Category: traveling

fitness · traveling

Fitness Tourism Keeps It Fresh

Tracy I6 Comments

I’ve got some travel lined up over the summer, starting with just over a week in and around Zurich, Switzerland. I confess that I had some concerns going into this because I’m in a great routine with my workouts at the moment. Precision Nutrition’s Lean Eating Program is working for me.

But I don’t want to slide into old obsessions, where vacations–which I am very fortunate to have–become scary and dreaded because of the impact they might have on my routine. That’s both ungrateful and harmful (the way any obsession that interferes with the capacity to enjoy other good things in life is harmful).

So rather than give into that, I’ve taken a different approach. My vacation strategy this time is to explore fitness options that aren’t available to me at home. That could be something as simple as a new running route (for example, running in Zurich is not available to me at home) or as novel as checking out the fitness park (called the “vitaparcours“) down the road from my aunt’s house.

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My aunt lives in Jona, a charming area near Rapperswil on the shores of Lake Zurich. Her street is up on hill with a gorgeous view of the lake. The walking and running opportunities around here are outstanding, especially if you want to do some hill training.

Yesterday, she told me about this Vitaparcours. I’d just arrived earlier and wasn’t up to a full-on workout, but we ventured out in the rain so she could show me where to go. The route to the fitness park takes a country lane along a ridge overlooking town and the lake, sloping down on the other side to farmland where a few sheep graze in a lush green pasture. We passed by some stylish houses in both contemporary and traditional designs, a restaurant with outdoor seating that looks out over the lake with the Alps in the distance, and then down a steep slope to the road.

The entrance to the fitness park is about 2 kilometres from the house, at the edge of the woods. There are fifteen stations, clearly marked and numbered, each with some equipment and a sign (in German) explaining what to do. Like this:

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There’s also what they call a “Finnish trail,” which is basically a soft bark trail through the woods. We strolled along that for a bit too, and my aunt translated the instructions for a fitness test that you could do there if you wanted to.

All of this got me excited to give this park a try as soon as I could (though not yesterday because not only was I exhausted, but also it poured rain throughout the day and evening, with only very short breaks of clear weather).

This morning my aunt’s partner dropped me off at the Vitaparcours on his way to the grocery store. It was perfect weather for a run through the forest.

I had my Garmin to tell me distance and time, just so I knew how long I’d been gone, not because I actually cared about time today. I’ve been reading Summit Seeker by ultra-runner Vanessa Runs, and she makes trail running sound so fabulous and captivating. I adopted her suggestion of having a willingness to stop and take in the surroundings. What a good decision because the setting is idyllic. You run mostly in the woods, across a bridge over a river, uphill at the beginning, then downhill after that.

It’s a relatively short loop (2.9K) with a station every 150 metres or so. They have pull up bars, rings, stumps for doing step ups, beams to test your balance on, and lots of other activities. I was more interested in running and stopping to take photos than in doing any of the activities, though I did all of the stretching and made a heartfelt but failed attempt to do an unassisted pull-up.

I encountered very few people — a woman who was pole-walking, a couple of teenaged girls out for a run, and towards the end of my time in the woods, some school kids who looked like they were doing some sort of nature exercise or orientation assignment.

When I got to the end of the trail, I kept going, back out to the road and up the long climb to the residential enclave my aunt lives in. I ran past the restaurant and the grazing sheep, along the ridge and through the narrow lane, back past the exquisite rock gardens with lush greenery abloom with spring flowers, to the house.

In all, I covered less than 5K, but somehow being in a new setting with novel surroundings made it the most memorable less-than-5K I’ve ever run.

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On tomorrow’s fitness tourism agenda: Alpa Mare.

cycling · fitness classes · traveling

Spinning out in Banff: Tracy’s First Spin Class

Tracy I1 Comment

spinI survived Bootcamp on Tuesday, so I figured a little spinning couldn’t be too bad. It sounds innocent enough. I can ride a bike. Sam went earlier in the week and said it would be fun. She showed me how the bikes work. She said it would be just an hour and we might even be able to make it to dinner at Vistas before they closed for the evening.

