The Rules of the Road...

Hey y'all!  I'm down in Louisville, Kentucky this week grading AP US History exams for ETS.  My quasi-cation as it were (yes, I have to work from 8am until 5:30pm every day, but then there is still the evening for shenanigans and revelry around Louisville) lends itself to an entry about trying to be healthy when one is on the road, either vacationing or traveling for work.

Admittedly, AP grading is a nightmare for anyone's healthy eating scheme, so I'll be up front about my *trying* and admittedly, mostly failing, to make the best food choices.  Think cafeteria style, sodium-induced food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day, regulated snack periods filled with cookies and brownies, candy on every grading table, and having to sit in a gymnasium-like room for eight hours a day reading handwritten essays--written by teenagers.  It's exactly as horrifying as you'd imagine it.

However, I did come down here in a certain mindset to try my hardest and today, on day four of seven, I feel that I am back on the wagon.  So here's my advice for maintaining a healthy lifestyle on the road:  stop and think about what you're putting in your mouth and try to retain your exercise schedule on some level.  As a runner, the exercise portion has proven to be pretty easy--I brought my shoes with me!

Every day that I've been here, I've gotten up at 5:45am and gone for a 3-plus mile run, until about 6:30am--then it's time to get back to my room, and take a shower and get ready (coordinated with my roommate), before going to breakfast and grading.  Yes, I'd like to run longer and farther, but I don't have time this week due to the rigorous schedule and mind-drain that is AP grading, so I'm looking at this as an opportunity to see a little bit of the city in a very personal way (and with pepper-spray firmly clutched in hand), and as an opportunity to work on my 5k time, since that's just about how much distance I can get done in the morning.  It's actually been nice to get some exercise before having to sit, literally, all day, despite the fact that 5:45 comes pretty early.  Even if you can't run every day, try not to get too far off your regular schedule--from regular running experience, the longer you go in-between runs, the harder it is to get back into it, and I try not to go any longer than two days in a row without running some distance.  Running not your thing?  See if your hotel has a gym, a pool, etc. or if there are exercises you can do in your room.  Likewise, if you're a member of a fitness center chain, see if there is a branch in the city you're staying in and if your membership will transfer.

So, clearly, exercise has not been the problem--the food has.  I'm a firm believer in regional delicacies and local fare.  If you're going to travel somewhere you absolutely should try out whatever food stuffs for which that area is known.  Kentucky? Bourbon and a "hot brown!"  Splurge a little--it's a

vacation after all!  But try not to totally ruin your eating plan--and trust me, you'll feel better physically, if you don't go completely off your regular diet.  I've learned this the hard way thus far this week.

First, it's difficult to eat the same things every day when traveling because the same things don't necessary exist at your destination.  I did bring some of my own yogurt and healthier snacks (wheat thins, fruit, granola bars)--but found out there is no fridge in my room, so have to keep refilling the ice in my tiny cooler.  However, I have a roommate suddenly, and we're expected to eat lunch with other people every morning--so what's available?  Not the delicious Greek yogurt I'm used to eating.  If it's something packaged, look at calories. If it's buffet style, hedge your bets--think high protein, low fat, and lean toward fruits and veggies instead of other options, like pastries.

You can imagine what my lunch and dinner cafeteria options are like, so I won't dwell on the details.  The overarching message here is: think.  You know  which options are better, choose wisely.  Enjoy yourself, but you don't have to eat something battered, fried, and covered in <insert deliciously dangerous condiment here (gravy, butter, cheese sauce, etc.)> for every single meal.  Blech! Your gastrointestinal tract will thank you anyway.  I learned a valuable lesson just last night/this morning in fact--while it may seem like a good idea to eat cheese fries at midnight because you skipped the über gross dinner provided, it will not feel like a good idea when you drag yourself out of bed to go run the next morning.  So, save yourself the trauma and try to eat wisely, even when traveling.

Today, I've gotten back to eating a small breakfast, salad for lunch, and as healthy a dinner as I can attempt to put together.  Additionally, this means very few or no snacks for me (I'm a three-meal-a-day kind of gal).  This is another thing--try not to eat when you normally wouldn't, it will set you up to eat extra food when you're really not hungry.  AP grading is especially dangerous because they give you "snack breaks" twice per day.  You're so desperate to just get up and do something else that you get sucked into eating a snack too, even if you normally wouldn't on a regular day.  I did this for the first couple of days, and felt seriously off-kilter.  Today? Back to three regular meals, with the addition of a small snack of fruit for the mid-afternoon break.  

Finally, though I started this blog with the idea that it was about one year out from when I started trying to live a healthy lifestyle, this week marks the official end of my former unhealthy ways, one year ago.  It was, in fact, my pictures from AP grading last year that made me stop and question how I looked, and more importantly, how I felt.  So I'll wrap up this entry with my "Before and After" photo, which will hopefully, keep me on the straight and narrow the rest of the week as well!

Me and the Colonel!