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Fitness Update March 16th and One Thing You Should Never Do

No recipe post last night, and if you are subscribed to my email list or follow me on social media, you know why. It has been kinda crazy the past couple weeks in our household. As a result, this week’s fitness update is a bit lacking in the fitness department, but I will definitely still share my week, because this is real life. I have some nutrition tips for traveling, and a “don’t ever do this” moment to share.

Below are the workouts I did over the past week:

Friday
Moving day for Mr. Zucchini Runner’s mom from Seattle, WA to AZ; so lots of lifting heavy boxes, climbing stairs and walking. I walked 5.6 miles – 3 were probably related to the moving. This is the day the “don’t ever do this” moment occurred, but we’ll get to that soon.

Saturday
Rest Day – on the road with the moving truck loaded down and her car in tow.

Sunday
Rest Day #2 – final day on the road with moving truck and car in tow. I had high hopes of starting each morning in the hotels with a little 30 minute workout, but it took all I had to just get out of bed. Moving is hard. Moving is exhausting.

Monday
Boom. Another rest day! I was EXHAUSTED. Also had our chiropractic visit this day; much needed.

Tuesday
3 mile trail run, felt amazing.

Wednesday
5 mile road run, with the second half at a quicker pace.

Thursday
4 mile road run, nice and easy pace + amazing massage from my LMT, Barb

running 4 miles

If you’ve missed any of the previous Fitness Updates, and are interested in the pattern (or lack thereof) here you go!

March 9th

March 2nd (Mesa-Phoenix Half Marathon Race Recap)

Feb. 23rd

Feb. 16th

Feb. 9th

Feb. 2nd

Jan. 25th

Nutrition Talk

Considering I was on the road for 3 of the above 7 days — I think I did pretty well with my food. As you saw with last week’s post, I was able to find a green juice and salad in the LAX airport. Over the years I’ve learned that when traveling, especially stressful traveling, I need to keep my nutrition on point the best I can. Because no matter what I do, it won’t be as good as what I cook at home – in terms of nutritional value.

fresh produce natural grocers boise idaho

I snapped the whole road trip via Snapchat. 🙂 I was a little relieved to say the least when we found a Natural Grocers in Boise, ID.

If I don’t eat well while traveling, there’s a 50% chance I will get sick. So finding a Natural Grocers in Boise, ID was a little slice of heaven for me.

grocery haul natural grocers

The grocery haul for the remainder of our trip to AZ.

It’s not all amazing food, but FAR better than what the gas stations had offered us so far.

Below is a snapshot of yesterday and today’s journal entries for my Be Well Fitness log. I kept on track during the trip, once we got on the road. There wasn’t much else to do but eat and stare at the scenery.

be well fitness log

Fun Fact

In the image below, you can see my resting heart rate (blue) and high/active heart rate (red). You can see a direct connection between sitting and doing nothing all day on the road (circled in yellow) and actually getting back home and working out again, last three dots. So even though I was not working out, my resting heart rate was actually higher. Kind of a no brainer that exercise is directly connected to heart health. Just further proof to keep moving. <3

heart rate daily

Lastly, don’t ever do this.

Don’t ever ever ever stand over a tow dolly as someone is driving a vehicle onto it. Even if you think it is secure, and you’ve checked it 10 times. Don’t put yourself in that position – literally. We learned this the hard way on Friday. It was a dumb move on my part, especially given the fear-laden, “what if…” personality I have.

As I was straddled over the beam, I thought, “I shouldn’t be doing this.” No sooner than 30 seconds later, and that beam unhooked from the tow hitch, due to the weight of the car, and swiftly lifted me up in the air – teeter-totter style, and I fell to the ground screaming in pain and fear.

Not a moment I want to relive or have anyone experience… ever.

