Time for Resolutions and Reflections

Resolutions for 2014

I have been thinking quite a bit about the year ahead.  It could be a big year of change for me as I will become eligible for full retirement from my day job, after 32 years of service.  However, it is the opportunity to race in Kona at the Ironman World Championships in October that has me most excited about 2014.

I’ve thought about the many things I could resolve to do in order to be healthy and happy not only in 2014 but in the years to come.  I think it is better to put these thoughts as positive to do’s rather than negative don’t do’s.  I’m sharing them to get the creative juices going. I’ve thought (in no particular order) about resolving to:

·         Get back on my daily vitamin and pro-biotic regimen
·         Plan meals/feedings ahead of time, so that I eat protein and vegetables every three to four hours
·         Get my first workout done in the mornings
·         Leave work on time in the evening
·         Set aside some time every week to spend socializing with friends
·         Get a monthly massage
·         Do something nice for my husband every week

I’m not sure which I will pick, or maybe I should choose them all.

I had a conversation with a co-worker today and she is following a suggestion of choosing a word for 2014 rather than a resolution. The word will create a vision for the year and be the focus. An example that stands out to me would be something like “intentional” or “mindfulness”; I will make all of my activities intentional, versus going through the motions.

Some other things I know I’ll do for my health and happiness so fortunately I don’t need to ponder them:

·         The workouts assigned to me by my coach (typically 6 days per week, sometimes 7)
·         Monthly chiropractor visits
·         Wellness medical appointments
·         Take vacation time off from work

Reflections on 2013

I aged upped!  I turned 55 in 2013 and moved into a new five year age group (AG) in tri racing. Another thing I love about this sport is that it actually makes me look forward to getting into the next older group.  I’m not saying that it is necessarily easier to do well in the sport as one progresses through the age continuum. There are some wickedly fast women in the age groups above 50 who continue to be faster than many women even half their age.  There are however less of us, due to the fact that this level of training gets harder as we get older as the body takes more time to repair itself.  Among the women over 50 there is still a high degree of competitiveness but a sense of camaraderie dominates the interactions.

The year 2013 was my first full year of having a coach and it paid off as evidenced by my race results:

·         Ironman Hawaii 70.3 – AG 4^th place
·         Donner Lake Half Iron Distance – AG 1^st place
·         Ironman Lake Tahoe – AG 2^nd place
·         Tahoe Trail Run 10K – AG 2^nd place
·         East Bay 10K – 3^rd place

I enjoyed spending time in Hawaii and Tahoe around these triathlons and the company of my husband and friends.  I had a great weekend in Monterey with Cecile when we rode in the Sea Otter Classic Gran Fondo and were challenged by the hills and head winds of the last 20 miles.

The word for 2013 had to be “FUN.”  Trips to Mexico with family, ski trips to Whistler with friends, the rides to Davis with Mike, Lori, Cecile and others, as well as the training camps in Tucson and Tahoe with my coach.

“FUN” might be my word for life.

Running is a FUN way to explore a foreign city.

THE PRE-SEASON

This time of year is generally considered the “off season” for triathletes in North America.  For those of us with high aspirations or big goals, like racing at the Ironman World Championships, my coach calls it the pre-season.  There is no real break from swimming, biking and running, the focus just shifts primarily toward working on strength and form. The goal is to build on the fitness gained in the previous season, rather than losing it and having to build it all back up again.

My recovery from Ironman Lake Tahoe consisted of one entire week off while also recovering from a cold with an incessant cough. Over the next two weeks I continued to get quite a bit of rest incorporating low intensity workouts, every other day. I really appreciated the luxury of being able to sleep in and to do things I rarely had time for over the past year such as going to brunch on a weekend with my husband. After those three weeks of relative leisure, I got back on a regular training schedule. The first two weeks back into consistent training, I planned some end of week highlights as a treat; a 10K run and a 100 mile group ride.