The class was free with the donation of a canned good. I had my can of sliced peaches in hand and my water bottle all filled. I assured myself I could endure anything for an hour (in fact, if you’ve read about my cycling outings with Sam, you’ll know I can endure for even more than that).

When the instructor said we were about to spin for NINETY minutes, my eyes widened.  I glanced over at Sam. She smiled (not in a mean way, just because what else could she do?). She too had 90 minutes ahead of her when she’d been expecting 60.  It was a bit like our windy day on the short Belmont loop—longer than I’d planned for and I had absolutely no clue what was coming.

I’m glad Sam showed me how to work the bikes (and in fact the instructor also made sure I was clear on what it involved) because it didn’t take me long to realize that my computer wasn’t working properly. It didn’t display cadence, which is the revolutions per minute. If you’ve ever taking a spin class you’ll know that cadence is hugely important.  You need to be able to monitor it to follow the instructions.

I jumped off and moved over to the next bike. It told me my cadence and off I went, spinning away to the music and the instructor’s directions.

Another variable is the level of resistance. There’s a little crank you can reach down and turn, and it makes it either harder or easier to move the pedals (which either keep turning or completely stop—you cannot coast on a spin bike).

You can make it harder by increasing your cadence from, say, an easy 80 to 120.  That is, it’s harder if you pedal faster.  But you can also make it harder by increasing the resistance on the wheel. Obviously it’s harder to maintain a cadence at 80 at a higher resistance than at a lower resistance.

Going super fast—sprinting—is a challenge. But so is going slow.  That’s what you do when you “climb.”    When you’re climbing, you’re sort of grinding it out at a low cadence (55-65, depending on where you are in the climb). If you don’t have enough resistance, then you can’t really maintain a low cadence – your pedaling speed will creep up. So you need to find the sweet spot (it’s not so sweet actually – let’s be more neutral and call it a “balance point”) where you can’t really comfortably maintain a higher cadence than what the instructor has asked of you.

The final variable is your position on the bike. There’s sitting and there’s standing. Standing is harder work in lots of ways. I say in lots of ways because it all depends on resistance and cadence, and also, the seats on these bikes are BRUTAL on the butt.  Oh, how I wished I had my padded bike shorts with me.

So what does a 90-minute spin class involve?  All manner of combinations of steady cadence, sprinting, climbing, sitting, standing for timed intervals. I can’t even get into the details, only to say that it makes you sweat and it makes your legs scream and it makes you very thirsty and short of breath. And, if you’re me, it makes you a little bit light-headed but not enough to bail out on any of the intervals (unlike Bootcamp).

I had a good spin experience, and here’s why:

  •  I liked the range of ages in the room, lots of older people who appeared from the way they moved those pedals to be in super good physical condition.
  • The instructor was really clear and worked us hard. Sam told me after that she’s an excellent instructor and that I could be sure that if I didn’t enjoy her spin class, I might as well forget about ever enjoying spin classes..
  • I felt like I worked hard.
  • It’s possible to slack off a bit without anyone knowing by lightening up on the resistance–this might not be the best thing to do, but I appreciated the option.
  • Just when you think you can’t take it anymore, the interval is over.  Knowing that the short bursts of effort are relatively short makes it easier to go all out.
  • I got to practice my pedaling form while stationary.  Sam’s friend Eaton told me I had to extend my heel more at the bottom of my revolution. The spin instructor also told us to extend our heels. The class gave me a chance to pay attention to that instruction. I think my form is improving.
  • Time just FLEW by.  I thought 90 minutes would feel like an eternity, but it didn’t at all.  And we covered 40K during that time! Not bad at all.

It was also good to get away from our work for a bit. We’ve been writing a lot since Saturday. A physically demanding class is a good antidote to that.

Is there more spinning in my future? Yes. Until the thaw comes in the spring and I get the road bike back out, it’s a good way to keep pedaling.

family · team sports · traveling

On being a sports parent

Sam B4 Comments

A rugby parent, to be specific.

There are many signs that I’m a rugby parent.

I have a copy of Rugby for Dummies on my Kindle from when I set out to learn the basic rules a few years ago.

