Tag: Clean Eating

For the past week, I was at South by Southwest (a.k.a. SXSW) since Saturday. Traveling is always a challenge, and this time was no exception.

Since this week was technically my week one of half marathon training, I took along my running gear!

I made a few miscalculations, though.

Daylight Savings Time. I got up early on Monday to get in my run before needing to go to the trade show. The weather was warm (well, warm for me) and I was stoked to run outside for the first time in months (and not wanting to die from hypothermia). I made one slight miscalculation: it was still pitch dark out at 7am. DOH. I ended up running in the hotel gym with some Swedish supermodels¹.

The trade show itself. I was there working the trade show for WordPress and walking practically everywhere while I was in town. I never put two and two together that I’d be too wiped out to run more than two miles when I tried running.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Fitbit, 10,000 steps is the equivalent of five miles. I exceeded that every day I was in Austin, TX. In fact, for the days I did run – Monday and Tuesday – I ended up with 17,700 and 19,950 steps respectively. Hence, me not being able to run as much. I was tired!

The weather was great while I was down there, and it warmed up here enough to melt a good chunk of the snow so I’m hoping Spring is just around the corner!

While I was in Texas, I ate a lot of barbecue and tacos. In fact, I ate a lot of meat and starch in general. And I feel like crap now that I’m home.

I’ve been noodling around the idea of going grain-free for a while now – a sort of less-strict take on the Paleo diet. One where I can still use butter and enjoy some wine or dark chocolate once in a while. Michelle Tam over at Nom Nom Paleo has a similar view on being less restrictive. It allows for the focus to be on whole foods (meats, fruits, and vegetables) while cutting out grains, processed foods, and sugars (treat items notwithstanding).

My husband and I are carrying around extra pudge from the winter of hibernating and consoling ourselves over the lack of green grass and warmth by stuffing our faces with starchy comfort foods. Thus, we’re making a commitment to follow this plan for a month (which ends right along with my next work trip) and see how it affects us.

Today is the first day of this plan – above is the tasty salad I made for myself for lunch, and tonight, I have tortilla-less fajitas on the menu! I love the meat, veg, and avocado the most anyway, so it should be delish!

I also think it’ll be good for me while I start my training in full force – good fuel in means good performance out, right? Plus, I have my Get Lucky 7k tomorrow! Eek!²

Also, I’m finally going to set up my CycleOps Fluid2 trainer³ to give us some time in the proverbial saddle so we can be ready to take long bike rides this summer.

What fitness goals have you set for yourself in the next month? Has spring fever hit you yet?

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¹ – They were 6′ tall, slender, blonde, and speaking some foreign language that wasn’t French, Spanish, Russian, Italian, but I couldn’t put my finger on what Scandinavian language it was. Plus, it was SXSW, 7am, and they were working out. Hence: supermodels. Yes, I know I was there working out too, but I’m old and gross – and working out on a treadmill in the midst of them made me feel even older and grosser.

² – It’s not going to be above freezing for this one either. DAMMIT. But, I suppose 20 degrees above zero is better than 20 degrees below zero.

³ – I bought it over a year ago before I quit my job at a large outdoors retailer. Man, I really, really miss that employee discount. 🙂