Last 200 Yards on the Turf

This is a great season for running and there are lots of nearby running races to choose from. For a 10K, I participated in the inaugural "Let's go 5-1-0" 10K which took place across the bay from San Francisco at the Golden Gate Fields race track. It was organized by Brazen Racing and the last 200 yards to the finish were actually on the race track. Brazen Racing does a great job of organizing their races and this one had the added luxury of not starting until 10AM. Of the triathlon sub-disciplines, running is my weakest link. I planned to set a pace between 9:15 and 9:30 minutes/mile. The first 4 miles felt pretty easy with my splits all being 9:21 or under. For the last 2.2 miles I had to focus quite a bit and my pace slowed such that I ended up with a 9:23 overall pace. That was a personal record (PR) for me and put me in 3rd place. I haven’t had many high placements in running races, so I was pretty stoked to get an award. My fastest 10K race which was back in June of 2000 was at a 9:27 minute/mile pace and that was the year I trained for the Paris marathon. I also felt good about beating my previous PR from 13 years ago, proving that just like wine we can get better with age.

Once or twice a year, for the past few years, I've joined a friend and anyone else we can gather together to ride 100 miles from the North Berkeley BART station to Davis and return on the Amtrak train. This year we had a group of 12 riders and the best matched group to date. We stuck together pretty well and the pace was good enough that were able to catch the earlier return train. It was great fun, I met some nice people and it was the easiest time I've had doing the ride.



The Gang



Fall Follage



Goofing off at our 80 mile rest stop

Planning some low stress, group activities is a great way to get energized and revved up again to get back at it and into the “Pre-Season!”

IM LAKE TAHOE: WHAT A RACE!

Unhealthy levels of combined smoke from the American and Rim fires forced me down the mountain and dashed my dream of training at altitude for five weeks before the race. About two weeks before the race, the smoke cleared enough to make it worthwhile to return to Squaw. My coach Chris Hauth and a number of his athletes met back up in Tahoe for a final group training weekend on the course two weeks before the race. I felt really good and hoped that I hadn’t peaked too early.

My husband Dennis joined me on Friday night a week before the race, my sister the following Tues., my sister-in-law and brother-in-law on Wed. and my friend and best training buddy Cecile, the day before the race. So my cheering section was set.

I did my last workout on Friday: A one-hour bike during which I tested Zipp 404 race wheels rented from Tri Bike Transport. This last minute decision was fueled by a look at the USAT rankings of my competitors versus mine. Of those with a ranking, I was ranked 6^th; podium spots go to 5^th place, so I asked myself, “What was there to lose?” My bike felt a little different with the wheels, but it only took about 15 minutes to get used to the feel. On Saturday, it poured rain, the temps dropped, and snow fell above 7000 ft.  Good thing I finished my last scheduled workout on Friday!

IMAGE FROM SQUAW WEB CAN ON DAY BEFORE THE RACE 

Race Morning: At 4:30 am, I drove to Cecile’s place located less than a mile from the swim start and left my car there until the next day. Cecile drove me to the start, took my morning clothes and saw me off before she headed to Squaw to volunteer in the medical tent. 

Even before the start I knew that Ironman Lake Tahoe was going to be a different kind of race. My bike, protected from the rain by plastic bags, was now covered in ice. Even the little puddles of rain water in the dimples of the plastic bags had formed ice cubes and, where the bike wasn’t protected, it needed defrosting in order to tape on my electrolytes. One of the best things I did was put “Hot Hands” inside my gloves before hanging them on my shifters so that they would be warm when I started the ride. As there was not a bike pump to be found, I stood in line in freezing temperatures at the air compressor for my tires to be pumped. After re-racking my bike I headed over to the transition bag area and put toe warmers between my bike shoes and neoprene toe covers.

