Challengin' while Travellin'

As I've mentioned previously, this is not the first year I've embarked upon the Self challenge. In fact, I have at the very least signed up for it and completed the first month or so for the past four years. What happens around the one month marker that makes me stop, you may ask?

Travel. Every year, right around the same time, I head off for the very same trip: nine days or so in Rimini, Italy for a Beach Ultimate tournament (Big E's team goes every year. I myself don't play).

The travelling lifestyle isn't very conducive to working out. Sure, this really depends on where you go and what options are available to you. In some cases, you may stay in a hotel that has a gym. Or perhaps you've gone to a beach resort, with a tennis court, horseback riding, etc. etc. You shouldn't have a tough time keeping up with your workouts in this case.

For me, it was always the same stumbling block: Strength. It is usually around the time of the challenge where I'm required to do three 25 minute strength workouts a week. In Rimini, I have plenty of cardio options available to me, and they're usually quite easy to fit in. No gyms, however, are available and my bedroom is tiny. I decided this year to set myself up to not fail the strength requirements. I brought an exercise band with me, as well as three pages ripped from an old Self Magazine of an exercise band full body strength workout.

Then, in addition to this, I crammed in two workouts on monday and tuesday (upper body and then lower body), since we weren't leaving until noon on tuesday. Two down, one to go.

We arrived in Rimini on Thursday, the weather was gorgeous. While the team warmed up and practised, I went for a 45 minute jog. I debated doing some pilates on the beach while I waited... perhaps some pushups, a plank or two, ab work... but for some reason, decided against this.

The next day, again gorgeous, I decided it would be my day of rest and didn't workout at all. Saturday came along and I talked myself into a run, another 45 minute jog down the beach. I didn't consider doing any other stuff at this point. Then Sunday, I had a plan - for my relay training, I decided to do my first multiple training run. I went for three 4-5 mile runs, and then I collapsed.

Sunday night, we all drank far too much wine, and I spent monday lying delicately on the sideline. Working out was out of the question. Tuesday, we had to get up early to head back to Bologna and then of course get up even earlier on Wednesday to fly back to San Francisco. When I got home, I managed to talk myself into a Maya workout, the first for this past week, and got some core strength in. However, I also seem to have acquired an illness either on the plane or from the other teammates, and when I got up the next morning to fly to the East Coast, I was feeling even worse.

So with two weeks of travel under my belt, I've come to the following conclusion:

Travel + Cardio = success - at least for me. I love running in new locations, it's a great way to see the town, people watch, get a different perspective. Old Italian men seem to enjoy it too.

Travel + Strength = Not so hot. I can't seem to make myself do a workout in my hotel room and am not likely to do it out on the beach in public. I guess I'm just a wuss that way.

Travel + Flu + any workout = barely happenin'. More on that after the next week in review.

No...Really?

So I got an email from the Self Challenge today.

Your SELF Challenge reminder

Been a few days since you checked in with the SELF Challenge?
Come on back! Studies show those who keep track of their goals are more likely to achieve them. In other words, go to Self.com/challenge now to update your workout log or food diary, and we'll help you get your best body ever.
If you'd like to start the plan back where you left off—or even back at Week 1—hit the Previous Week button on your My Log page.

Now that's a bit odd, seeing as that I uploaded my first workout monday, then took tuesday off, then wednesday I entered two half hour cardio sessions (I went for an hour run, but they didn't have the pace I ran - a 10:30 - so I entered half an hour at 10 and half an hour at 11), then yesterday, I entered the Strength workout, which I actually did all the way through this time, and while I'm a bit less pissed at it, I still don't love it. So yeah, that just doesn't seem like the kind of thing that warrants a reminder.

Now, don't get me wrong, the reminder thing is brilliant idea, and the first thing I did when I got it was hurry on up and upload another workout for yesterday (half hour run at 10 minute miles, even though I actually did 9:30s but that's not an option either, even though 8:30 and 7:30 do exist... whatever.) I also put a one hour pilates session for today... and that ladies and gents fulfills my Self Challenge requirements for this week, which is funny because I still have two days of workout left in me.

But why did they send me a "where have you been?" note??? Should I be updating twice a day? every hour??? or is it the lack of food diary entering?

Here we go again!

Well, folks, it's that time of year again - The Self Challenge. Let's see - the first time I did the self challenge was in 1998. Have I ever lost any weight while doing it? Hmm... It's doubtful. Have I ever really completed the entire challenge? Also doubtful. But I keep coming back every year.

What I like about it is it's accessibility. I can easily fit in the number of cardio workouts it requires per week. I have a bit of a harder time doing the strength workouts, but I'm hoping to be better at that this year. What I've never been able to do is keep a food diary.

Will that change this year? That remains to be seen. So why am I doing this? This year has already kicked off as my highest motivation level ever - I've been working about 5-6 days a week already! and the challenge hasn't even begun yet. I've already run my first race of the year, the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon in San Francisco, and did my best time yet - a whole 15 minutes faster than my previous PR!!! (I'm still a bit giddy about that). If ever there was a good year for me to take on and complete this challenge, 2007 seems to be it.

I do like the strength workouts the challenge provides, since I don't have a gym membership and prefer to use free weights at home. And while I would love to do a Yourself! fitness challenge instead (having discovered the program when visiting my parents this past december), I don't own a playstation or xbox and don't plan to buy one any time soon.

So when Tamsen told me about her Tiny in 90 plan, I decided to join her. Well, to be honest, first I snickered at the thought that I could ever be "tiny", seeing as that I'm a broad-shouldered, wide-hipped 5'9"-er. And then, I agreed.

So here we go - let's get this fitness challenge started!