I’ve been on the road for the past 10 days and I’m glad to be back home! (Although I am traveling again a couple times this week, but if I get to sleep in my own bed, I don’t really count it… Even if I am spending 12+ hours of my day traveling/at meetings).
Last week, as I mentioned in my post, I traveled to NYC with my LEAD NY Class. I have so much to share from that trip that I’ve decided to keep my comments out of this post and I will be posting a multi-post series about the things I learned about food in NYC. Lots of interesting stuff and I’m sure I won’t really do the trip justice, but if you are interested, hopefully you can get a feel for how food makes its way to the city! (And if you’re not interested, just skip reading the rest of my posts until next Monday when I’m back to the normal training stuff.)
Speaking of normal training stuff… I totally fell off the wagon this week. My coach gave me last Saturday off so I could enjoy skiing with some friends – although with how things turned out, I think I should have just stuck to my normal training… I’m so ready for winter to be over!
I had given my coach a ‘heads up’ that training was going to be difficult while I was in NYC since our schedule for this class typically starts around 6:30 or 7:00 am and we’re on the go until 9:00 pm most nights. (The program really wants to maximize our time together…). Also, I was not sure if I would have access to a gym or not. There were three runs for 30 minutes on my schedule and one bike for 30 minutes while I away in NYC. My actual training included one (yes, only one) run for 40 minutes on Tuesday afternoon – immediately following a late afternoon meal. Not really ideal, but when they rearranged our schedule to move dinner to later in the night and actually gave us an hour and a half of downtime, there was no way I was missing the opportunity for a run. Especially since we had food at almost every visit of the day – about 5 different meals/snacks – it was a bit gluttonous!
As someone that does go through periods of heavy travel with my job, I’ll be the first to recognize that training while traveling can be challenging and often requires creativity with your schedule to try and fit in even short workouts. Obviously last week, I was not too successful, but then again my schedule when I travel is not normally dictated to quite such an extreme degree.
The other challenge that comes with traveling is eating properly. Often when traveling, food choices are not terrific, although I do think more places are starting to offer healthier options. To try and combat some of the uphill battle that I knew I would be fighting with finding good options (especially when it came to snacks), I went shopping before my trip and bought a bag of mini carrots, some granola bars (there are actually some healthier options starting to hit the shelves if you look hard enough), and some individual nut snack packs. I also made sure that I had a water bottle with me for the week. Having these options in my bag made it easier to opt for my own snack instead of buying some of the treats that we were available (although I will admit the cookie bar at Whole Foods almost drew me in, but I did resist the temptation!).
Overall, I definitely still over-ate this week. We had a couple of dinners with the group, and Fresh Direct put out an amazing spread for us one afternoon, so by the end of the week I definitely was ready to get back to more normal eating habits. Also, as mentioned, I really had little training but still did get a fair amount of exercise in from walking around the city from visit to visit, but somehow walking just doesn’t feel quite as good as running to me – despite the fact that it is a great exercise option!
My overall training for this week:
- Sunday: Missed workout
- Monday: Missed workout
- Tuesday: 40 minute Z2 Run (on a full stomach, so not great)
- Wednesday: Planned rest day
- Thursday: Missed workout
- Friday: 1700 yard Ladder Swim (I felt like I was going to sink after everything I’d eaten this week!)
- Saturday: Brick – 2 hour Bike, 30 minute Run
- Sunday: Brick – 20 minute Bike, 1:45 Run
So there you have it, the honest truth that sometimes life conflicts with training. (And the not so gentle reminder from Training Peaks that shows missed workouts in BRIGHT red. – Yes, I’m already aware that I missed those workouts, thankyouverymuch.)
I’m sure I could have pulled myself out of bed earlier to fit my runs in in NYC. If I had gotten up at 4:30 and I might have felt a bit lot better from a training standpoint, but I would have also crashed a lot harder at the end of the week. As it was I went to bed at 8pm Friday night and slept until 7am the next day. Similar story on Saturday. (…you know you’re tired when…)
All and all, a great week with lots of learning, also an exhausting week despite the fact I wasn’t really training. Hopefully my body is recovered with the sleep I put in this weekend and ready to get back into the swing of things this week!
Now for the photo dump (non NYC related) for the week(end):
Working at the ADK Summer Expo on Saturday with Ragnar Relay – love spreading the word about this amazing relay series! If you have not done a Ragnar, it’s a must for the bucket list!
We spent Saturday afternoon talking with all sorts of people explaining what Ragnar is and why they should join in the fun. Also, it was great to be able to promote Double H Ranch – if you want to step up and help out this great cause, there are fundraising teams that will benefit the kids of Double H Ranch.
Finally, I loved getting to know Courtney from the Ragnar Staff, she is a fantastic person and is the one who was instrumental in bringing the Relay to the Adirondacks. It’s a BEAUTIFUL course – I’ve run it for both years that it has been in the ADK. Seriously people. Do. This. Relay. You won’t regret it. (And the hills are not that bad.)
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I finally had a Salted Caramel GU that everyone has been raving about. It wasn’t for me. But that’s ok, I’ll just leave mine for everyone else!
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An amazing 11+ mile run OUTSIDE [and in the country] on Sunday. Highlight of my day. No doubt.
Especially when I was looking at the Vermont mountains in the distance and listening to Top of the World by Imagine Dragons.
I was about ready to start doing cartwheels. So happy – definite runner’s high to be outside throwing down a double digit run in the sun. (Even despite the arguments I was having with my heart rate by the end.)
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Girl Scout Cookies appeared Saturday – really not helpful in getting back on track… especially when Samoas appear!
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This is what packing for two weeks of travel that includes swimming, biking (on a bike trainer), running, skiing, two dogs, and two business trips looks like. Craziness.
(Did I mention I often overpack?…)
(I probably didn’t have to mention that… )
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And finally… you’ll have to stay tuned this week to hear about this:
Ginger Z and I are now tight after Thursday morning’s weather.
(Just kidding, but I do have a famous coffee cup now!)
Day 1 of Austin, we headed to 6th street for the Pecan Street festival!
Drinks on Rainey Street – such a cool environment. They’ve converted all the houses on the street to bars!
On the to-do list, visit Gourdough’s to experience the donuts. And what an experience it was… from the guy calling out orders to the selection of toppings to the heart-attack in a little paper bowl, it was quite the experience. Fantastically delicious too… overindulgence for sure.
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