Three Weeks Later...

After three weeks of travel, we are back in Hong Kong and I'm attempting to get back to some sort of routine. Besides battling a little bit of jet lag, this time I'm also dealing with a head cold and laryngitis!

mrC has recurrent training in Columbus, Ohio which works out great for me because I grew up in Cincinnati (just two hours away). While he is working, I drive down to visit my family and he joins us when he finishes. We're really lucky that it works out like this.

Here's a recap of our time in Ohio ---> I'll be doing a separate post for our 5 days in Budapest.

The Alum Creek Trail was near the hotel and we ran there a couple of times. We ran super early when we first arrived in Columbus, but on the last day we were more reasonable and let the moon set and the sun come up.

While mrC was in Columbus working, I stayed at my mom's. It was perfect because it was her birthday week! We had massages, went shopping and had LaRosa's pizza with a bunch of family at my aunt's house. The best was taking her to the Cincinnati Bengals home game opener! It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun that it didn't matter that our team lost. PS - I picked up this cute Coach cross body just before the game and it was perfect (you can't bring large purses/bags into the stadium anymore) for my phone, sunglasses and small wallet. I can't wait to show it off at Happy Hour with the girls ;)

My mom wanted to go zip-lining for the first time and we couldn't let her go alone. It was also mrC's first time. I was the only veteran having gone when I was visiting my friend in West Virginia. It was a cloudy day with rain forecasted, so we were lucky to be our own private party. The instructors at Ozone Zipline Adventures were super friendly, very entertaining and taught us a lot about zipping and nature.

I got to spend as much time as possible with family and (BFF) friends. It's never enough, but we make the best of what time we have. We are so lucky that everyone makes time for us while we are there too.

I didn't workout much while in Ohio. When I could I did, but the rest of the time I was either off visiting someone or crashing from jet lag!

We left Ohio, but instead of heading right back to Hong Kong, we made a pitstop in Budapest to visit youngestC. I'll be writing about that part of our trip soon.

Do you ever mix business with family when you travel?
Do you miss working out when you just can't get to it?

5 Things About My Moonset Run

Have you ever gone on a run and caught the moon setting? In an attempt to get over our jet lag, mrC and I laced up our running shoes on Wednesday for an early morning run. Using MapMyRun, I found out there was a trail head just a couple of blocks from the hotel.

For today's Friday Five 2.0 link-up, I'm sharing 5 things about our run:

1) The Alum Creek Trail is part of the larger Ohio to Erie Trail network in Ohio. The 22 mile scenic trail travels along the Alum Creek waterway in Columbus passing through parks and skirting a golf course and university campus.

2) It was so nice to have a path to run on and not have to worry about roads and traffic (which we are out of practice doing). We saw two other runners (one female running alone which made me wonder if she was practicing safe running with something like Wearsafe) and two bikers ---> one came up behind us and her verbal warning made me nearly jump out of my skin!

3) It was so peaceful. Most of the run it was just us, the fog, a couple of deer. On the way back we had the first glimpses of the sunrise spreading across the sky. Even though the trail is near a road, the daily traffic hadn't yet picked up so there wasn't any car noise.

4) The bridges. The trail crossed Alum Creek and also had a section that seemed to hover above the forest. It reminded me of when we went to the Blue Mountains in Sydney, Australia.

5) We were pretty happy about getting in a good three miles before breakfast and to be running when it was only 50 degrees! Talk about comfortable ---> I love these shorts I got on sale at Athleta. And how about those long sleeves?

PS - I spent the rest of day with my BFF doing a little shopping and a lot of catching up!

Have you ever gone on a run and caught the moon setting?
Do you like running in long sleeves and shorts?

Today I'm linking up with Lacey and Meranda and Rachel for the Friday Five 2.0!

And also with Nicole for the Fit & Fashionable Friday link-up

Weekly Wrap in Three Words

Have you seen the "write a (sad, scary, funny) story using only three words" memes on Facebook? Today, I posted the happy one (see my answer below).

My answer: I'm going home!!