(I noticed early on that rugby parents on the sidelines were nicer than hockey parents. There was very little second guessing the refs, yelling at the players, or arguing with the coaches. I mentioned this to my son’s coach, saying how pleasant I found it and he burst my optimistic bubble, “Oh, they just don’t understand the rules of rugby so they keep quiet.”)

You can also tell we’re sports parents because our car has collapsible camp chairs in the trunk for watching games.

We also keep the car well stocked with Gatorade and sun screen. Oh, and there’s a cleat tightening tool in the glove box. That’s a dead give away.

July is rugby month in our house. Actually it begins in June and ends mid August but July is all rugby all the time.

My son plays with a local club two practices and one game a week. He also plays with the competitive Ontario team, the Junior Blues U15. That’s one more practice and another game each week.

He started playing in Australia while I was on sabbatical there four years ago. He kept it up, and played for a school team in New Zealand on my sabbatical in Dunedin, NZ last year.

I’m super proud of his athletic achievements. One hundred and fifty kids tried out for the Ontario team and forty made it. After a month’s play the coaching team chose twenty of them to travel to British Columbia for the national rugby championships in Victoria. My son is going. That’s great that he was selected but I also think there’s real value in putting yourself out there in a competitive process and facing failure.

The day that I wrote this I only had to drive to Guelph. That’s about 120 km away. But the day before was Markham, add another 100. Next up, Belleville, add another 150 km. There’s a lot of driving involved.

A friend who is a hockey dad recently got deep vein thrombosis in his left calf. “Ah, the 401,” says the doctor knowingly, “Does it all the time.”

It’s a huge commitment. Parents have to make a large investment of time, money, and energy. Lots of money, lots of fuel, lots of driving, lots of meals on the road, lots of laundry. You name it. There’s more of it.

More than other things in our life it brings home to us how privileged our children are. It’s hard to imagine many families being able to afford this.

Rugby even affected our car choice. Our purchase of a hybrid was sparked by the realization we’d be making many trips to Toronto and environs in the months ahead.

Luckily it’s a sport I love watching.

Phew. My standing rule is that I watch games but not practises.During practises I do university work, blog, surf the internet, jog, ride my road bike, do burpees. Sometimes I shop.

It also matters that team sports are a force for good in this child’s life. He’s polite, punctual, a team player and these are all lessons he’s had reaffirmed by his involvement in sports.

What are the gender politics of being a rugby parent?

It’s been pretty impressive so far. The coaching crew refer to us as “parents.” No one calls me a “rugby mum.” They don’t seem perturbed by the different last names in our house.

And there seems to be good mix of mothers and fathers involved. I love that so many dads take on this aspect of parenting. I also love that mothers aren’t asked to bake, cook, or clean etc.

The main coach for my son’s team is a woman, a former member of the Canadian national team, and I like that.

My son is also pretty respectful of my own athletic achievements. We’re the early rising exercisers in our house and we frequently compare how much we can lift, how far and fast we run, etc. These days he’s ahead in just about everything, of course. He also always asks how my own games go.

Oh, and I also like non gendered team names. All the boys teams are the Blues and the girls’ teams are all called Storm. So my son plays on the Junior Blues U15 team but if I had same aged daughter she’d be playing on the Junior Storm. I like that!

 

charity · cycling · Guest Post · training · traveling

Supporting each other makes us all better! (Guest post)

Kim Solga10 Comments

Sam and Tracy have asked me to contribute a few guest posts because I’m currently preparing for the biggest challenge of my career as a feminist amateur athlete. On 6 and 7 July 2013, I am going to (try my very best to) ride from London, England to Paris in just 24 hours, as part of a charity event organized by Scope. (Read about the event here; if you read my posts and get inspired to support me you can also find my team’s fundraising page here.)

I’ve been getting ready for what I call L2P24(2013) for some time now, but in the last couple of months training has kicked into high gear (figuratively and literally!). As part of our training (my husband Jarret and I are doing this event together, supporting each other at every stage along the way), Jarret and I are spending this weekend (20-23 June) on a cycle “holiday” (more on that in a minute) in Morzine, in the French alps. We are here with a UK-based company called RPM90; they provide us with food, accommodation, technical support, and support of many other, less tangible kinds. In fact, their motto is “you ride, we provide” (check them out here).

