always make sure to pack sneakers and workout clothes appropriate to the weather.  I always pack a couple of my favorite workout dvds. My ipod. Below is one of my best purchases ever.  A plug in ipod charger.  I bought it for a trip to Europe and now I use it daily at work.  I kind of want another one for home!  It is faster and the ipod holds the charge longer than plugging it in to the pc. Mine is Griffin, and cost $40—you can probably do better.

In addition, I take advantage of the fact that they have fittv. A channel I don’t get at home.

So workout dvds, running, and in the summer, swimming and biking, horseback riding are all options.  My dad is Mr. Super athlete, so he is always good for golfing, basketball or if I feel like having my self-esteem stomped out, tennis.  (memories of “bounce, hit Melissa, any idiot can do this” come to mind).  I also like to walk the dog and if I am feeling incredibly generous, mowing the lawn (a killer workout)-this hasn’t actually happened in the last 10 years.

If my nephew is over, he is always down for a WI workout or dance dance revolution-my 60-something parents are similarly addicted.

Also, if you are craving more traditional workouts, see if there is  a local gym with day rates or if someone in your family has guest passes lying around.

Oh, if your mom belongs to Curves, I am sure she would be happy to take you.  I haven’t ever gotten that desperate, but my mom is a twig, so I guess it is effective.

Tips for staying with friends with limited personal time and space

While for these types of weekend trips, you may opt to relish the time with friends over sneaking in a workout, if you are training for something or have fit-minded friends, the best thing: do not to be shy, ask in advance.

Obviously, if you are crashing on your friends coach, you may not want to bust out a workout dvd, and you probably have lots planned. So don’t discount the fact that you will be walking, the best exercise of all.  But it never hurts to mention that you would love to get in a run or two during your stay.  Your friend might be happy that she/he won’t have to miss their workout either.  In fact, I got to try my first hot yoga class while visiting a friend in dc. Plus, I always find it fun to run with a buddy in a new place.

So aain, it never hurts to ask. My friend is staying with me in a couple weeks, and she immediately said, I am training for a half and I will need to get in a couple runs.  Of course, I am happy to oblige.

Bonus: rip out some magazine workouts that don’t require equipment in case you have privacy and down time.

Tips for your typical vacation:

Try to get a hotel with a gym for early morning workouts.

Run around the area, run on the beach (great for the core, legs and butt!)

Bring equipment free magazine workouts.  I bring my NYC Ballet Workout book with me pretty much everywhere.

Engage in leisure exercise: walking, mini golf, regular golf, shopping, water skiing, hiking, rock climbing, skiing, kayaking, the list goes on.  Make staying fit fun and social!

Bonus: run in the stairwells of the hotel for a quick calorie burning workout that will have you back on the beach in no time.

You can see my routine for a beach vacay, it is actually a lot more than usual because I was just chilling with my parents for half of it and had plenty of free time. Posts can be found here (days Th.-Sun.) and here (days mon.-tues.).

Tips for trips out of the country

It is my firm belief that the exercise you get walking around and sightseeing like a crazy tourist will far exceed any traditional workout.  This was certainly true while I was in Spain for 4 months with out a gym and rarely the desire to go running when I could be walking all over exploring Spain, France, Italy or Portugal.  The many hours spent on your feet will make up for just about anything, even if you are staying with a very sweet Italian woman who insists on serving you five course meals—each prepared with copious amounts of EVOO, followed by gelato and then brings truffles to your bedside, not caring that you just brushed your teeth!

My experience/tips for training for a marathon out of the country

Bottom line: aim for 30-40 minutes every other day. Know that the 8 hours you usually spend at your desk, that you now have to be on your feet sightseeing will really help your endurance and stamina.

A few weeks after I signed up to run the San Francisco marathon with Team in Training and committed to raising $3900—by the way that is why I originally started the blog, I got offered a once in a lifetime opportunity.