That's right!! Tomorrow we head to the US for our annual fall trip. mrC has work and we get to visit my family in Cincinnati at the same time. Then we are off to visit youngestC in Budapest, Hungary. It's going to be a fun and exciting three weeks. You can follow all the fun (between blog posts) on Instagram.

I thought it would be fun to try to share my weekly wrap using only three words.

Monday - Bodystep burns calories

Monday (pm) - Night run fun

Tuesday - Sweaty park workout

Wednesday - Salon day fasting

Thursday - Legs, chest, shoulders

Friday - Miles make smiles

Saturday - At-home leg day

Sunday - Pre-packing yoga session

What's your happy story in three words?

PS - Runner's World shared this on Facebook. Are you a waver? I am!

Linking up with Tricia and Holly for the Weekly Wrap!

Friday Five: What I Learned in August

Does anyone else feel like August went by in the blink of an eye? Maybe the old adage, time flies when you're having fun, is true because there were a lot of good times happening in August. I had fun trying new things and learning new ways to do the things I love to do.

I love that we are never too old, young, etc. to try something new. At any given time we may find our fitness changes because of life events, age, injury, or whatever. Being able to embrace new things and look at familiar passions with a new perspective is important to being happy and having fun.

Here are a few things I learned this month (some links are affiliate):

1. Discovery Run group - I learned that I can still run with a group. I started joining this Monday night social running group a couple of weeks ago and I'm so glad that I did. I'm not a huge fan of running at night, but being part of a group (of at least 30+ people) running through the streets of DB is quite fun. I was craving the days when I would run with my MRTT friends in New Hampshire, but apprehensive about whether I could "keep up" with my knee. It was the perfect environment to run my run. I even got mrC to join the fun!

2. SUP racing - I learned how to race on my SUP. I thought being on the cover of the Around DB Magazine as part of the DB Ladies SUP group was exciting until I participated in my first SUP relay race with the Paddling Section of the Lantau Boat Club. Racing on a stand up paddle board is hard but fun! My arms have never been so tired and I only went 500 meters. It's definitely something I hope to do again.

3. August Miles - I learned that I'm ready to run in a race. As the temperature increased, my running days in Hong Kong decreased. A lot of people run on the treadmill in the summer, but with my knee I do not feel super comfortable doing that right now. Most of my miles for the month came from sprint workouts on low carb days and the Monday night group. I ended the month with 8 runs for a total of 12.85 miles. The group runs have let me know that I could do ok in a race situation. I've got my eye on a 5k (and possibly a 10k) in November, so I'll be making sure to log some longer runs each week moving forward.

4. FWTFL VIP - I learned how to make the carb cycling fitness plan work for my every day lifestyle. I started carb cycling in Spring 2016 because I was working out all the time, but continuing to gain weight ---> especially in my belly. I had moved to China, stopped running almost completely because of my knee and just seemed stuck in a rut. The results were so amazing that I have continued the program and recently joined the FASTer Way To Fat Loss VIP group. The VIP group allows me to maintain my weight, get stronger and leaner all through brand new workouts each month. This program works for me because it is challenging and I can incorporate the things I love to do (running, Bodystep, hiking) into my workouts. Amanda is starting a new FWTFL group on September 14 ---> learn more here (affiliate link).

5. New gear - I learned that you can always find another pair of awesome shorts :) (and other things). A good sale by my favorite brands will get me every time. I ordered the Trekkie shorts from Athleta in flint grey and crossed my fingers that they would work even though I hadn't tried them on. I think I wore them almost every day for a week, ha! I'm also loving this pair of running shorts that I ordered at the same time (and I put these from Lululemon on my wish list). I also got a great deal on this tank and this one too. This new running bra goes great with my new shorts and tanks.

What have you learned this summer/month/training cycle?

Today's post is part of the Friday Five 2.0 with Lacey and Meranda and Rachel and I'm also joining  Nicole for the Fit & Fashionable Friday link-up.

Summer in Hong Kong: heat, humidity, typhoon, repeat.