I’ve been nervous about this holiday; after all; riding about 100km a day in the mountains for two days, and then ending the weekend with the 2013 Morzine Sportive race, is relatively challenging, even for us; while there are perks at the chalet and some good food and drink, for our purposes this is a working weekend.

I’ve also been a bit worried about this holiday for another reason, one that came clearly into focus when we arrived in the Alps. Cycling is a very expensive sport – once you factor in a good bike, all the gear, and stuff like going to the Alps on a cycling holiday, you’re into the thousands of dollars/pounds, if not five figures – and I felt an immediate sense of class difference as soon as we got into our airport transfer van in Geneva. There are bankers on this trip, there are high-flying execs, and their bikes are worth, well, easily more than I make in a month. They are amateurs, but they are focused on their sport nevertheless, to the point that they seem willing to buy virtually anything (at pretty much any cost) that will help them to improve their performance. They are all decent, nice, friendly people (I gather, having known them for about 24 hours at the time of this writing), but they seem stunningly unaware of their privilege (economic as well as physical) in just being able to be here.

They are also all – with one exception plus me – men. Cycling is a very male sport in most nations where it rates; I probably don’t need to tell many of the readers of this blog how much sexism prevails in the sport (check out Sam’s recent post on podium girls, for example). So I wasn’t shocked to be surrounded by (more or less middle aged, pretty well off) men when we arrived. What did surprise me, though – and what has made all the difference to my riding experience so far (day one down!) – is that 50% of RPM90’s support team on this ride are women. And they are pros, and champions (Anja Rees Jones and Jo McRae).

This morning, starting out for our first ride, I was slightly panicked; the men in the group left a lot of testosterone on the floor during our first dinner and breakfast together (as well as in the airport van, sigh), and while I know this kind of banter is designed to be self-aggrandising and intimidating (and to cover insecurities, of course), it was, well, frankly intimidating to have to listen to. So it was a relief and also a thrill for me to get to ride quite a bit today with Jo, our female road bike pro; she put me at ease, encouraged me all along the way, made sure to note my strengths, and to remind me how strong I actually am at moments when I really needed that reminder. She also answered numerous questions and helped me to address some weaknesses: for example, I’ve never been a courageous descender, tending to brake a lot and not use my drops enough, but today she offered me observations, tips, and joined me on a couple of downhills, to the point where, by the end of the day, I was literally racing with her and Jarret down a mountain we had climbed in pretty freaking good time (this one – it’s actually slightly famous!). I felt incredibly strong, powerful, and free – and I have today’s mentorship from a really great female athlete to thank for that.

Even if the rest of the weekend turns out to be crap, I have had, thanks to Jo, an experience today that made the journey here (and all the boisterous bollocking this morning) worthwhile. It’s also an experience that I plan to pay forward. Like Sam and Tracy, I’m a teacher and researcher by profession and I write a lot about “activist” teaching on my own blog; with my larger life in mind I’ve also been broadly inspired by Jo today – reminded of how incredibly valuable positive reinforcement, coupled with useful, specific critique, and a willingness just to ride alongside, can be for students looking to up their game (and, of course, for students who don’t yet know that upping their game is their ultimate goal, or even a remote possibility). A great work lesson, a wonderful life lesson, and a fantastic sport lesson all rolled into one and wrapped in a mountain view. I feel privileged to be here, and thankful.

Kim

KIM SOLGA currently teaches theatre and performance theory and practice at Queen Mary, University of London. Catch her blog at www.theactivistclassroom.wordpress.com.

accessibility · aging · disability · fitness · health · traveling

Wall-E, chosen immobility, and home elevators

Sam B7 Comments

I was struck today reading in the Globe and Mail about the rapid growth in personal elevators by the extent to which we’re gradually removing all possibility of physical activity from our daily lives.

And yet, it’s terrific that more homes are accessible to the elderly and the disabled.

The challenge is once elevators are installed not using them unless you need to. And that seems impossibly hard.

I think about the moving sidewalks and gate to gate trams in modern airports. They make travel possible for people for whom otherwise it would be too much. Still most people who use them seem perfectly capable of walking.