The good news is, no broken bones. It hit my inner thigh first, so I have a beautiful purple bruise and a nice little complimentary red scrape. It tore a hole in my FAVORITE pants, but I already repaired them. 🙂 {looks down} I’m actually wearing them now! hahahaha So yeah, DON’T EVER DO THIS. Not a great way to start a 1,400 mile road trip that will take you 27 hours.

Until next week!

Sleep hard.
Get moving.
Trust Your Gut.

Fitness Update March 9th

Traveling and sticking to good fitness and nutrition can be rough… (so can getting your blog posts up on time…) So this week’s fitness update will be very different than the previous weeks, which I’m actually excited to share with you. It’s good to see how you can handle variation when your regular routine is nowhere to be seen. And next week’s will be no different. I’m actually writing this while sitting in a hotel in Seattle. Mr. ZR’s Grandma passed away, and we attended her funeral yesterday. Immediately following, we drove over to LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) and flew out to Seattle, WA. Why? Well, Mr. ZR’s mom got a job offer in Phoenix and we are helping her move her belongings from Seattle to Phoenix. We need to go pick up the UHaul in about 30 minutes, so I’m going to keep this week’s update brief! Between last week’s travel to California for a marketing seminar, and this week’s travel. I’m way, way out of my normal routine. I did manage to squeeze 2 miles in Wednesday morning before hitting the road however. Much needed, felt great.

Below are the workouts I did over the past week:

Friday
3 treadmill miles in the CA hotel gym with some weights and hip flexor strengthening moves

Saturday
I managed to run a half mile. haha (I was looking for my lost water bottle! It’s glass and really nice!)

Sunday
Squeezed in 20 minutes of stair running/climbing in the hotel. Did 16 floors x 3 (can we say SORE CALVES?! It’s now Friday and there are still hints of soreness in them)

Monday
6.25 mile run (HEAVEN – back home)

Tuesday
PiYo – Define Upper Body (home)

Wednesday
2 mile trail run at lunchtime, before hitting the road to Cali

Thursday
Rest day – funeral day in CA – travel to WA day. We did walk a mile from the airport to hotel with big backpacks on. At this point, my tailbone and lower back are so sore from sitting so much. I’m not used to this!


Here is a fun little detour, on Monday I “accidentally” registered for a virtual race!

WHOOPS! I couldn’t pass it up; the medal is SO COOL! I don’t normally care about the medal, but this one just has it all. Check it out! It opens up to hold a photo too! (Thanks to my friend Helly for sharing the medal on her IG. I was HOOKED once I saw it!) I’ve never done a virtual half before, have you? If so, do you run it on the same day as the actual race? Looking for ideas/recommendations here… thanks! We will be traveling to Cali again the day of the race. This time it will be for a nice little vacation, no work.

2017-shepower-half-medal

If you’ve missed any of the previous Fitness Updates, and are interested in the pattern (or lack thereof) here you go!

March 2nd (Mesa-Phoenix Half Marathon Race Recap)

Feb. 23rd

Feb. 16th

Feb. 9th

Feb. 2nd

Jan. 25th

Real Talk

Until Wednesday of this week, I was still sticking with my Be Well Fitness Log, but I just realized this morning I haven’t logged anything in it! 🙁 Once I publish this post, I’m going to back log all the days I missed and get back on track. All the craziness is over in terms of travel. Now we just have to drive a small UHaul towing a car back down to AZ. So I’ll have lots of time to read, listen to podcasts, audiobooks, write, etc.

In terms of nutrition, I have really tried to stay on track and eat as many veggies and salads, and avoid sweets as much as possible. But being a vegan who doesn’t like gluten, it is a little rough. Some of you may be surprised to hear I eat French fries when I am short on food choices. They fill me up and give me carbs, sugar and fat. I don’t recommend eating fries on a regular basis, but sometimes I have to do what I can. At LAX yesterday we were able to find a yummy salad, and then I also stumbled on an organic green juice.

Until next week!
Sleep hard.
Get moving.
Trust Your Gut.