The summer weather in Hong Kong certainly lived up to its reputation this week. Believe it or not, we were hit by two tropical storms in five days: Severe Typhoon Hato and Severe Tropical Storm Pakhar. Needless to say, my workouts for the week were not the norm.

Monday - The week started off with record-setting high temperatures. That didn't stop me from getting outside for my low carb Tabata workout and it was a good one: jump squats, in and outs, scissor jumps (I did star jacks instead), mountain climbers with a twist and toe taps. I decided to forego my normal Bodystep class because the Tabata workout sounded good on paper. Even in the heat, it felt good to do my workout outside.

Diverging for a minute...I've been meaning to share my FASTer Way to Fat Loss carb cycling results and since I keep forgetting this seemed like a good time to squeeze it in.

My initial six week program ended while we were at Cape Cod, so I took my measurements after doing another two weeks once we were back. Overall, I lost about 6 pounds and a total of 4.25 inches (mostly from my belly, hips, and thighs). I think it is hard to see a difference in the photos (easy to see my bad posture, ha!), but my clothes are definitely looser and my stomach feels flatter (most days). After doing multiple rounds and loving the program, I've continued carb cycling with the FWTFL VIP program which means that every month I get a new set of workouts along with even more interaction and accountability in the VIP online group.

Back to my Monday workout, my second time with the Discovery Run group was a hot one and mrC joined me this time. At 7:45pm the temperature was still 90 degrees with a feels like temp of 104! It did not stop us or the other 38-ish people from showing up to run together. The run was a little short of a 5K (that was ok with me because it was so hot) and it was a different route. I like that they will be switching things up week to week. I wore my favorite tank and shorts from Oiselle and they were soaked when we were done.

Tuesday - I had another laser hair removal appointment in Central which means no sweating for 24-36 hours. I ran some errands and then hung out with mrC in the AC because it was another record breaking hot day.

By the way, we all know how important it is to stay hydrated, not just in the summer when it's hot, but all the time. Hydrant wants to help you stay hydrated. Sign up here for a chance to win a one month supply. Winners will be announced September 1st.

Wednesday - Typhoon Hato came. This was the biggest storm I've experienced in Hong Kong. The winds were so powerful that I could feel the change in pressure and the building sway. I alternated between watching the storm from our 20th floor apartment or the lobby and being worried about it. Thankfully, mrC was home to keep me calm!

I did a little #typhoonyoga to distract myself and that helped a bit in the beginning. It felt good to go through a flow and just let my muscles stretch out and relax. Well, try to, when there's a raging typhoon going on outside.

By late afternoon, the storm had mostly passed, so we took a walk to see if our SUP boards survived. I was expecting to find them blown off the rack. I did not expect to see trees down and boats/canoes upside down and piled up like a mass collision on a highway.

Thursday - we walked down the hill to the boat club to get our SUP boards. The cleanup would involve removing the fallen trees and we didn't want to worry about the boards being in the way or getting punctured. We deflated the boards at the beach, rolled them up, and backpacked them up the hill to our apartment. 

Friday - the weather was quite nice for a walk in the morning. It was still warm, but the strong breeze and lower humidity made it feel cooler than it had in a long, long time.

In the afternoon, we joined one of the beach cleanups. If you have never done this kind of cleanup before, it is quite a workout! There is lots of squatting, lunging, lifting and dragging. 

Saturday - mrC had to work, but I headed to the boat club for some more beach cleanup. The nice thing about this one was the boat club fed us! Again, it was all about squats and lunges. I even double dragged trash bags across the beach once ---> it reminded me of dragging the tire on the rope at Bootcamp.

Sunday - Another day of watching stormy weather out the windows. Pakhar was not as strong as Hato and it was farther away, but the winds were still strong enough to blow a leaf up to our bedroom window on the 20th floor. It's crazy that there is a huge hurricane happening on the other side of the world at the same time. We are praying for you Texas.

It was a wild and wacky week. I am hoping that things will be nice and quiet and normal around here until we leave. We are heading back to the US in a week and I can't wait!
What's the most extreme weather you have run during? Have you ever had to ride out severe weather?

Linking up with Tricia and Holly for the Weekly Wrap!