The biggest challenge as you can imagine is eating. In this land of over sized buffet's and complete food debauchery it can seem to be an almost overwhelming task. Never fear my friends, all is in fact not lost.
Breakfast has actually proven to be the easiest of the major meals to deal with. Almost without exception every where I have attended has had the ability to provide eggs, fresh fruit, and of course coffee. The interesting thing to note is that while what you see on the menu is typically not 'zoned' or friendly to paleo/zone parameters all it takes is a brief conversation with your server to get what you need.
On Monday morning as an example I was able to ask the server some simple questions that got me where I needed to be. I looked at the California omelette with hash browns as my starting point. The conversation was simple, and I was amazed at how responsive she was - I sensed this wasn't her first go around with someone who ate very deliberately. "How many eggs are in your omelette?" She responded that they are three egg omelettes. Before I could even get my next question out she asked if I would like to sub fresh fruit for the hash browns. Well heck ya I would! The result was a beautiful 3 egg omlette with an appropriate portion of fresh fruit and avacado that got me a 4 block breakfast that was simple, tasty and more importantly not any more money than the base menu item. I counted this as a big win for the day.
Conference food has luckily been surprisingly balanced in choice. Over three days of buffet line style lunches I was able to create a reasonably zoned meal that wasn't overly complex. The key is just making good choices. Choosing the mixed vegetables over the roll or the pear over the Texas toast are all conscious and purpose driven decisions
Getting work done required a little more thought on my part. I knew that when I hit Las Vegas it was important for me to get out and drop into a local box. I chose Crossfit Max Effort as my destination. It was an awesome choice due both to it's relative proximity to the hotel (only a 2 mile $12 cab ride) and it is a beautiful facility owned and operated by games competitor Zach Forrest. I happened to hit CFME on a week coming off of a 3 week strength cycle. CFME programs benchmark WODs in the down week and as a result I got to do "Angie". A benchmark I had actually not performed. As one can expect, 100 pull ups and 100 push ups sucked. Practice I suppose for Murph coming up on Memorial Day.
Unfortunately my schedule only allowed me one day for drop ins so the additional days had to be filled with work in the hotel 'Cardio Room'. Needless to say the options you find in a cardio room are somewhat limited. Treadmills and dumbbells are all you really have to work with. The folks over at NorCal Crossfit have a long list of hotel based WODs that leverage dumbbells and treadmills which seem to be the staple fitness gear of any hotel.
Being committed to being consistent is a crucial component of the extended out of town event. Schedule the drop-in to a local box, scout the fitness accommodations of the local hotel you'll be staying and arm yourself with a game plan to be consistent across the board. As I wrap up my 5 day trip I was able to book end it with a rest days on the days I traveled while getting in three days in of work including one drop in at a local affiliate.
Plan, eat clean, do work.. and enjoy the vacation.
