Showing posts with label biking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biking. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Biking in Hong Kong: Tai Wai to Tai Mei Tuk

I love a good bike ride (like this and this), but it's even better on a gorgeous day with a gorgeous group of fellow expats from the American Women's Association. 

I joined a group of 15 women for a 21 km bike tour on the outskirts of Hong Kong. When I say outskirts, I mean just a 30 minute ride on the MTR from Central, but it feels like your a million miles away from the city.


I started my day with a couple of scrambled eggs ---> needed that protein for a bike ride! I also packed some light snacks and plenty of water for the trip. It's best to be prepared, even when lunch is planned at the end.

 
We picked up our bikes in Tai Wai. Only $60HKD to rent the bikes! There are lots of bike shops, but this was one that we could pick up and drop off at different locations. I wasn't expecting a mountain bike, but it worked fine. Our AWA coordinator, Regine, recommended that we take the bike for a spin near the shop before leaving to make sure everything worked.

Trekkie joggers and a linen tank were perfect for this bike ride

Our bike tour was not the Tour de France, but an enjoyable ride along the Tolo Harbour. It was simply lovely riding along the water, seeing the mountains rise behind the apartment buildings, and soak up the sunshine. 



At Science Park we made a water stop and took in the views of Wong Leng and the Pat Sin Leng mountain range across the harbour and where we would end our bike ride. A week ago I had been on top of that range looking down at the Guan Yin Statue.  


In Tai Po, we stopped to see the Tai Wong Yeh Temple located basically right on the bike path. It was a pretty place for another water stop.


In some places the path veered away from the water, but offered a very pleasant bit of shade. It was so peaceful riding along under the trees.


Eventually we arrived in the village of Tai Mei Tuk. This part of the ride was much busier with cars and pedestrians on a much narrower path, but we reached our destination without harm to anyone. You know you have arrived when you see all the bikes lining the path and an assortment of restaurants lining the parallel side street.


After returning our bikes, we walked a little way to a very friendly Italian restaurant, Jack's Terrazza, that offered an affordable set lunches menu. Clearly, I was at the party table. Tall glasses of Carlsberg for (almost) everyone. I'm not a beer drinker.


It was a long, but fun day.

Today I had another meeting in Central, but this time mrC came along so we could run some errands after. 

Like, getting acai bowls from Be-Juiced on Peel Street. What's in my bowl? peanut butter, apple granola, and kiwi. SO GOOD! mrC had blueberries, banana, and honey. He loved it.


After our light lunch, we hit up A&M (the US groceries store) and J Crew (where I snagged this awesomely soft long sleeve tee) before heading back on the ferry. We had a 30 minute wait, so it was a good thing I brought the YPPs with me.


It was an early Taco Tuesday for dinner at our house. How about you?


Sunday, February 5, 2017

Workout Recap - Mixing It Up

I remember when the only exercise I did was run. This week I did something different every single day. Not on purpose. It just happened that way, but I think it's a good thing. Keeps my body on its toes, so to speak. Plus my focus has started to shift back to the high intensity calorie burning workouts and scheduling them whenever I can.

Monday - Tried bootcamp. It was so hard that I thought I might vomit ðŸ¤¢ a couple of times. I was thrilled to see how many calories I burned for the hard work I did ---> running, push-ups, mountain climbers, squats, carrying a tire, pushing a tire, pulling a tire, walking lunges, reverse crunches, planks, elevated up-downs, kettle bell swings, kb squats, kb lunges, jumped rope, power press with sand bag, burpees, power lunges, triceps dips, squat press...WHAT didn't we do?? And, the whole class was done outside. I loved that!  


Tuesday - I woke up feeling a little tight from bootcamp, so I used Revolution Yoga day 11 (I'm REALLY behind on that challenge) to loosen things up. I'm so happy that my heel is better and yoga is even back on the table because I need to regain the flexibility I lost, especially in my hamstrings.


Wednesday - mrC and I went to Bodypump in the morning and then took a quick bike ride to get air in his tires. The ride wasn't far, but there's a big hill and we live on the top of it! This was my first ride in a long time and I had to stop and walk the hill. This got me thinking that I should maybe try to ride my bike at least once a week.


