What To Eat Away From Home?

I constantly wonder how I can eat better at a horse show.

My horse show fare used to look something like this:
Breakfast - Lamar's Donuts (it was kind of a tradition!)
Lunch - hotdog, chips, and pop from the concession stand
Dinner - wherever we went out to eat once the day was done...

Dehydration was a constant companion!

This did NOT support my performance!!

So, what do I do now?  How can I eat better?

WATER!!
The first change I made was to fill a large water bottle, keep it near me at almost all times, and drink from it EVERY time I check my horse's water, head to warm up, or come out of a class.
If you have a groom, hand them your water bottle and give them explicit instruction: "Make sure I'm constantly drinking this water!"

I added HUMAN food planning to my show prep list.  I mean, no one forgets hay and horse feed...  But, I always ended up at the show grounds with nothing to nourish myself!

I started planning travel-friendly meals.  For single-day shows, I'd make up a batch of breakfast burritos to share with the whole crew instead of buying donuts.  They packed well in large, flat tupperware and retained heat long enough to get to the barn.  I wraped them individually in papertowels to keep them from sticking together.

A power-breakfast was a great start for me!

I'd like to share my current meal-plan for eating away from home.
I am NOT a nutritionist (not yet, at least).
However, I strive for balanced nutrition and minimal processing.  I know there are places I will fall short, and that's OK.  I hope you get value from this meal plan!

THE MEALS

 

BREAKFAST:
Shakeology - with almond/coconut milk, ice, peanut butter, and spinach

SECOND BREAKFAST:
Banana
2 Hard-Boiled eggs
Cheddar cheese stick
Baby Carrots

LUNCH:
Veggie Wrap (with mixed greens, broccoli, and carrots)
or
Turkey Wrap (with mixed greens and cheese)

SNACK:
Diced Melon (or Strawberries, or Pineapple)
No-Bake Energy Bites

DINNER:
Grilled Chicken Salad

In my next post, I'll share my personal touches on each of the recipes and how I make them work for me!

What do you eat when you're away from home?

Please share with me in the comments!

 

 

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Working Out Around Injuries

I have the stupidest injury.

In fact, in the last 2 weeks, I’ve had 2 of the stupidest injuries…

 

I’ll let you in on a little secret…

Today is the first day in 11 days that I’ve worn real shoes…

...not my shoes...

Yup, I’ve been wearing flip-flops for the past 10 days.

 

After a day of practicing over cross-country jumps, I finished my horse chores in my tall boots.

I live to do this stuff!

My tall boots are nice and soft and flexible at the ankle, but they have a zipper that runs up the back.  As the ankle has softened, the zipper has, too.  Now, it rubs the back of my ankle on one foot.

I learned a dear lesson…  Change out of these boots as soon as I’m done riding!

All that walking around rubbed the WORST blisters on my ankle, and before I even knew they were there, they had bubbled up and burst.

Lesson learned!!

 

Then, today, I woke up with the strangest soreness in my chest…  It feels like a pulled muscle, but it’s such a small area…

Yup.  I pulled a tiny muscle right in the middle of my chest.  How does that even happen?

(I’m pretty sure I just got a little enthusiastic while doing a windmill stretch…)

 

So, what do I do about my workouts when I’m injured?

 

Well, since my daily workouts are with a video in my home, I decided I was just going to do them barefoot.  This is not my general recommendation!

I decided that, because of my dance background, I have strong feet that don’t rely on my shoes for all of their support.  I paid close attention to what I was doing and made sure I wasn’t straining anything in my feet while I was working out. It’s  been working out pretty well for me!

And my landing are so much softer when I have to jump…

Go figure.

 

So, this little muscle in my chest?  It runs from my sternum to one of my ribs.  It’s a tiny little thing.  It only hurts if I move just wrong.  (as in, when I engage said muscle)

So, while it’s healing, I’ll make sure to use a little bit lighter weights for upper body work.  I’ll only do push-ups and planks if it doesn’t hurt.  I’ll let my body be my guide and I’ll just focus on lower body, core,  and cardio for a few days while it sorts itself out.

 

I know my body, so I can make these calls confidently.

If you are working out around an injury, always consult with your doctor first!

 

Remember, I’m always working out around an injury, and I will be for the rest of my life.

Bulged discs never completely heal and are always at risk for re-injury.

I’ve learned that it’s very easy to overdo it when I do too much plyometric work or if I push too hard in certain exercises.  I’ve learned to modify the things that will hurt later in a way to still work the muscle group but to take the strain off of my back.  I don’t jump with weights.  Instead, I’ll step.

Some days I can’t squat as low enough to touch the floor.  That’s ok.  I squat as low as I can without sacrificing good form.  Sometimes, I’m just too tight, stiff, or sore in my back to do any of my usual routines, so I hop on my recumbent bike, instead.

 

I buy into the statement “There is no bad fitness”.

However, I do believe that there can be *unbalanced* fitness.

That’s one of the reasons I use the home fitness programs that I do.  The guesswork is taken out.  The balance has already been done for me.  Strength, flexibility, cardio, core stability…  It’s all built in, and all I have to do is follow the program and push play every day.

 

And when something comes up…

I just modify to work around it!

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