Navigating Clean Eating and Exercise While on Vacation

My husband has a job where he gets to travel a lot.  Sometimes he goes to the same, usual places over and over again, but other times he gets to go to new and exciting places that I haven't been.  I try to go with him as often as I can, so that I can enjoy a nice, mostly paid, vacation with him. 

The summer is probably the busiest travel season due to the fact that kids are out of school.  The thought of an impending vacation can be fun, but also scary.  Sometimes before a new vacation, I find myself agonizing on how I will stay on track with my running and clean eating.  It is extremely easy to get caught up in the whole vacation experience and fall off of the bandwagon.  So how do I do it?

I'm going to make individual posts for each place I've been to tell you exactly how it worked in that particular place, but for now, I will just give you some basic tips.

1. If you're going to be staying over a weekend, chances are there will be some kind of race, usually a 5k, near or actually in the city you are staying.

• If you don't have a car, you need to find the race before you book the hotel.  After you know where the race is, you can check for the hotels around it, or see if there are any hotels around subway stations that could get you to the race.  It all depends on how comfortable you feel with what you will have to do to get yourself to the race.

2. If you're not staying over a weekend, your chances of finding a race are very slim, but you can still be looking for running groups.  There are usually multiple running groups that have a facebook page or a website with an e-mail.  I usually google something like, "running groups in __________".  When you explain you will be there for vacation, and you want to link up with a local running group to stay active, they will happily allow you access to their facebook page and let you join. 

• I have actually done this, and I've never had anyone turn me down.
• This is also a good way to find out about local races going on.  The group might know of some smaller races that you didn't find advertised online.
• Also, the group can help you in choosing a hotel for proximity to their group run location, and they can give you the skinny on how safe and reliable the public transportation is.

3. I spend a lot of time before trips looking up restaurants in and around the hotel we're staying in.  My husband will be at an office during the day, so I am usually on my own for lunch.  The safer I feel in the city = how far I'm willing to travel by myself to get food. 

• When you find menus online, don't be discouraged if they don't have everything exactly to your liking.  There are always ways to "tweak" your order, so that it is health friendly. 
• It is a good idea to have a couple things from each place around you that you could eat, because you never know where everyone else will want to go. 

4. When you first arrive at your hotel, walk around and take in what's around you.  You might be surprised to see people jogging, walking dogs, pushing baby strollers, etc. in  an area where you hadn't even considered running. 

• This is also a good way to find restaurants that you didn't find via your "google search".  I usually use "yelp" to find things near me, because it will also give you directions to follow if you need to walk a block or two. 

5.  You can also check to see if there will be gyms around your hotel or in your hotel.  Most hotels have a very basic gym that consists of a treadmill, bike, elliptical, and free weights.  You can use whatever picture the hotel provides to assess what they have available and make your own workout routine with those items, or I like to utilize pinterest to find workout routines to my liking.

• sometimes there will be crossfit facilities or a big gym around you that will be willing to give you a pass to come and workout for the week you're there (for a small fee of course :)).  I haven't been lucky enough to find anywhere that's doing TRX, but  one day it will happen.

6. Try to locate some good running trails or paths that will be near you.  My rule about running in a foreign place is that I don't run by myself anywhere where I will be alone.  You have to be safe when you're in a new place.  How you handle that is entirely up to you, but here's what I do.

• I use my phone as my Ipod, and my husband and I are linked via the "find my friends" app.  He can use the app on his phone to see where I am at any time.  This makes both of us feel safer.
• I own runner's mace that sits in the palm of your hand while you run, but you can't always take that since the airports aren't so excited about finding things like that in your bags. 
• The main thing is that you should ALWAYS be aware of your surroundings.  Don't EVER be caught off guard and unaware of something that potentially could or is going to happen.  That is how people get hurt.

I hope these tips help.  Please take a look at my specific location pages to see specifically what I've done to be prepared and stay healthy and active in each place.  Above all else, PLEASE BE SAFE!

Happy Running!