Travel while training for a marathon, Part Four

I've been away from blogging, preparing to go the Romantic Times Booklovers convention in Kansas City. In preparation, I ran, biked and beefed up my diet. I knew there were going to be days where I ate what I wanted, and didn't get to the gym. When attending conventions, such as this, I knew what to expect.

It's difficult to diet and exercise, while traveling. But-it depends on the travel. This convention was pure fun for fans of romance, and for the authors. There is nightly parties hosted by publishers, with dancing, hotel convention food and plenty of booze. All of it, challenging to someone who is training for anything! During the day there is workshops, with hours of sitting following the night of partying. 

What to do?  Besides, just not going. 

• There is the no parties rule.
• Making the gym a priority. That isn't any fun.
• Don't attend any parties. 
• Don't allow any booze to touch your lips.
• Be in bed by 9p.m. Come hell or high water
• Become a reverse Vampire. Never appearing when the sun goes down. 

A few tips to have fun and still maintain a little healthy sanity:

• Drink plenty of water. I had a water bottle with me constantly.
• Eat regular meals. 3 meals a day. Don't depend on processed snacks to get you to a free dinner, which usually isn't worth the wait.
• Each meal should be half veggie and fruit.
• Avoid too much caffeine, although you feel like you need it.
• Rest. Don't think you have to do everything. Take a break, nap, go for a walk.
• Set a regular routine of deadline for parties. Go have fun, but depart at a sane time to get plenty of rest.
• Avoid too much alcohol. Avoid hard booze or mixed drinks with tons of sugar. Stick to the lighter stuff. Put a limit on how many!!
• Drink tons of water. I think I said that already. Especially before bed, and first thing in the morning.
• Make a routine of the gym. It gets you through the day better, with more energy. What I discovered about this, you never know who you'll run into in the gym. I ran into the book cover models working out. What a delight in the morning. But-don't kill yourself to get there. If you danced the night away. Don't worry about it.

I'm home now, and exhausted, but more than ready to hit my bike, since I have blisters from dancing. Which is a great work out. I'm going on a 3 day juice fast to cleanse out my body. All day I'll juice, and eat a light meal for dinner.

I ate foods I normally don't eat, such as wheat products,drank wine every night and had sweet deserts. I'm retaining water from the travel, flying and being out of my regular diet. Eating out daily is a lot of processed foods, which is why I recommend lots of veggies and fruits. They're in their natural form and keep things moving while you're away from the diet. A fast should help get my body back on track. I had a blast, but am so happy to be home. Can't wait to have a home cooked meal tonight.

Week Four: Diet, exercise, and inspiration

I’m into week four of my diet and exercise program. I got completely knocked off my schedule and diet for over 10 days by the Nero Stomach Virus. When I say this is the worst flu I’ve had since the 70’s, I’m completely serious. It really sucked.

I lost 5lbs with the flu, but put back on at least 3lbs of weight since I was able to start to eat regular meals. I don’t count this week for any weight loss for that reason. Not taking in any food, including liquids for days is extremely unhealthy way to lose weight. My immune system was already compromised with the flu. Rapid weight loss on top of it can weaken the system even more. The weight gain that came back after something like this is important to rebuilding strength against catching something else and being reinfected. When I was able to eat, I ate my regular healthy diet. It took a while for my stomach to be able to figure what I wanted it to do. My whole body did that, for a couple of days it protested by feeling like I was getting sick all over again. I finally settled down and things are back to normal.  I’m still struggling with my energy levels, with sudden dips.

Getting back to exercise was the most frustrating for me. I don’t take lying around watching television on the couch well. Sick or not, I wanted to be outside and moving. When I had the energy to start to actually move, I started with walking. Prior to the flu, I was running 3miles, preparing for a 5K. The reality of it, I had to start over again. I’m back up to 3 miles, so I gained it back much faster than I expected. The key was to listen to my body. It told me what it could start to do and didn’t have the energy to do.

This whole adventure into illness was very disappointing for me. What got me going and inspired me was when I was walking stairs at the mall, I ran into an inmate I use to work around in law enforcement. He was at the mall for the same reason I was, running the big numerous staircases.

The Shirt. Hoping I'll look better in it than I do now.

I was surprised he recognized me. We chatted for just a moment. Running the stairs in the mall, was what he called his non-workout day. When I knew him he was a pretty bad drug addict in and out of jail. Now he’s clean and returned to his one great love, boxing. He’s too old to compete, but now trains troubled youths, going down his old path. He works out 5 days a week, has non-workout in the mall. Then one day of rest, when he actually doesn’t do any type of workout. He told me he’s on a high protein diet, and eats very clean. He looked great! Clean from his drugs, healthy and focused. He inspired me to keep going. The day I saw him, I was on a low energy day, thinking of just going home. I kept going figuring if he could recover from a really bad drug addiction that was threatening to end his life early. I could recover from the flu, and run those stairs.

I’m always looking for things to inspire my workouts, to keep me on a diet. Right now its clothes I want to fit into and look good for The Romantic Times conference. I hung a top on my closet door that is a bit snug, I’m determined to wear, and wear well. I see it every day reminding of my goal. It’s about this time in our diet that is the dividing line of going forward or quitting. 80% of dieters who started on January 1st will quit before Valentines. I’m determined not to be one of them.  

Week Two: Dieting and into the rhythm of exercise

I’m into week two of changing my eating habits. I weighed in on the 7^th, and had lost 6lbs. This isn’t uncommon. The stress of the holidays not only can cause weight gain, but cause water retention. Stress, eating out, eating foods you normally don’t eat, eating a lot of sugary foods, drinking more alcohol than normal, and family. Yes, having the stress of family around and off your normal routine can cause water retention. All of this can cause weight gain and a lot of water retention, especially the alcohol.

Last week I gave up alcohol. I did fall off the wagon. We bought a new car, and it was an emotional situation, because I traded in my mother’s little car that I had been driving since she passed from this life, 6yrs ago. I still miss her terribly. She was such a rock in my life. To let go of her car was necessary and extremely hard. I love my new car, but came home and had a glass of wine and cried. I immediately regretted it. I gained 30lbs since her death, and know it was a sorry excuse to take a drink, which with dieting is always the excuse to go off the path you chosen to take, some sort of stress or bad day. It didn’t affect my weight loss, I’m fairly certain, but it did affect my mental attitude.75% of your diet is mental.

I’m now into my workout routine. I started something new, working out with hubs at night. He needs it. I’ve developed a routine for him, he’ll do. It’s a combination of light weights, and walking. For myself, I’m running again. I run more this time of year than summer. I love my bike and am on that all summer. The weather keeps me on the treadmill or running close to home. I decided to do a marathon this year or maybe two. Last August I tore a tendon in my ankle. It was extremely painful, and left me barely able to walk. I could ride my bike after a week, but running and walking was definitely out. It wasn’t until January that I felt I was healed enough to run, without doing further damage. I’m no spring chicken so I really can’t afford to hurt myself like that again. It took six months for me to be able to run. I was pleased. I ran 3mls, with a middle walk of 5mins. Riding my bike really helped my endurance more than I imagined. So if you don’t like to run, or treadmill, try a bike.

This week I eliminated red meat and pork. Now I’m eating fish and chicken, which I love, but I’m eating it only 4 days a week to start. As I move on into my diet, I’ll probably will become more vegan. It’s difficult, to just jump into something so restricting and find success. Pick a diet that you can live with. Vegan takes a lot of research and planning. Whatever you’re doing keep with it.

Check in next week. Hopefully, I’ve lost more weight.