Swim: By the time I got to the beach most of the competitors were already lined up. I wove through the tight crowd to line up for the swim at the back of the 1 to 1:10 group, thinking I could do the swim in an hour and 15 mins. The sun had just come up and fog was rising off of the warm lake into the 32 degree air. I couldn’t see any of the buoys as we entered the water and started to swim, so I just started following people. With all my effort to not let it happen, my heart rate soared and I actually felt a little panicked as I got pummeled, elbowed in the mouth, and especially when one guy actually put his arm around my waist and pulled himself over me pushing me under to get to the other side of me. My heart was racing until the number five sighting buoy, where I finally managed to get my breathing under control. 

With the course shrouded in fog, I couldn’t see from one buoy to the next and never saw the course from shore. I felt amazed that I was able to execute my plan of swimming to the inside of the sighting buoys and turning tightly around the turn buoys. I felt like I was just surviving on the first lap and couldn’t really concentrate on swimming well. 

On the second lap I was able to stretch out a bit and focus on my stroke.  At this point, every time I drew a breath, I could appreciate the view of snow capped mountains in the distance with trees in the foreground dusted with snow. This alternated with the crystal clear view to the bottom of the lake, which was sometimes obliterated by bubbles from hard kicking around me. I came out of the water thinking it was a pretty slow swim. I couldn’t tell by the clock because we had a rolling start and I didn’t know what time it was when I crossed over the starting mat. I learned after the race that my swim time was 1:20 – I was expecting 1:15 or a little quicker.

T1: I took advantage of the wetsuit strippers, retrieved my transition bag pretty quickly and went into the inadequate changing tent which was packed with women struggling to put on dry clothes. With no chairs available, I dropped my stuff on the ground and put my helmet on right away so it wouldn’t get kicked or stepped on. It was pure chaos as women stepped all over my stuff and I struggled to put my jacket on, so I grabbed everything and went outside. Although it was significantly colder, I had some room which I used to sit down on the ground to get my socks and shoes on.  I put on a stretchy tight jacket, tight fleece vest, knee warmers, socks, a neck gator, shoes, sunglasses, and a headband that covered my ears; plus I stuffed a few Bonk Breaker Bars in my tri jersey pockets.  I had worn arm warmers, a dry fit tee, tri jersey and tri shorts under my wetsuit and kept them on even though they were now wet. My transition time was 12 minutes and 16 seconds. It seemed ridiculously long but was very much in line with many other competitive participants and probably less than the average for this race.

Bike: I felt cold for the first lap of the bike but thanks to the chemical warmers, didn’t have frozen or numb hands or toes. It took a long time for my legs to feel warmed up and on the first two climbs (Martis and Brockway) I wasn’t able to produce Z4 watts or Z4 heart rate very often. At the time I was thinking that I probably went too hard on my three hour Wed. ride earlier in the week. I also thought about what my coach said about just getting over the hills, so I tried not to get mentally hung up on the seeming lack of power. I felt like I took the entire first lap fairly easy. On the second lap, my Garmin turned off in the Comstock area; I turned it back on and saw that the battery was fine and hoped it would stay on.  I kept my eye on power and heart rate, realizing about nine miles later that I hadn’t pressed start! I’m missing data from Truckee to somewhere in the Martis area. On the second loop the Martis climb didn’t feel difficult but the top half of the Brockway climb felt extremely difficult. I enjoyed the final fast descent back to Kings Beach hitting a top speed of 47 mph.  Then came the start of the home stretch, I wished I knew from my computer how much time had lapsed on the bike ride so I would have some idea about how I was doing compared to my pre-race expectations. At the start of the last Dollar Hill climb I noticed two guys squatting off of their bikes; Just as I was wondering what they were doing, my right inner thigh got a major cramp. Ah ha, they were stretching out cramps! I downed the rest of my water bottle, took two salt tabs and tried to emphasize a different part of my pedal stroke and the cramp went away pretty quickly. Which leads me to what I ate and drank on the bike:

On the first loop, the first two Bonk Breaker Bars were almost frozen and it took me a half hour toget through each one. At this rate, I thought I’d be eating constantly during the entire bike ride. Also my bottles were so cold that they were almost impossible to squeeze. All in all, I ate three bonk breaker bars, two gels, and one package of Power Bar Energy Blasts. Plus I had 100 cals of Roctane Energy Formula in one bottle. In total this adds up to approximately 1290 cals on the bike. The bike took 7:08, so this is 187 cals per hour ingested. My target was 200 cals per hour; not perfect but not terrible. Where I fell short was in drinking. I had three bottles on the first loop, all with one Nuun tab in them and one with the addition of the 100 cals of Roctane. I stopped at special needs and picked up an additional bottle with one Nuun tab in it. I took 2 water bottles from aid stations after that and thought that there was another aid station between Carnelian Woods and the turn into Squaw Valley, but there was not. That made the total number of bottles only six, well short of my target of seven to 10.  Since I finished my last bottle at the bottom of the Dollar Hill climb, I entered T2 on the thirsty side but I also needed to pee.

Although I didn’t know it at the time because my computer had malfunctioned, my bike time was 7:08 – just eight minutes over my goal time of seven hours. My average HR was 134 (zone 3) max 155, and my average watts 139 (zone 2).

T2: It was pretty uneventful. I did have to duck into a porta potty before I left T2. My transition time was five minutes and 35 seconds.

Run:  A lot of the run is pretty much a blur to me. There are moments that stand out but mostly I was focused on two recurring mantras: “You don’t get on the podium by walking” and “Don’t let all that training go to waste.” Soon after T2 at the end of the parking lot, just before heading onto the Squaw Valley Road bike path, I thought I should have taken more time in the porta potty. I had to stop again. Fortunately my stomach wasn’t upset.

Shortly after getting on the bike path I saw my coach who was also racing and we greeted each other. I immediately thought about my running form. Then I kept thinking he was going to lap me on his second loop and critique me on my running form. The fact that he might run up behind me, kept me concentrated on my form until I passed the second turnaround which was about four or five miles into my first lap. It took about three miles for me to get my legs on the run. They started feeling more normal after I turned the corner at the Resort at Squaw Creek heading back toward Squaw Valley Road. Until I stopped at special needs, which I think was at about mile 15, I ran without walking except for up the short hill behind the resort. At special needs I picked up some gels, a long sleeved shirt and exchanged my Fuel Belt bottle for one filled with Gatorade. Throughout the run I ate a gel every 30 to 40 minutes and drank something to wash each one down. I think I skipped one gel at about the four hour mark. I also took two Endurolytes every hour for the last three or four hours.  I took water at every aid station and after special needs, walked through two or three where I also got Coke.

One of the nice things about the out and back section along the Truckee River was seeing some of my fellow AIMP training friends on the run course. On my way to the first turn-around, I first saw Dora who said, “Brenda, you are awesome!” I retorted, “You are awesome!” and a guy behind me said, “You are both awesome!” This cracked me up. Soon after Dora, I saw Faith and then John. On my way back, I recognized Byron and Rachael in time to give a shout out.

When I headed back into the parking lot after the first loop of the run I stopped in the porta potty again! I felt much better after that, although I was disappointed that I was losing time with three porta potty visits.

My legs felt achy after about 14 miles and I took two Advil. It was dark by the time I turned the corner to head up to the Resort at Squaw Creek for the second time. Again, I allowed myself to walk up the hill behind the resort.  When I turned off of Squaw Creek Road onto the bike path, all I could see was an unending line of racers’ headlamps coming toward me in the darkness. About a mile later, the course took us down a short dirt hill between Hwy 89 and the bike path which I walked down on this second loop.  Although it was well lit, I felt like my quads couldn’t take the steep downhill running. It was only a short distance from there to the second turn around and my spirits lifted once I made that turn. Sortly after the turnaround I had to walk/stagger back up the dirt hill. My legs were feeling pretty uncoordinated for that short climb. At the top of that hill when I started running both the volunteer at the top and the guy running behind me voiced concern that I would stray out into the street, so I must have looked pretty wobbly at that point. From there it was only about 5K to the finish and it felt like I was able to pick up my pace. I was even able to run/shuffle up the hill by the soccer field behind the fire station.