My sister-in-law offered me an all expense paid, first class trip to Europe (Germany, Venice, Austria, Switzerland, Naples, Capri, Positano and Sorrento) with my own hotel suite in exchange for nannying my adorable 5 month old niece while she was on business for a week and a half and then having a whole week of vacation to enjoy Naples and the almafi coast.  Obviously, I basically passed out, before she even threw in the part italian shoes, sunglasses and dresses!

Clearly this isn’t the kind of thing that will ever happen again; however, at the time I was struggling to run 5 miles (the longest practice to date) and literally would feel sick all day because I was so nervous the weeknight practices.  Throughout my training I would have to mentally psych up for practice and long runs days in advance.  Even though I was usually fine when I got there, I was always terrified beforehand.

So I went to my coach to explain the situation and see if he thought I would still be able to complete the marathon if I missed three weeks of practice.  At the time I wasn’t even sure if I could finish the full without missing any practices, and found comfort in knowing I could always drop down to the half.  Coach Ramon immediately offered to come with me as my personal trainer.  Oh Ramon, be still my heart!  Then he said as long as I could jog 30 minutes every other day, I would maintain the fitness level I needed to pick up right where I left off.

In case you missed that, you will maintain your fitness level even with a very reduced amount of exercise, a little is all it takes to stay in shape.

I then discussed the 30 minutes every other day plan with my sister-in-law, who fortunately, was a very competitive skier and understood.  However, I was in charge of the darling baby from 6:00AM to as late as 10:00PM some nights, so I had to get up really early or sneak in a very quick run between the end of her work day and the nightly business dinner. Basically the first portion of the trip I got in about 4-5 30-40 minute runs.

In addition to this, I did Fitness Stay Slim on the Road workout out almost everyday.  I also spent close to four hours every single day on my feet every day exploring the towns and countries along Lake Constance or hiking up and down the stairs of Venice.  Having a baby and backpack strapped on at all times does significantly increase your caloric burn, but that is optional

When we arrived in Naples I was pretty much on vacation as my brother met us their to help out with the baby and  business was over.  Plus, my s-i-l’s cousin and aunt where incredible tour guides showing and feeding us all the Neapolitan and Almafi culture we could absorb and ingest…and sometimes much more. I found it much more enchanting to go the Italian boutiques, check out the castles or to relax by the sea in Positano than to run in the near 100 weather, so I only got in a few late night runs during the last week.

However, when I arrived back at my first practice in over 3 weeks.  I magically met two TNT members who became my running angels and are to this day incredibly close friends.  In fact, I am staying with one of them in London next month.   So anyways, before I left I had struggled to get through an eight mile long run practice, my first long run back, I ran 12 miles easily!  I didn’t want to stop chatting with the girls. It was incredible.  I was right where I would have been had I never missed a practice!  While adding more than a mile a week is not typically advised, the additional four was natural and I went with it.

Moral of the story, plan to fit in enough exercise  (natural or otherwise) to stay in shape while away, but make sure to enjoy your time as well.

Checklist for travel friendly fitness:

-take advantage of all the time you have to be away from a desk and on your feet—walk, walk, walk

-sightsee rigorously—blasting hundreds of calories per hour at the same time—doing it on foot rather than on tour bus will help you in this effort

-plan fun natural exercise activities including, but not limited to: hiking, golf, mini golf, sailing, water skiing, surfing, rock climbing, basketball, tennis, swimming, scuba diving, volley ball, beach walks and runs, skiing, snowboarding, snow shoeing, etc.

Easily packable items:

-Ipod

-Ipod charger for wall outlet (I have a Griffin-best purchase ever)

-sneakers

-weather appropriate workout clothes

-bathing suit

-Dyna band

-workouts torn out of magazines

-workout dvds

-misc. books such as the NYC Ballet Workout

Other things to look out for:

-FitTV

-one day gym passes, guest or daily fee

-friends that want to get in their workout and will take you along for a run or exercise class

-hotel stairwells or football field stairs

-Wi Fit and an energetic nephew

-opportunities for power shopping

-turkey trots