This 4th of July will go down in history as one of the best. Not only was the weather fantastic, my family was in town but my sister got engaged on my last day on the island of Martha’s Vineyard!
Whenever I go on vacation, I am always stressed out. I am a planner and need to have my special foods packed, and my workouts scheduled. Given my job schedule these days, I can’t exactly afford to not let myself go completely for an entire week. Since I have been training for the Urbanathlon, I wanted to continue following the program Joe Dowdell had given me. This was going to be a true test of my will power.
With my family in town, I was excited to spend time with them and with my friends to celebrate my favorite holiday. My nephew was in town from the west coast and it appears he is already excelling in one his aunties favorite practices, yoga.
Knowing myself, I knew that as long as I was able to stick with my fitness routines, I could have fun. The goal this year was to simply maintain my weight. On Saturday, like my scheduled said, I went for a long 50-minute run, keeping my heart rate between 141-161 bpm. I find it hard to keep my HR between this low while running but I’m learning.
The morning of the 4th of July I got up at 6:30 am and went for a sweaty interval workout! This was a first. I still can’t believe I did this. The key, I believe, is going to bed with full intention of waking up and knowing what you are going to do exactly. I had one G Series FIT prime bar, a large glass of water and was out the door 10 minutes after waking up. The 4th of July in Cape Cod is one big day long party at the beach. Drinking, food, friends, family, fireworks, volleyball, swimming, perfection. We start at 8 am which is why I woke up at 6:30. Knowing my day would be filled with things I can’t resist, my morning workout was key to sticking to my maintenance plan.
My friend Aimee made red, white and blue jell-o shots for the second year in a row. She also brought the most amazing tequila watermelon that I need the recipe to. She was at the beach close to 6 am!
Here is a group shot from the end of the day. You can see one in color on my Tumblr as well if you’d like! My go to drink of the day was Crystal Light Pure Lemonade and Sweet Tea Vodka. The Pure is made with stevia.
According to my Urbanathlon plan, Monday should have been a strength training day, but no gyms nearby were open that early on the cape so I did Tuesday’s workout. On Tuesday, I was headed to Martha’s Vineyard for 3 days.
When I travel, I always bring my own snacks and breakfast. I used to bring a baggie of oatmeal and protein powder. but last week I was sent some Granola samples from Love Gown Foods. They included single serving packets with 120 calories and only 6 g of sugar! I loved these. I am going to purchasing more the next time I see them. Granola is very hard for me to eat with good portion control and this solves my problem.
I mixed the granola with some greek yogurt and berries for a delicious breakfast.
I went for high intensity interval running workout on Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday first thing in the morning. I had a G Series Fit Prime bar before I left and had an amazing sweaty excursion. Get the workout here. I finished with a set of planks. Hold for 60 seconds, rest for 45 seconds, hold for 60 seconds, rest for 45 seconds, and hold for 60 seconds.
Wednesday night, I tried Mad Martha’s frozen yogurt Sinful Chocolate. It was chocolate froyo with heath bar pieces. It was gross. Probably the worst froyo I have ever had. Mad Martha’s is suppose to be one of the best places on the island for ice cream. I guess the never mastered the frozen yogurt. I ended up eating my nephews chocolate ice cream instead which was too creamy for me.
I finished my vacation workouts with a long run on Thursday morning. I’m sad I did not do any strength training but I accomplished my mission. I did not deprive myself once all weekend and managed to maintain my weight!
My vacation ended with a phone call from my sister who announced she and her boyfriend (who I love) got engaged right after I left MV! Perfect ending.
Sorry for the dear diary of this post, but I just have so much to share! More pics later!
We stayed at the cutest house on he Vineyard
Looks like a great weekend, it’s always a struggle to maintain on vacation but I’m glad your showing me that it’s possible.
I also take my own breakfast and snacks when I travel 🙂 Love Grown granola is the bomb! 🙂
Sounds like a fun time! The tequila watermelon sounds amazing 🙂
Thanks for sharing. My friends and family always think that I am nuts to want to exercise while on vacation. But I always have the same goals that you shared -- to maintain my weight and feel no guilt in eating what I want. Glad to hear that you succeeded on both counts. I am also running as part of my workouts and find it hard to maintain a certain HR level. I’m glad to hear that I am not the only one. Your Urbanathlon training looks awesome. I’ll be following your progress. Thanks for the tip on traveling with breakfast. Always a dilemma for me. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for Love Grown granola. 🙂