Finish: Finally the finish line! When I distinctly heard Mike Reilly say, “Brenda Bettencourt, you are an Ironman!”, I felt a huge surge of excitement along with a sense of accomplishment and pumped both fists into the air. I was still a little wobbly after the finish and didn’t notice my finish time. My average HR on the run was 142 (Z3) and official run pace averaged 12:34 minute miles.

I hobbled over to the food, skipped the massage, went to my sister’s room in the village and looked up my results, learning I had finished in 2^nd place with a time of 14:15:51. That re-energized me and I literally did a happy dance. After wolfing down some chips heaped with delicious guacamole that my sister-in-law made for me, I showered and went back to the finish line with my sister and Cecile. We were there from about 11:30 to midnight, cheering in the final finishers. I was so happy to have Cecile and my sister there with me to enjoy the atmosphere and positive energy that is Ironman.

Monday morning, I found out that by coming in second, I earned an Ironman Kona slot. NOW I CAN DO IT ALL AGAIN! Ironman World Championships, October 2014! I had to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming.

It would be impossible to do an Ironman without a significant support section. In addition to my husband who supports this obsession despite the hours and hours of training on top of my long work days, it takes a village. I appreciate the support of my training partners, new AIMP friends, and those that cheered me on and encouraged me.

Special Thanks to:

My coach – Chris Hauth (AIMP Coaching)
My chiropractor – Dr. Marshall Luck (Rincon Chiropractic)
My nutritionist – Dr. Rich Stagliano (Live Fit Medicine)

RACING AT ALTITUDE

With less than two weeks to go until Ironman Lake Tahoe, my workout volume has decreased and I'm able to catch up on a few things including this blog. After a very satisfactory performance in early June at the Hawaii 70.3 half ironman that earned me a fourth place age group podium spot, I was pretty pumped up.

Waiting for the swim start at Hapuna Beach.

The first turnaround in front of the Mauna Lani entrance.

Still very fresh at this point.



Official finish time was 6:34:58

This year the race started in 3 waves.

Eight weeks after the Hawaii race, I had my first taste of a long distance triathlon at 6,000 feet when I raced in the Donner Lake Half Ironman. This was the first of two high altitude half iron distance races with the goal of getting an idea of race paces. This was a fun weekend with one of the three C’s (Cecile) racing in the sprint race on Saturday and my race on Sunday. We were there to cheer each other on and to keep our personal photographer (my husband) company.

 The swim buoys were set for the 1.2 mile swim right before the Sunday race and the first one was so far away, I could barely see it from shore. It looked like an extraordinarily long swim but when I trudged out of the water Cecile yelled out 35 minutes and Dennis indicated I was the 6^th out of the water in my wave which was women over 40 and relays. With the run to the timing mat at the entrance to the transition area, my official swim split was 36:16. Any time that I swim 1.2 miles in less than 40 minutes, I consider it a good swim. Thirty-five minutes is very good for me.

According to my Garmin 705 GPS with barometric altimeter, the 56 miles of biking had a total ascent of 7,168 feet. The first three miles are directly uphill at approximately a 7.5 % grade. My official bike time was 3:30:32 which is an average pace of 16 mph. I didn’t know it at the time, but upon exiting the bike to run transition (T2) I had a 23 minute lead on my closest competitor. That was fortunate because she gained about 12 minutes on me during the run which took me 2 hours and 38 minutes to cover the 13.4 mile run. My comment to Dennis at the end of the race was “that was brutal.” His reply was something to the effect of: “you think that was bad; just wait until Ironman.”  Overall I was happy with my performance, with a final time of 6:49:21 and a pair of swim goggles for first place.

The last 3 miles of speed on a steep downhill were FUN!