Thursday - REST ---> made protein bars for my hike on Friday.

Friday - Joined the AWA hike to Cheung Chau, another one of Hong Kong's 200 islands. I'm already eager to go back with mrC because there was so much to see and it was beautiful. Also, we had lunch at one of the waterfront restaurants and I had some really, really good sweet and sour pineapple chicken.


Saturday - I decided to do some low impact cardio for my low carb workout. I mixed it up at the fitness center while mrC was at Bodypump.


Sunday - It was #sundayrunday again!! We increased the walking WU to avoid running down hill at the beginning (my knee feels funny on down hills) and added a little out and back on the promenade. I still ran using 30:20 intervals, and finished with a solid one minute run for a total of 2.07 miles.

#tunnelselfie


Do you mix up your workouts or stick to the same exercise usually?
What's your go-to sore muscle reliever?
Favorite low impact cardio?


Monday, August 8, 2016

How I Mix Workouts with Fun on Vacation

If you know me at all, you know that I like to workout.

Not everyone is into fitness, so I try to find things to do that others will enjoy but that will give me my often much-needed workout.

There are plenty of fun activities to do in Falmouth. Believe me, I have a list of favorites that gets longer every time I'm here. But I love to try new things, too.

Last year I tried SUP Yoga for the first time with my friend Danielle and loved it. She's working on her Masters Degree this summer, so she put me in touch with her friend Amy of Peace Love SUP. I was thrilled that the whole family wanted to join me. Our group of six met Amy at Great Pond for a fun afternoon session on the water.


The girls and I had a challenging SUP Yoga workout. I'd love to say that I conquered crow pose on the board, but this is really just Amy catching my one second hold. She did not catch when I fell off the board trying to do side angle pose.


The boys kept to SUP even though we tried to talk then into joining us for some yoga.



W had a great experience with Amy on the SUP boards and several of us were even a little sore the next day.

A new activity for us this year was Bottom Fishing with Patriot Party Boats. Bottom Fishing pretty much guarantees that everyone will catch a fish because they park the boat on top of schools of fish.


Even though I just went along to watch and cheer on the group, I ended up giving fishing a try. It's a lot of work bringing a fish to the surface! I'm pretty sure you can call it a workout, especially if you catch a lot of fish. I think littleC caught eight!


My new found enjoyment of hiking led me to The Knob on Quissett Bay Harbor near Woods Hole. The Knob is really a sanctuary that was donated to the people by Cornelia Carey. She wanted people to enjoy the woods, the birds, and the sea.


There are two walking trails to get to the area known as The Knob lookout. The main trail is well maintained, wide, and takes you straight to the end. We took the Harbor Cliff trail which overlooks the inner harbor in spots but is narrow and not as maintained.


Off the main trail is also access to Crescent Beach on Buzzards Bay. Many people were making a day of it, but we just enjoyed a quick dip to cool off.


One of our favorite activities in Falmouth is the Shining Sea Bike Trail. The trail extends just over 10.5 miles from North Falmouth to Woods Hole. There are several trail heads so you can jump on and off at different places.


Of course there is always swimming at Old Silver Beach. We like to walk the .50 mile there and then spend a couple of hours in and out of the water. There's also a water sports rental shop right on the beach.


Do you like to workout when you're on vacation?
How do you get others to workout with you?





Wednesday, August 3, 2016

A Little Yoga, Biking, and Family Fun

Being the first one up has its perks. I can sneak out to the yard and create my own little yoga space. with just an ordinary beach towel.


I was feeling a little stiff today, so I found a Yoga with Adrienne video to play on my iPad. Her videos are some of my favorites because she makes it so easy to follow the flow.



The girls and mrC went on a three mile run. I wanted to join them so badly (stupid knee), but instead I jumped on the bike. I love my Priority bike. I feel 100% like it just shouts I'M A PERSON ON VACATION! 


Then I enjoyed a post workout smoothie.


We spent the afternoon staying cozy inside waiting and hoping for the gray, rainy clouds to pass because we had a family beach photo session scheduled. Everything worked out perfectly and we had so much fun with Stacey from Stacey Hedman | Photography. I can't wait to see the photos!


Afterwards we headed to downtown Falmouth for some dinner and walking around. 


