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Travel & Fitness
What is it about traveling - when we're out of our
familiar nests and away from routine - that makes us
feel we can splurge? That's the hardest part of trying
to stay fit while traveling. We somehow feel that the
foods we don't allow ourselves to eat at home - whether
it's a giant economy size bag of Junior Mints or Snickers
and McDonalds or even the small bag of nuts they hand
out on an airplane - are ok on the road, since we're
tired, stressed, exhausted and have nowhere else to
turn for food. The same goes for exercise. Some people
I know try to lose extra weight before a trip so that
if they can't stick to a healthy diet, or can't fit
in their regular swim, walk, jog or weight-training
workout, they have a little cushion to call back on.
Over the years, traveling around the world in all seasons
and for all reasons, I have decided there is one great
truism about staying fit on the road: If you do not
have an exercise routine at home, you are not going
to develop one on the road. No way. So, the stronger
and more engrained the workout habit is during your
regular daily life, the easier it is to maintain that
fitness level on the road.
The same goes for one's daily diet. If you have a habit
of saying no (or yes) to the million culinary temptations
that come our way each day, you will say no (or yes)
to those temptations on the road.
I have always been a jogger, and so part of my travel
gear has always included running shoes (I still wish
they'd create an inflatable version) and socks and the
lightest weight running clothes I can find. (I also
wish they would make comfortable disposal running gear
so you could just toss the sweats at the end of a run.
) I also carry a Walkman with familiar music, knowing
that the music is the carrot that will lead me along
those unfamiliar paths.
I've run in China and Hong Kong, Sydney and London,
on the Atlantic beaches of France, in Amsterdam and
Palermo, in gyms in Minneapolis, in the streets of St
Helena, Ca. Often the memories of a run - where you
are calm, alert, and more receptive to your surroundings
- are what I remember most about a trip. One of my most
memorable jogs was in Burgundy, along the wine route
of Gevrey- Chambertin at harvest time, as we sang and
waved to the harvesters that peppered the brilliant,
healthy, laden vineyards. On that trip some 20 years
ago, we even created a song which I can sing to this
day.
Early on as I traveled about small villages in France
I realized that many small hotels have no night staff
and so literally lock the guests in at night as the
last staff person leaves. That means if they don't open
up the doors until 8 am and you want to get out for
a walk or a run before that, you have to use clever
means of extracting yourself from the building. I've
crawled out many a hotel or chateau window and found
that the kitchen door is often the most likely exit,
since most hotels leave the back kitchen door open for
the early-arriving kitchen staff.
Sometimes you have to be clever. Like on a recent trip
to Sicily where, after three days of running through
the polluted streets of Palermo, passing jeering men
all along the way, my partner and I decided to hire
a taxi at the hotel. The taxi took us to the nearest
park, and came back to fetch us after our hour-long
run.
Fortunately, most decent hotels now have a gym, and
there is almost always a treadmill and free weights
available for a workout. I'm a private exercise person
and I will admit that when I worked up enough courage
to make my public debut working with hand weights, I
said a prayer all the way to the gym that no one would
be there. Of course the place was crowded, but I just
snuck into a little corner and quietly worked through
my routine without incident. Later, when I told a friend
this he said "Most people, given the chance of
walking into a crowded singles bar or working out in
a gym in public, would choose the singles bar."
Food, of course, either too much of it or too much
of the wrong thing, or nothing at all can be a problem.
I always travel with a small plastic bag full of dried
fruit (organic apricots or raisins or dried apples)
to tide me over during the inevitable delays. Food always
tastes better when it has a touch of the familiar, so
I travel with tiny vials of hot pepper, of fine sea
salt, and of Tabasco sauce to season and spice up just
about anything put in front of me.
I know one business traveler, Donald Marchand, an American
who lives in Switzerland, who consistently orders the
Asian meal on the plane. He says they're always dreadful
and allow you to just push food around on the plate
and not eat it. Yet, you have the satisfaction of having
food put in front of you, and of feeling virtuous for
not eating all of it.
Then there is the minibar problem. How many times have
we all come back from a long business day, no food or
at least nothing satisfying, and done a virtual vacuum
of the contents before we knew what was happening.
I know one businessman -- Michael Eisner from Disney
-- who once ordered the Ritz Hotel in Paris to empty
out his minibar and fill it with Diet Coke. The other
trick is to leave the minbar key at the hotel desk and
avoid temptation altogether.
One rule I use is "When you have control, take
control." So when I get to choose what I eat, I
try to make the most of it. I know my needs and I need
good protein in the morning to get me through the day,
whether good food, bad food, or no food is to follow.
My standard hotel breakfast is a poached egg, a bowl
of cottage cheese or yogurt and a bowl of mixed fruits.
That way, no matter what the day deals me food-wise
I know I'll have energy to carry on, will have fewer
'dips" or cravings and will more easily resist
what I feel that should not have.
The modern world offers all sorts of travel gear that
can help us stay fit on the road. I recently purchased
a set of travel weights (they weigh next to nothing
and can be filled with water in your hotel room) for
both upper body and lower body strength. Of course they
take an age to fill and to empty, so it's not a gadget
you're likely to use for one night stands. But for long
trips where I'll be staying several nights I expect
they're going to be a godsend.
Learn to make it easy on yourself: I find that if you
have a long list of exercises you love to do - swimming,
band exercises, weights, walking, running, a treadmill,
a Stairmaster - the more likely you are to do at least
one of them on the road. If you make regular visits
to friends or family in other cities, stash some workout
gear in a spare drawer. You're much more likely to exercise
than not.
But sometimes, simple walking is the best, safest exercise
in a city. I always try to have a map of the city I'm
visiting and ask at the front desk in a destination
is walkable. More times than not, it is.
And you know what? If none of this works, don't beat
yourself up over it. Just try again the next time. And
remember, it takes 25 to 35 repetitions to create a
new habit. So work on those habits during your at home
time, and chances are, on the next trip, you'll find
yourself breezing through.
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