Non-scale victory: Tracking where I exercise (globally)
Here’s a new non-scale victory for me, and one I’m going to start tracking pretty heavily. I’ve always traveled, I’ve often exercised, and now I’m lucky enough to do both pretty often.
The food blogger in me makes sure I get to sample the local delicacies (in Miami, Cuban food; in Dijon, the mustard and wine; in New York…everything) but the Food Blogger on a Diet in me is making sure I’m working out (and going for a run outside when possible) in every city I visit, too.
Last year I talked about packing food while traveling, and also exercising while traveling, but since I’m a big statistics geek, and I post a big recap of my personal stats every year on my food blog (check out my 2011 Year in Review for what I track), after I started exercising on these trips, I decided that I should start tracking how many cities & countries I exercise in. I’ll be adding these to my Year in Review moving forward, too.
In the last six months, I busted out a run in Budapest, I got my workout on in Kenya, I went for a run on Miami Beach, and in Central Park, and I did the Automattic 5k in Spain. I even posted a recent picture of my run in Dijon, France, for the Daily Post project here on WordPress.com (the theme was Unfocused as I didn’t want to stop to get a clear picture during my run). One crazy streak with my girlfriends in San Francisco, we worked out 3 days in a row (I was begging for a rest day after). But those times are now part of the memories I will have.
If I’m traveling out alone, I often tell friends I’m going to be heading out for a run to keep me accountable when the alarm comes around, and I usually snap a picture of me before or after for posterity’s sake. I have a lot of pictures of bathrooms 🙂 This was the before of my run in Dijon, France in April. At 7am, it was especially hard to go out into the misty 10C (50F) degree weather for a run, but I sent out the picture and stepping out the door after got that much easier.
I’m hoping soon I’ll be able to have a workout story for every place I visit. I don’t always have time (or energy) during every trip but when compared with before, I’m making big strides, and it’s now something I look forward to. And every workout is a non-scale victory 🙂
What about you? Do you keep track of your traveling workouts? Any tips to share?
Going for a run in Dijon
Food Blogger on a Diet 
I’ve been blogging (URL in comment author details) every workout for months now. It’s a small piece of what keeps me going. The biggest benefit of writing about every workout is that I can look back to see how my progress, which is super motivating. When I workout in a location out of the norm, I make sure to mention that in my post and sometimes include a photo.
That’s great – CrossFit is cool b/c you’re changing it up a lot! Right now I just keep a specific calendar on Google Calendar for my workouts, so I can plan as well as track them if I want to look back. I want to start tracking weights a little more – lately I’ve been pushing myself to add more so I know I’m stronger 😉
Keep it up! Wish I could travel more.