Five Tips for Getting Your Body Back on Track Anywhere, Anytime

Hello from the suburbs of Los Angeles. While it was tough to leave Seattle, Bo and our friends this morning, this morning view from the airplane made it much better. The flight from Seattle to Los Angeles featured some gorgeous scenery!

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Today was my transition day back to reality after an amazing five day vacation in Seattle. In case you missed any of our adventures, here are the posts from vacation:

Seattle Adventures Day 1

Over the Narrows 10 Mile Race Recap

Boating on Lake Washington

A Great Seattle Hike

Even though it was a really active vacation, I still feel like my body needs a break from the delicious wines and good food. Luckily, we started each morning off on a healthy foot with either a smoothie or granola along with a nice, strong Seattle coffee from one of their nearby coffee shops. But, as the day progressed, especially the evenings, the wine flowed freely as our adventures lasted into the late evening hours.

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I fully believe in enjoying vacations to the fullest and therefore am going to use these next few days to get back on track. It won’t be that easy since I’m out in Los Angeles on business this week until Friday night. But, with a little planning and discipline, I believe it’s possible to push reset even while traveling for business. There is no feeling worse than swollen fingers, a lethargic body, tired eyes, and overall puffiness.

Five Tips for Getting Your Body Back on Track Anywhere, Anytime

  • Water! Luckily my hotel room is stocked with complimentary bottles of water. Since I left my reusable water bottle in NYC by accident, I’ll reuse these two bottles to ensure I always have water with me. I’ve already gone through 8 refills today, proof that my body was definitely dehydrated.
  • Decrease the caffeine.  People have their own opinions about caffeine but I find cutting it out 100% or at least reducing it helps me reset my body by setting me up for better sleep, calmer mood and mentality, and actually more energy.
  • Sleep While I actually enjoyed almost 8 hours of sleep each night on this vacation, many times when my body feels lethargic or as if I’m retaining water or bloated, it can be attributed to not getting enough rest. Sleep helps us in so many ways but first and foremost it is our bodies time to relax and repair. I cut out evening reading, cell phone use, and social media checks when I’m trying to get more sleep as this helps ensure I go to bed calm and helps me fall asleep faster. I also make sure to shut all the shades in the room so there is no light coming in the room.
  • Move more! When I’m trying to jumpstart my body, I’ll add 15 minutes to my normal workout routine. Therefore, if my marathon training calls for a 4 mile run, I’ll add an additional 15 minutes of either weights, incline walking, abs, or spinning. These extra few minutes just leave me sweating a little bit more and give me an extra boost of confidence and energy. If I’m crunched for time, I sometimes will add these 15 minutes in at some other time in the day whether it’s 15 minutes of night time yoga before bed or abs/pushups/squats as soon as I wakeup.
  • Go natural As someone who has never cut out processed foods 100% this one is the toughest but most effective thing for me when I’m trying to feel less bloated and just better overall. Today I’ve done my best to reach for fruit or almonds instead of processed bars and have cut artificial sweeteners out as well.

Keep in mind, I’m not a registered dietician or nutritionist. These are just a few tips and tricks that I’ve learned over the years that work for my body.

What helps you get back on track after a few too many days of indulging?

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A Great Seattle Hike

Great success! We crossed off the last item on our Seattle To Do List this afternoon!

We woke up with aching muscles after yesterday’s tubing adventures and were a bit slow moving due to a early morning police siren thanks to some idiots trying to steal an ATM at 4am from the market across the street.

After a cup of coffee and a relaxing breakfast we donned our age old hiking boots and headed the trails.

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Amy and Ryan have done quite a bit of hiking over the past year in Seattle and have discovered a great website to reference for new hiking trails, Weekend Hike. We knew that we wanted the trailhead to be less than an hour away and only could handle a 4-5 mile hike if it was going to include uphill portions. Within seconds Amy and I found a great hike on the website around Cougar Mountain. The trailhead was only 30 minutes away but was packed by the time we arrived. Note to locals, get there early if you don’t want to risk not having a parking place.

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Our planned hike was supposed to be around 5 miles round-trip including an intense 1.5 steep start before a gentle, lush hike after that. IMG_4573

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The trail was surrounded by ferns, lush evergreens, moss, and wood bridges. The sun shined brightly through the trees for about 1/2 the trail, forcing us to shed our jackets and enjoy a few water breaks.

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Due to a few wrong turns our hike ended up being a little under 6 miles and took us around 2 hours including a few breaks. We were all very happy that we wore actual hiking boots versus trail shoes or running shoes due to the steep inclines. Having the ankle support made me feel far more confident along the trail and we finished happy and injury free.

Hiking in the Northwest was a perfect way to round out our trip to Seattle. It’s been wonderful to experience so many different aspects of the city on this trip and get some much needed sunshine and fresh air!

Question: What’s the longest hike you’ve ever done or what’s your favorite hike?

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Boating on Lake Washington

Running isn’t the only thing Bo and I love doing when we travel to new cities. If we’re visiting a city which revolves around water, we do our best to get out and enjoy it. I love that Bo grew up on the water and therefore knows how to handle just about any boat we’ve ever come across. His favorite is sailing but a power boat comes in a close second.

Yesterday while we enjoyed a day of wine tasting in Woodinville we decided that based on the weekend’s weather, we had to take advantage of the sunshine and rent a boat. However, multiple phone calls during our 30 minute car ride resulted in lots of “already rented” responses and a grim outlook.

It wasn’t until this morning that Bo realized that Craigslist may be a good option. While this sounded crazy to us at first, it ended up being the best option. There were multiple boats available and a few phone calls later Bo secured a open bow lake boat that we could rent for 6 hours, including a two person tube and full tank of gas! The owner offered to meet us at the Magnuson Boat Launch, about 20 minutes from Queen Anne at noon.

We spent the next six hours exploring Lake Washington. We checked out Bill Gates home in Medina, gazed at the beautiful homes on Mercer Island, enjoyed breathtaking views of Mt. Rainier, daydreamed about climbing Kilimanjaro one day, sipped, ate, and spent time in the two person tube.

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After an hour we broke into our picnic lunch, because everything is better on the water! We brought sandwich makings, pretzels, pita chips, hummus, along with a few cool beverages!

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After lunch we used all our energy to hold on for our life on the double tube while Ryan and Bo drove Amy and I around the lake. We spent about 45 minutes screaming for our life as the cold water splashed around us and we jumped through other boat’s wake.

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It was so much fun! We took the boys around for a swing before we all decided it was time to soak up some rays and enjoy the music.

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The below deck is Bill Gates and leads to his 66,000 square foot estate! They even have a tram like track that can take people from the dock up the steep hill to the house!

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But, our favorite dock of the day was the one that had two separate benches, one for the Democrats and one for the Republicans! Clearly this is one passionate household.

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Days like this make me wish we had easier access to relaxing days on the water. But, as Amy said, the best boat to have is a friend’s boat. Until we are in an area where friends have boats, I guess we’ll have to stick to renting them!

Hope you’re enjoying your Labor Day weekend. If you have tomorrow off, how are you enjoying the 3rd day of the weekend?

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