Xena embraces minimalism

[Xena]

I’ve got a lot going on…marathon at the end of week 1, traveling for all of weeks 3-4. I’m stripping down the challenge a bit, but even stripped down, I know the goals will help me stay on track.

1.       Run 3x per week. This is a maintenance goal for me. Did it this way to allow for recovery and travel. If I have a legit reason for missing a run, I can make it up in the following week.

2.       20 days of 30 pushups. When possible, add a set of 10 narrow pushups on the stairs.

3.       8 days of strength training, ideally 2+ per week. I’ve written out my program, including acceptable substitutions while traveling. It does include chin-up negatives, but I’m not setting a target because I won’t always have access to a bar.

4.       20 days of tracking calories. My target is 2000 per day with a reward (I-tunes song) if I get under 2100 avg/week. Day before and day of marathon are freebies. This is hard while traveling, but I’ll do my best. It’s particularly useful to do it now because I won’t be burning as much running.

And for fun, here's a sort of minimalist cat

 

My goals collapse down to 12 + 20 + 8 + 20 = 60. Just do 60 things in 28 days. No problem.

 

 

 

 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Great set of goals, I'll be following again.

[peelout]

11 minutes ago, Xena said:

It does include chin-up negatives, but I’m not setting a target because I won’t always have access to a bar.

4.      

Didn't realize there was a place to do chinup negatives in a bar. lol

12 minutes ago, Xena said:

4.       20 days of tracking calories. My target is 2000 per day with a reward (I-tunes song) if I get under 2100 avg/week.

 

Glad that reward isn't Whataburger.

 

Of course I'll be following.  Are you starting early or waiting till official start date?

[x Valkyrie x]

Nice cat, and also nice goals

[DarK_RaideR]

Here of cource. That's a pretty Xen-y cat. (Get it? Zen? Xena... uuuh, right, I'll show myself out)

[jonfirestar]

Back for some more all the best for your marathon!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Xena]

10 hours ago, peelout said:

Didn't realize there was a place to do chinup negatives in a bar. lol

Glad that reward isn't Whataburger.

 

Of course I'll be following.  Are you starting early or waiting till official start date?

That would be a kind of awesome bar ;-)

 

Well I guess this would be where I admit that my challenge goals are pretty much my normal weekly routine, just with grading. I'm basically going to do all this, but not start counting it toward the challenge targets. I will get to try out some start trying out my new gym "program" (program is too fancy a word. Just wrote some lists of exercises I plan to do, mixing it up a bit from last month, increasing some things, and shifting some emphasis. It's not a particularly structured progression, but I am kind of proud of having put in some work to figure out what I could do while traveling).

 

4 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

Here of cource. That's a pretty Xen-y cat. (Get it? Zen? Xena... uuuh, right, I'll show myself out)

 

I like that! Kind of wish I had thought of it myself.

[Xena]

So I'll be staying for a few days at a hotel, and I don't think my room would have a fridge. I really need a reasonably substantial breakfast to start my day. Was trying to figure this out. I don't eat paleo, so what I have the vast majority of days is some lowfat dairy (plain yogurt or cottage cheese) and wholegrain toast. Usually some fruit, sometimes a hardboiled egg or two instead of the dairy.

 

Figured eating while traveling would go much better if I could figure out something reasonable for breakfast. Here's what I came up with for options:

1. There is a grocery store. I can get some stuff (was thinking fruit and yogurt). Guessing it's a kind of junky grocery store, so my expectations are kind of low.

2. I can bring a small cooler and use hotel ice. I wouldn't really do this for things that REALLY need to be kept cold, but I think it's ok for a bit of yogurt or some jam (if I find decent bread...low expectations there). I should bring some utensils too!

3. I can bring some nuts with me. They are filling, healthy in reasonable (small) portions and travel well.

4. Fruit, yogurt and nuts would be do-able in hotel.

5. I could substitute a low-fat latte for the yogurt I think (still has some protein)

6. Starbucks has some kind of protein pack. It has an egg, some fruit, a bit of cheese, and some kind of whole grain bread in it. That could also work. I'm guessing they charge a surprising amount for it, but I gotta eat something...

7. An egg sandwich is also pretty reasonable and easy to find.

 

Any other suggestions? The eat-in option is also appealing because it would save time. I'm going to a conference, it starts pretty early in the morning, and I prefer to exercise in the morning.

 

 

 

[Morag]

Here to cheer on and bask in the running-glory.

How long do you stay at the hotel? I just thought frittata muffins homemade and then eaten there, but it is kinda only for the first few days, since you lack appliances to make them fresh while there...

Smoothies? If you get your hands on a blender. (250g quark, 50ml low fat milk, 250ml water, 100g frozen (or fresh) fruit, sugar to taste, if you do sugar)

Oh, bulletproof tea or coffee, dito with the blender, and yeahhh hot water I guess...

I'll keep thinking, maybe the nuggin' gives me more, later on.

Maybe prep a cereal of your own choice. Dried fruit, nuts, and stuff and take that with you, milk should be accessible even in a crappy hotel?

---

"Travel lightly, for what you bring with you becomes part of your landscape." -Anne Bishop

[x Valkyrie x]

If you're gonna do yogurt anyway, you could do overight night oats in your cooler:

1. 1/2 cup oats

2. 1/3 or 1/2 cup yogurt (I like plain whole milk greek yogurt for the fat(aka: creaminess) and protein, but you could use whatever you like)

3. 1/2 cup milk of choice (I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk usually, but I've done it with regular milk)

4.1 tbsp chia seeds

5. 1/2 or 1 banana (or fruit of choice)

Optional: 1 tsp honey or other sweetener

 

It's about 300 calories, but it'll keep you happy for several hours. 