Red sky at night, sailer's delight.

The weather is already looking fabulous for our adventures today!




Monday, August 1, 2016

Things I love About Monday

Do you love being given gifts first thing in the morning? Me too! Today mrC and I received our birthday gifts from the kids. In addition to some dry shampoo and lip gloss, I love my bracelet from Kiel James Patrick.


After running some errands with the girls, mrC, oldestC and I went on a bike ride. We had to get out and enjoy the blue sky. I love being active together.


We explored the area of New Silver Beach. I love riding through Cape neighborhoods and looking at all the beautiful homes. They have some prime swimming areas with great views.


We rode all the way to the end of Bay Shore Drive and enjoyed the view of Wild Harbor. I love capturing moments like this.


After dinner we walked to our beach, Old Silver Beach, to catch the sunset. It was a little cloudy, but there were still amazing colors in the sky. I love this part of being at the Cape.


Always multitasking, littleC gave me a quick lesson on using SnapChat. I love my time with the kids.


What did you love about your Monday?



Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Get After It

Feast day is a fun day...for eating.

The feast day workout is not my favorite. It consists of an arm circuit and a leg circuit. The arm circuit is hard 10 sets of 10 pushups, plank pushups, and tricep dips. I can do all the tricep dips, but I have to modify the other two. I usually do 5 sets of 10 and then 5 sets of 5. I do what I can to get through it.


The leg circuit is easier, but my knee is not a fan. There are lots of squats and lunges. I power through as much as I can and modify where necessary.


Feast day means I can eat all the fruit and knowing that helps get me through the feast day workout. I'm taking full advantage of my sister-in-law's Ninja blender and enjoying the new Bob's Red Mill protein powder. I named today's recipe Bob's Protein Berry Smoothie.


We store our bikes in my SIL's garage, so while mrC was at work I took a two mile ride down the road to Wilbraham Monson Academy campus. It was a really nice ride, even on a warm summer day, and I ran into my nephew who is working on campus this summer.


The ride back was much harder mostly because it was uphill, but I'm pretty sure I stink at putting air in the tires, too. The thought of jumping in the swimming pool was enough to keep me going.

PS - I'm loving my new bikini!

After a refreshing dip in the pool, I made myself some lunch. I've been using the dairy free cheese that I picked up recently and honestly, I'm undecided. I have cut back my cheese consumption while on the carb cycling program and feel pretty good as a result which is what made me try this. 


And then I ate all the gluten free cheese pizza at dinner. 


What's your least favorite workout?
What gets you through a tough workout?
Have you tried dairy free cheese? 







Monday, July 18, 2016

Carb Cycling Update

It's been awhile since I checked in on my carb cycling program this round. I had big plans to do weekly updates, but then I was distracted by Australia. If you check out my posts (here, here, here, here, here, and here), you'll understand why.

I'm going home tomorrow to spend the rest of the summer in the US. Since I'll be traveling all day (literally), I started week five on US time, which means I skipped a regular calorie day, but gained a low carb day.

Low carb days are my favorite because it means I'm sprinting.  Since this is my second time through the sprint workouts, I've been upping my game by increasing to level 2 on the elliptical and trying to sprint without holding on. I can REALLY feel a difference during the sprints, but I was also sore after my last workout.


I used to dread the cool down. Walking for 30 minutes on the treadmill is boring after years of running. I can distract myself with the view of the bay or watch tv or listen to music, but it still challenges my patience. I decided last time to increase the incline to make my legs work a little more.  My brain can handle that motivation.


Post workout planks. I'm still trying to make these a habit after sprints. So far it's working. Today I was really feeling my obliques from a yoga session I did yesterday.


It was such a nice day, if you ignore the heat index, that I suggested we take the long way back to the apartment. We rode down to the waterfront and along the bikeway. It's not really that much longer, but it was definitely more scenic than just heading back along the rode. 


I spent the rest of the day packing and preparing the apartment for our departure in the morning. And washing sportswear, like the tank I'm wearing above. Super comfy and goes from sweat to street easily. 

We will be traveling a lot while we are home between vacation plans and mrC's work, but as always I will find a way to fit my fitness in!

Do you go hands on or off on the elliptical?
Plank before or after your workout?






*