 



It was hard to leave the finish area for a second loop of the run

First and second place F 55-59

Three weeks later, I took part in the 33^rd annual Donner Lake Open Water Swim. It is a Masters Swimming event from one end of Donner Lake to the other, 2.7 miles. My pace was 1:47/100 yards which is right on target for a good Ironman swim pace for me. I’ve participated in this event a few times with the first one being in 1980 which I had not realized at the time was the inaugural event. I was swimming with the Davis Aquatic Masters in 1980 and did this swim with my good friend and roommate Susan Kerns Eskew and our neighbor, Greg Mollar. Fast forward to 2013 however, I wore a wetsuit and followed up the swim with an hour and 45 minute run. I got back from my run just in time to get in on the last pieces of delicious bar-b-q chicken provided by the event organizers and even got some to take home as they offering the leftovers to the few of us that were still around. SCORE, since I would be in Squaw on my own for the week participating in what was going to be the last training camp before Ironman Lake Tahoe. I wasn't expecting to have the time or energy to do much cooking durning the camp. I was also planning on staying in Tahoe for the five weeks after the Donner swim until Ironman, to be fully adjusted to the altitude. Things don't always go according to plan...

TUCSON TRAINING CAMP

Tucson was named the number one place to go for winter training by Triathlete Magazine. Tucson is known as the winter training capital of the world and is a popular winter training destination for both cyclists and triathletes.  It has a mild climate, seemingly endless well paved roads with few stop signs, mountains for climbing, and miles of trails for running.  Tucson also has something like 27 public lap pools only charging $1.50 per visit.

Our swims were in this YMCA pool

My coach put together a four day training camp in Tucson over the holiday weekend in February.   I enthusiastically signed up, and as the date approached I questioned what I had gotten myself into. Anyone who has been to any kind of camp knows that it can be difficult to be thrown into a situation where you don’t know anyone and are expected to perform. I met three of my fellow campers, who were on my same flight, at the airport; I recognized one of them from cycling class. Three of us were newbies and have been coached by Chris for less than a year. The fourth had been to camp last year. I liked these three guys right away as we discussed our upcoming events and what to expect over the next four days.  I was relieved to know that I wasn’t the only camp rookie. We met up with most of the rest of the campers at the Tucson airport and were picked up by our coach and The Sag Monkey who had transported our bikes from the Bay Area.  

 

Monkey Mobiles

We rented a large house and there were 10 athletes (four women), our coach and The Sag Monkey (Nick). Most were from the Bay Area, and one each from Portland, San Diego and Honolulu. Staying in a house was great especially with Nick there to cater our meals and to clean up. He worked amazingly hard to support us throughout the long weekend including preparing special gluten, dairy, and egg free meals for me, providing liquids, food and mechanical support on our rides, transporting us everywhere, cleaning up after every meal and even washing and lubing our bikes. We were treated like professional athletes so all we had to worry about was getting up on time, eating enough to fuel ourselves and focusing on the training.
 

Sag Monkey providing support at our 92 mile turnaround in Patagonia.

Nick preparing dinner while we snacked on hummus, trail mix and chips and guacamole.

Bikes all cleaned, lubed and ready for our next ride. 

The weekend looked like this for me:

Friday: Out the door around 7 am returning to the house about 5 pm

• Swim 3500 yards
• Bike 55 miles with 2251 feet of climbing
• Transition run for 40 minutes (3.61 miles)

Sag Monkey geting us ready for the first ride of camp. 

Saturday: Out the door around 7 am returning about 5pm, out to dinner at 6

• Bike 92 miles with 4313 miles of climbing – Riding to Patagonia, AZ into a strong headwind
• Transition run 45 minutes (4.27 miles)

Sunday: Out the door around 7 am back to the house around 2pm and some free time

• Running drills for 30 minutes
• Run for 1:40 (8.32 miles
• 6 sets of strides
• Swim for 1:20, about 3000 yards

Monday: Out the door around 7 am back by 4 to get cleaned up and to the airport for 7pm flight

• Bike up Mount Lemon for 44 miles climbing 5042 feet
• We fortunately didn’t have time to do the planned swim! 