I’ve had similar thoughts about the remoteness of some of Canada’s national parks. After two days of canoeing and portaging, I was struck by how beautiful Algonquin park is. And yet only the physically fit can see it. I thought it would be lovely to make parts of it accessible to those in wheel chairs. And yet how to keep the physically capable but lazy away from whatever accessibility method we use?

Read about the rise in home elevators here here.

One of the first comments on the Globe article is this: “And the endless quest for a completely sedentary lifestyle continues…”

That’s exactly my worry.

I thought of the movie Wall-E and the future, movement free humans….

Read here:

“WALL-E indeed seems to be making a statement about fitness and the obesity crisis. “It shows a future in which mankind literally spends all day on a giant starship moving around in floating chairs, drinking liquified food from Big-Gulp-esque cups, and forever surfing (and chatting) on chair-mounted video screens,” says the source.

A section of the film reveals the history of mankind’s fall into sloth and fat: “There’s an amazing sequence where the camera pans over portraits of the previous captains of the ship — and we watch as they slowly devolve into amorphous blobs with each successive generation. Will the lethargic humans re-awaken to their possibilities as people? I hate spoilers: you’ll have to see the movie to find out!”

fitness · traveling

Airports, travel, and fitness

Sam B10 Comments

I’ve been traveling a lot for work lately and spending more time than I like in airports. Tracy has written about staying active on vacation here and here. My topic is instead being active on travel days when your goal is getting from point A to point B.

I joke that some of my best workouts have been in airports. (Okay, not really but there have been trips it feels that way.) I think the best was my Heathrow 5 km in which against all odds another traveler and I made our connection home to Canada by running fast for about half an hour between terminals. The flight attendants were very impressed. ‘We can’t believe you made it.’ I think it was a PB for me.

Over the years I’ve listened to lots of fellow frequent travelers lament the lack of airport fitness centers. But I think they’re too much in the compartmentalizer mode. (I’ve written about the distinction between integrationists and compartmentalizers here.)

Once you start thinking about integrating exercise into your trip, things get better.

Here’s some advice based on some of the things I do to get a bit of a workout while traveling.

First, never sit at the gate waiting to board your plane, if you can physically help it. You’re going to be sitting in a plane for hours. Don’t sit now if you don’t have to. Walk, stand, stretch, anything but sit.

Second, don’t check bags and for added strength points, don’t use a suitcase with wheels. I have a terrific backpack that fits everything I need for traveling and I like the workout that comes from carrying that in the airport. I have the view that you shouldn’t travel with more than you can easily carry yourself. It’s a bit of an independence point. Bonus, if you end up somewhere with cobble stones or lots of stairs. You’ll have a much easier time than the folks with wheels.

Third, avoid the conveyances designed to move people around airports. You know, moving sidewalks, trams, escalators and the like. Walk fast from place to place. Take the stairs. Once you start doing this you’ll meet others with a similar disposition. And it’s amazing how much faster it is.

It’s fine to use all these things if you don’t want a workout but don’t use them and then complain there isn’t an airport fitness centre. I hate that we carefully engineer all the exercise out of our lives and than frantically work to add it back in again.

Of course, my approach means wearing good shoes for the day of travel and clothes you can move fast comfortably in.

I’ve also been experimenting with eating less, quite a bit less, on the days I fly. Some people think it’s key to help with jet lag. Me, I struggle with finding food at airports but then gradually realized it’s not like I’m doing anything particular demanding on the plane. See my post Hunger and Nutrition to read about my experiments with eating less, getting hungry, and realizing the world won’t end.

Finally, sleep (or work) on the plane. If you’re going to be sitting you should put that sitting time to good use.

Happy travels!

More reading:
How to Beat Jet Lag (Globe and Mail)
The Empty Stomach: Fasting to Beat Jet Lag (Harper’s)
Intermittent fasting and jet lag protocols (Precision Nutrition)

traveling · weight lifting

Body Weight Training: Work Hard, Get Strong

Tracy I2 Comments

When I first started doing resistance training back in the late eighties and right through until I took a hiatus from it in the early 2000s, it was all barbells and plates, dumbbells, specialized machines, and pullies.  You really couldn’t have a good set-up at home unless you had the space and funds to invest in lots of equipment.