 

Then you shake it all up, put it in the cooler, and the oats and chia seeds absorb a lot of the liquid to make a delicious pudding texture full of good stuff!

[Fonzico]

Second the overnight oats! I've made them for camping trips, and they'll keep for 3 days easily in a cooler. 

[Xena]

9 hours ago, Katrin Josephina Morag said:

 

Here to cheer on and bask in the running-glory.

 

How long do you stay at the hotel? I just thought frittata muffins homemade and then eaten there, but it is kinda only for the first few days, since you lack appliances to make them fresh while there...

 

Smoothies? If you get your hands on a blender. (250g quark, 50ml low fat milk, 250ml water, 100g frozen (or fresh) fruit, sugar to taste, if you do sugar)

 

Oh, bulletproof tea or coffee, dito with the blender, and yeahhh hot water I guess...

 

I'll keep thinking, maybe the nuggin' gives me more, later on.

 

Maybe prep a cereal of your own choice. Dried fruit, nuts, and stuff and take that with you, milk should be accessible even in a crappy hotel?

Great suggestions. Don't know why I didn't think of cereal :-)

 

8 hours ago, x Valkyrie x said:

If you're gonna do yogurt anyway, you could do overight night oats in your cooler:

1. 1/2 cup oats

2. 1/3 or 1/2 cup yogurt (I like plain whole milk greek yogurt for the fat(aka: creaminess) and protein, but you could use whatever you like)

3. 1/2 cup milk of choice (I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk usually, but I've done it with regular milk)

4.1 tbsp chia seeds

5. 1/2 or 1 banana (or fruit of choice)

Optional: 1 tsp honey or other sweetener

 

It's about 300 calories, but it'll keep you happy for several hours. 

 

Then you shake it all up, put it in the cooler, and the oats and chia seeds absorb a lot of the liquid to make a delicious pudding texture full of good stuff!

 

3 hours ago, Fonzico said:

Second the overnight oats! I've made them for camping trips, and they'll keep for 3 days easily in a cooler. 

Great minds think alike. I was in a coffee shop today, saw the single-serve oatmeal cups and realized I could bring down a couple baggies of oatmeal! Thanks for the great ideas!

[DJtrippyT]

following for Xena goodness!

[Xena]

1 hour ago, DJtrippyT said:

following for Xena goodness!

 

I'm traveling a ton this month, so channeling my inner Walter Mitty / DJ

[x Valkyrie x]

Ooh yes! Walter Mitty is a good spirit animal!

[Jarric]

Following along again. Good luck for your marathon!

[RES]

Following for running inspiration  

[Xena]

I was getting frustrated at not hitting my calorie goals for various reasons. I usually go Monday-Sunday. But I got back from the holiday on a Wednesday night, and thought I want to start tomorrow. So the week ended yesterday, and I made my goal for the first time in ~4 weeks.

 

Today was my first day in New Orleans! Not the easiest city to eat healthy because everything is so tasty. I'm over by a bit (2064) and still might have a glass of wine...but keeping it to ONE because I've been tracking and know I'm already over.

 

Breakfast worked out really well. Turns out I do have a fridge. I brought oatmeal and almonds with me. I walked to the store this morning and got 4 mornings worth of yogurt and fruit. That was really helpful. I also made good choices at lunch. Dinner was just a little too much good food, but now I've looked up calorie values for lots of typical new orleans things, so I think I'll be a little better prepared going forward.

 

Also got in a run yesterday, and a couple miles on the treadmill today. AND used the awesome hotel gym. They have a heavy bag and I borrowed gloves from the front desk. Never done that before. SOOOO fun!!

[RES]

Enjoy NOLA...My favorite city!

[DarK_RaideR]

8 hours ago, Xena said:

Today was my first day in New Orleans! Not the easiest city to eat healthy because everything is so tasty.

Mildly (ok, extremely) jealous. Have a great time!

[imprimis5]

11 hours ago, Xena said:

AND used the awesome hotel gym. They have a heavy bag and I borrowed gloves from the front desk. Never done that before. SOOOO fun!!

 

I am so jealous. I have yet to stay in a hotel with a gym I'm happy with, and I travel a lot.

[doctorake]

Ok I am late but maybe this will help someone else. Also please no one try to burn me at the stake for this advice.

 

McDonalds has some decent options I feel. The fruit and yoghurt parfait is 150 calories, the egg McMuffin is 290, and the egg white delight is 250. Now I understand McDonalds is not for everyone but this is an extremely easy to find option that you know the calories will be almost exact.

 

Are you doing the marathon in NOLA? I did IRONMAN there last spring and I must say my post race meal at Mulate's was amazing. We were there late enough to also have some great music playing.

[x Valkyrie x]

1 hour ago, doctorake said:

Ok I am late but maybe this will help someone else. Also please no one try to burn me at the stake for this advice.

 

McDonalds has some decent options I feel. The fruit and yoghurt parfait is 150 calories, the egg McMuffin is 290, and the egg white delight is 250. Now I understand McDonalds is not for everyone but this is an extremely easy to find option that you know the calories will be almost exact.

 

And also, their coffee is good! 

[imprimis5]

Just now, x Valkyrie x said:

And also, their coffee is good! 

 

We're going to have to agree to disagree on that. It is absolutely undrinkable, to me.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

5 minutes ago, x Valkyrie x said:

And also, their coffee is good! 

I'm not sure we mean the same thing when we use the word "good."