I did it! I managed to make it through a training session this morning, as my own trainer. I was on the road today so it was up to me to push myself through every exercise that Trish wrote up for today’s workout plan. In all honesty, the hour and 40 minute workout was very doable compared to the prepping I had to do the day before for the trip.
I knew I was going to be on the road over nite, therefore had to plan out my meals ahead of time and figure out where I was going to workout. I train 5 days a week in the weight room and missing a day is not acceptable to me. Fortunately, finding a gym was pretty easy. The biggest challenge to overcome would be planning and prepping the food.
I had a list of things I had to complete for work, calls to make, kids to drop off at camp, dishes to wash, laundry to do, cook, shopping for a cool and my remaining supplements. I not only had to pack my food but pack my gym bag and my clothes for work! How does someone get all this done? It’s well thought out and planned in such a way that every minute of your day is consumed trying to complete the tasks. There is a level of stress that comes with this, but it’s manageable and doesn’t throw you off the course.
I got the kids to camp, started the laundry before my conference call and grilled 8 pieces of chicken breasts at lunch time. I cut the 8 chicken breasts in half to make a total of 16 pieces. This would be enough to get me through the next two days. Can you believe I eat that much chicken! I’m still in disbelief myself. Anyway, I wanted to make this first road trip cooler as simple as possible, so rather than grilling chicken, fish and turkey, I chose to go with chicken. My diet doesn’t allow for any oil or marinades so I had to get creative to add enough flavor to the chicken that it would taste good and not be too bland. Imagine eating bland chicken 4 times a day…you’d probably gag at some point, right? I found a few packages of dry marinade: Cajun and Mojito Lime. Sounded pretty good to me, so I would mix half the chicken in the Cajun marinade and the remaining chicken in Mojito lime. Both recipes called for oil and vinegar. I used water and rice vinegar because both are zero calories and wouldn’t put me over my daily calorie count. I grilled up the breasts and steamed a huge basket of broccoli. Back to work I go. I folded laundry while I was making calls to maximize my time. After work I jammed over to Wal-Mart to pick up a soft cooler that was large enough to pack 6 meals, a protein shake and several baggies with supplements. I found the perfect cooler and it was RED…even better. Redtangerine likes red ;-) My last stop would be to pick up the 3 remaining supplements I couldn’t find the day before.
I was back home and in the kitchen laying all this out. I sliced 4 chicken breast halves and placed one in each container, adding the allotted amount of broccoli to each. I scrambled up ½ a cup of egg whites and put ½ a cup of dry oatmeal in a snack size baggie. I bagged up my 3 rice cakes, added 3 tablespoons of sugar-free jelly to a small snack size container, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter went into another snack size container, and all my supplements and vitamins went in small baggies that I labeled. My 6 meals are measured differently so I took a piece of tape and a sharpie and numbered the container so I knew which order to eat them in. Whew, the only thing I had left to do was stack the food in the cooler and add ice. Wrong, I still had to pack my bags. I cleaned up the kitchen, started the dishwasher and packed up my last two bags.
By this time, I realized I hadn’t showered yet and believe me I needed to after 3 workouts. I was extremely tired and had a 2+ hour drive ahead of me. The shower helped wake me up and I smelled a lot better!
It’s 7:00pm and I’m finally packing everything in the car to head off into the sunset ;-)
I was in bed by 11:30pm and up at 4:15am to head to the gym. It’s really important that you get 6-8 hours of sleep when you are training your muscles. Your muscles build and repair in your sleep not while you are lifting. I've got to get to bed early tonite to make up for last nite.
Not many would want to sign up for a day like I had yesterday, but those who would are those who are determined and laser focused on their goal. It’s better to plan out your workouts and your meals, not to mention your day, than it is to be scrambling. Planning is critical if you want to see results!
Until next time…
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