When I went back to it last March I saw a personal trainer three times a week.  Yes, we used a lot of equipment. But the biggest change in the workouts he had me do and the ones I used to do was the number of body weight exercises he incorporated into my program. Every session I did things like burpees, push-ups, mountain climbers, lunges, squats, jump squats, one-legged deadlifts, squat kicks, pull-ups, bench jumps, jumping jacks, jack knives, crunches, planks, etc.

They were hard. Tremendously, exhaustingly, sweatily challenging.

And they required no (or very little) equipment.  In order to get stronger with these, I just had to focus on good form and on adding reps.

After working out with the trainer for most of last year, I feel I’ve learned enough to bring it home.  My husband and I have set up a small area in our house where we work out. Using very little equipment (i.e. a couple of mats, some dumbbells at preset weights, a stability ball, a bosu, a couple of medicine balls, and some resistance bands) we do an intense workout every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 6:30 a.m.

The first half of the workout consists solely of body weight exercises.

We vary them from day to day and usually chose 5 or 6 (we pretty much always include push-ups because we do not have the bar, plates, and bench to do bench presses).  After that we do a little bit with the weights and the medicine balls. We do two fairly swift rounds. Then some core work.  The only thing we are not well set up for are pull-ups, which are among the most challenging body weight exercises–that’s a deficit in our program but overall, it’s well-rounded and challenging.

We work up as much of a sweat as we did at the training studio and I have seen noticeable gains in my strength.  For example, I used to only be able to do 6 proper push-ups with good form. The day we left for our vacation I did 12.

And while on the boat, we’re doing body weight exercises and using the resistance bands, as well as all the other good stuff I blogged about on Tuesday. There is nothing like body weight training for portability.  And who doesn’t have a few minutes to do some push-ups and hold a two-minute plank? Especially on vacation. Toss in some jump squats, 45 seconds of mountain climber, and a few lunges and you’ve done pretty well for yourself in under 15 minutes.

If you’ve been working with body weight training and want to ramp up your routine, you might get some good ideas from this video.  As I commented when Samantha first posted this on Facebook, I just want to high five this dude by the end of the sequence!

The video shows that there is no end of possibilities when you are using your own weight as ballast and challenging your body to do more than it usually does.

Fifteen burpees coming right up.  And then the fun part: I’ll race you to the beach again.

fitness · swimming · traveling

Gone Sailing, Swimming, Snorkeling, Kayaking, Walking, Running, Dancing + Body-Weight Training

Tracy I3 Comments

A sailing trip has its fitness challenges. While it might sound like an active vacation, you can end up doing a lot of sitting and not so much moving if you don’t plan to move.  This is a good week to incorporate some of the ideas Samantha blogged about when she cited the thousand cuts fitness program from Zen Habits.

I’m with 9 other people on a sixty foot catamaran (that’s her — Off the Grid — in the picture) in the British Virgin Islands.  A catamaran this size is pretty roomy, so I can’t claim not to have any space.  Since I do a lot of body weight stuff at home, I made a commitment to continue doing that on the boat.  Push-ups, jump squats, burpees, squat kicks, mountain climbers, jumping jacks, core work like jack knives and crunches.

The BVI are a beautiful, protected group of islands with lots of different places to go. In addition to the body weight stuff, our itinerary includes snorkeling most days.  Since that usually means a good 30-60 minutes in the water, it’s a daily opportunity for light cardio.

I am also ramping up the swimming with some freestyle. Samantha and I are doing the Kincardine Women’s triathlon in July with her daughter Mallory and my friend Tara. I have between now and then to work on my stamina in the water.  I’m a strong swimmer but I haven’t kept up my training at all. When I get home, I’m going to start going to the pool again.  This week, I will enjoy the buoyancy and ease of swimming in sea water.

The group of people we’re with are all active and energetic, so we rented some water toys and a couple of tandem kayaks.  I’ve also packed my running shoes since at a minimum there is good hiking on shore, and if I feel ambitious, I might even go for a run.