The Mount Lemon climb starts in the desert at a litle over 2,000 feet and climbe to 9,000. I made it a little beyond 7,000 and well into the snow level before I turned around. It was hot going up and a chilly (and fast) descent. My favorite ride of camp.

Lots of beauty on the Mount Lemon ride.

Over 4 days, My Totals:

• Biked 191 miles, climbing 11,606 feet
• Swam 3.7 miles
• Ran 16.2 miles plus drills

This is how I felt at the end of each day. This is Jack, Sag Monkey's co-pilot.

The amount of time each of us spent doing each segment was the pretty much the same, the distance varied since we were all of varying abilities. I was the oldest by 10 years at the least and was able to keep up with a few of the other athletes except for on the Mount Lemon climb. Looking back on the weekend I think it was great for building a base for my fitness this year, besides getting specific coaching feedback and being a ton of fun.

Nick loading up my bike afer the final ride. Lots of weary campers.

I WOULD LOVE TO DO IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR!

 

 

 

Fitness Routine While Traveling

Whether one is training for an Ironman, or just trying to stay fit, a challenge that we all face is keeping up the fitness routine while traveling. Summer vacation time is upon us and that means time to hit the road for lots of people. I think the key is trying to do at least one thing every day and not to feel guilty if a day is skipped once every 3 or 4 days.

We spent Christmas and New Years in Puerto Vallarta (PV) and I was able to keep up a fairly steady routine.  I could alternate between swimming and running every day. In addition almost every other day I added a strength core routine that could be done with very little equipment.  This is a basic strength/core routine that can be done when away from home or a gym:

There are some light weight compact items that can enhance a workout while on the road. Easy to pack are a jump rope and stretch tubing or bands. I start the strength workout with 15 minutes of jump rope as a warm up. When I first began this routine, I started with 75 jumps and a minute rest repeating until 15 minutes were up.  After a few days of doing that, I was able increase the jumps to 90 then 120 jumps before stopping for a minute rest, eventually getting it up to 150 jumps between rests. I used a weighted jump rope because that is what I had. I find a weighted jump rope with swivels at the handles to be easier for me than a traditional jump rope.

After the jump rope, I work my legs with two minutes of squats, two minutes of alternating lunges, two minutes of lateral lunges and two minutes of calf raises.  If I had access to a stability ball I would have added two minutes of hamstring curls. This illistrates the hamstring curl with a stability ball.

(Image from womanshealthmag.com)

 

Next comes pushups. In order to do pushups for two minutes, I have to do a modified version (but not the “girl ones” from my knees). Table height is ideal for me, but even this angle was enough of a challenge for two minutes.

Last but not least is the abdominal and back session. Starting with a plank and then a side plank, pictured here. I can’t do two minutes straight so I broke it into one minute sessions for the plank and 30 second sections for the side planks totaling two minutes of each exercise.  I finished it off with “Supermans” which are done lying on the stomach and lifting arms and legs off the ground and holding for one to two minutes. If you can’t hold all arms and legs off the ground for a minute, start with opposite arm and leg for up to a minute and then switch sides.

If swimming or running aren't your thing, I have found that it is possible to rent a bike in many locations around the world. In Puerto Vallarta you can rent a mountain bike and head out on your own or go on a group ride. Instead of running or swimming one day I went for a mountain bike ride. I opted for the group ride since I didn't really know my way around. It was a blast and a challenge since it is quite different than road biking. We rode through villages with cobblestone streets and even through a couple of streams. In PV I went with http://www.ecoridemex.com/ and chose their Vallejo Tour. I wouldn't hesitate to go back.

Bottom line is that after almost two weeks away from home, I didn't lose any fitness. The icing on the cake was that I didn't even gain the usual five pounds over the holidays:)