Having A Goal Equals Healthier, Happier Travel

Howdy from Texas!

It has been a great day thus far even though half the day was spent traveling. In fact, I think I’ve connected more over the past month than I did all last year. New York City’s large airports have spoiled me with direct flights almost everywhere!

But, I can’t complain about today’s trips as I was upgraded on the first leg from Newark to Memphis. It’s always hard to go back to coach after a free upgrade, due to miles, but boy is it nice while I’m there. I was surprised by the level of service on today’s flight. Continuous service, lunch, a hot lemon towel service, and plenty of leg room!  The craziest thing were the real glasses!

Since my goal this week is to eat as healthy as possible so I’ll have plenty of energy for early morning workouts and long days, I enjoyed the fruit, water, chicken, beans, and tomatoes leaving most of the pasta and feta. I also left the random bread sticks but took the miniature Blondie with me to enjoy as an afternoon snack on my next flight.

I spent the next flight reading a this month’s Shape and Women’s Health magazines, both of which were filled with great workouts. I actually found an abdominal and arm routine which I’m going to try to squeeze in each day I’m here.

As soon as I arrived at the hotel I headed straight down to log my workout. I find that having a goal while I travel always make the week more successful in terms of healthy eating and workouts. This week I have two goals.

This Saturday is our Diamond Derby party and the dress I bought is actually cut pretty slim. If I want to feel confident and happy on Saturday then I need to:

• Workout everyday between Sunday and Saturday for 60 minutes, ensuring that I include arms and abs in addition to my hill walking (through Tuesday) and running.
• Eat very healthy Sunday and Monday/Tuesday breakfast+lunch as I know that we will be having corporate dinners at some of Houston’s best restaurants Monday and Tuesday.

By making goals like this for yourself it can help keep you on track when work travel tempts you spend all your time working or partying with co-workers. It’s important to invest some time in yourself. Next time I travel my goals my revolve around drinking my water and getting plenty of sleep. It all depends on what you need at that time.

These goals motivated me while I was in the hotel gym, which is far nicer than some I’ve seen in mid-price chain hotels before.

I spent 45 minutes incline walking on the treadmill, ranging from 4-12 incline and 4.0-4.4 speed. After the walk I hit the mat for the two workouts I found in the magazines. Both were far harder than I expected, especially the abs workout. Doing each of these for one minute as a starting point was really hard! To be honest, I only made it 45 seconds on one of them. I finished my time at the gym with a 1.5 minute plank and 15 pushups! Done and Done!

After a quick shower and early evening snack, thanks to the gym’s fruit bowl, I headed out to dinner with my manager.

There isn’t much in the area of Houston where we’re staying, right near the airport, so we actually explored and settled on an Outback tonight.  Believe it or not, their salmon was perfectly seasoned and the sweet potato, without the butter but topped with plenty of cinnamon, was delicious!

Here’s to hoping my room has sound proof windows for all those planes taking off just a few hundred feet away!