We’ve got a few good playlists for dancing.  The crew doesn’t limit dancing to the evenings, so that’s another way to keep moving throughout the day and into the evening.

I used to have such an oppressive workout routine that I thought of vacations as a good break, a chance to do nothing. Now, I approach vacations with a more integrationist attitude.

Anyone feel like diving overboard and racing me to the beach?  Last one to shore buys the drinks.

diets · sports nutrition · traveling · weight loss

Hunger and Nutrition

Sam B2 Comments

There’s a lot of talk about hunger in the literature about making food choices. It doesn’t matter whether your focus is sports nutrition, weight loss, or ‘making peace with food’ and ending dieting, most books in these areas talk about hunger. It’s clear that hunger is something we need to recognize and to which we need to respond. We need to listen to our bodies and to eat when we’re hungry.

I struggle a bit with this because I’m often not hungry when I know I need to eat–during long, intense bike rides is the most common example–and at other times I’m famished even when I know there’s no need for extra calories (after long bike rides when I’m often hungry for the rest of the day and into the next one even after I’ve refueled.)

I was interested to read recently that part of my confusion may be connected to our misunderstanding of hunger.

In Hunger. What it is and what you can do about it Richard Feinman writes:

“We grow up thinking that hunger is somehow our body’s way of telling us that we need food but, for most of us that is not usually the case.  Few of us are so fit, or have so little body fat, or are so active that our bodies start calling for energy if we miss lunch.  Conversely, those of us who really like food generally hold to the philosophy that “any fool can eat when they’re hungry;” passing up a really good chocolate mousse just because you are not hungry is like … well, I don’t know what it’s like. “

When I was focusing on sports nutrition last year, I played a bit with the feelings of hunger in an effort to make peace with them. In situations where I know I’ve had enough to eat, and it’s just a feeling that I can choose to act on or not, I tried to live awhile with hunger and see if I could just let the sensation be. It was interesting experiment and it served me well to realize that the world doesn’t end. I needn’t binge at the next meal. Sometimes it’s okay to live with hunger and wait.

These days I use that to my advantage on traveling days. Yes, I pack food but if I run out it’s not the end of the world.

I hope I don’t have to use that trick as I travel home from Atlanta, site of the 2012 Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, today.

the hunger

That’s the 1983 film The Hunger, of course. My first vampire movie starring Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon.
traveling

Staying Active on Vacation

Tracy I10 Comments

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20121204-074009.jpg
I’m at the beach for a week in Mexico. When I travel, I like to maintain a workout schedule and keep eating heathy foods in reasonable portions.

When I am officially “on vacation” for a short time, as I am this week, I often treat it as more of a rest time. This is especially true when I come into it with a strained back and a nagging sore throat/cough.

The resort has a gym, but it seems a shame to waste time working out inside with this time-limited access to beautiful weather and an outstanding beach.

So, I have replaced my regular routine with three daily activities: at least one swim, a long walk on the beach with my partner after the sun drops behind the buildings but before it sets, and nightly dancing.

With these three activities, I would say I’m on my feet at least as much, sometimes more, than the average day at home. That’s despite lying around on a beach bed reading (and napping) for a good chunk of the day.

I am also getting lots of great rest. When the stress of daily life isn’t nipping at my heels, I find I need less sleep. So even if we don’t get to bed until 2 or 3 a.m. (or even later!), its easy to wake up before 7 and move out to the beach. Neither I nor my partner drink alcohol, so thankfully we have no issues with morning hangovers and dehydration.

The morning sun here is wonderful, nice and low in the sky at just the right orientation to heat up the beach and the people on it. When it gets hot enough, it’s time for that first swim.

As far as healthy eating goes, they may not have the vegan thing figured out well here (like last night they made me a special veggie stir fry with fried rice, and the rice was full of bits of chicken) but fresh fruit and salads are abundantly available. I travel with my own soy milk and protein bars. I just wish I’d packed Emergen-c for this cold of mine!!

The routine isn’t rigorous but it’s keeping me active and rested at the same time. I wouldn’t back off like this for long, but for one week it’s going to work well.

What do you do to stay active when you’re on vacation, especially a resort-type of vacation where you aren’t by default on your feet all day exploring a new city etc.?