Staying fit on vacation doesn’t mean you cannot have fun, indulge a bit & enjoy yourself. If you are like me, you love to go on vacation but you also want to maintain a certain level of fitness while doing so. There is nothing wrong with that and I am a huge advocate of staying fit on vacation because it’s not hard once you do it once!!!!
I was in Lignano, Italy this passed weekend with my boyfriend, his sister, her boyfriend & my boyfriends parents. While I definitely had some delicious Italian Cuisine and vino I also made sure to pick, choose, plan and execute! Here are the ways that I was able to incorporate fitness into my vacation & still have fun at the same time!
The week before we left…
We left on a Friday morning so I made sure to train hard & hit all major muscle groups Monday-Thursday. Normally I rest or do an easy run on Wednesday, but as I knew that I was leaving super early in the morning on Friday (missing my normal workout) I adjusted my schedule and planned accordingly.
Food…Mama Mia!
OK, so I was in Italy and of the 3 days I was there I ate 2 pizzas larger than the side of my head and a pesto linguine dish to die for!! Let’s be honest…I am Italian, absolutely love Italian food and pizza is my #1 favorite cheat meal of all time. As you may know, I eat vegan (I do eat eggs though) and gluten free– so pizza is a total cheat for me….and I don’t give a f&^$ 🙂 When in Italy of course! Oh and there was A LOT of vino in the mix as well. However, I did bring my own oatmeal, protein powder & almond butter to make sure that I had a healthy and figure friendly breakfast every morning. The European idea of breakfast is usually: sweets and pastries or meat, cheese & bread. I passed on that. Oh and in case you’re looking for absolutely amazingly incredible Italian food in Lignano, go to Ristorante-Pizzeria Bartolo.
STAY ACTIVE!!
The biggest mistake you can make while staying fit on vacation is to not drink enough water & to sit on your ass the whole time.
- Even walking around being a tourist is better than nothing. Get your steps!
- The first day we played an hour of beach volley ball and I totally felt it in my butt and calves the next day.
- I also created a hotel room circuit that took about 20 minutes and I was sweating like a pig (in a good way).
- We rented bikes and road around for an hour looking around at the city and cruising along the beach. We even raced a bit and went over this steep bridge that was a total killer.
- And to finish it off, Sunday morning the bf and I ran a 15k. Normally I wouldn’t run THIS long on vacation but we are training for the Cangrande Half Marathon in Verona Italy (yes I am going back) in 2 weeks so I had to make sure I got in this long training run. In the end, it always feels freakin’ amazing when you can push yourself through an intense workout.
Reeeelaxxxxx….
It’s really important for me that I get the opportunity to relax while on vacation. I love traveling, I love being on-the-go, I love being a tourist and walking around all over the place and seeing things that I have never seen– but I need to relax. I found the most amazing chinese woman who was giving massages on the beach. Her name was Luciana and I honestly want to go back to Lignano (in a large part) because of her. For 30 euros she gave me the best 1 hour massage I have ever had in my entire life…and, having a mom who is in the salon industry, I have had TONS of massages. She IS the best. In fact, I got an hour massage on Saturday and on Sunday.
I hope this helps you get an idea of what a balanced vacation can look like! If I am traveling within the same country, I don’t indulge in as much food because it doesn’t really make sense to me. But as I was visiting Italy OF COURSE I had to chow down and I also do the same when I go to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico once a year. Have fun & safe travels 🙂