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We just got back from vacation, and boy was it hard to maintain any sort of healthy routine while we were on the road. As I noted previously, just about the only workout “equipment” that I had at my disposal was the floor and the great outdoors. Given that rowing is the centerpiece of my fitness routine, this made it tough to stay in the groove.

I actually anticipated problems with maintaining my exercise regime while we were away. While I went to the trouble of finding a local club that had Concept2 rowers, I knew in the back of my mind that I’d wind up slacking off while we were gone, and I never seriously considered trying to talk my way in to the club to squeeze in a row.

My recent addition of pushups to my workout repertoire did, however, give me a small amount of consistency since pushups can be done pretty much anywhere. But aside from that, all bets were off. My workouts ended up consisting of some hill running one day, a short (flat) run another day, and a couple of brisk three mile walks. I also did my pushups as dictated by the Hundred Pushup Challenge.

Making healthy food choices was also a challenge while we were no the road. We wound up dining out relatively often, and not always at the healthiest restaurants. Moreover, we spent most of the week in a group setting, such that the cooking (and menu planning) duties rotated with other members of our extended family. Thus, our food choices were often dictated by others.

The End Result

While I’m not explicitly trying to lose weight, I do try to keep an eye on the scale. Upon our return, I was pleased to learn that my weight had held steady, and maybe even decreased a bit. I also made reasonable progress in term of pushups, though I had hoped to emerge from the week with a few more reps under my belt.

It remains to be seen what effect the layoff had on my rowing, but I suspect that it will actually be somewhat beneficial. Though I was experiencing a bit of lower back fatigue before we left, I feel pretty good right now. Of course, I’ve fallen back in terms of meters rowed, but my distance goals are really rather arbitrary and not particularly meaningful.

Perhaps the biggest lesson that I learned from all of this is the importance of just doing something to stay on track while you’re on the road. While I gave myself a break, I didn’t throw in the towel entirely. I still tried to eat healthy (most of the time), I kept an eye on my alcohol intake, and I also made sure that I got a bit of exercise.

In the end, I may not have progressed, but I didn’t really slide back, either.