Fitness from the Road: American Style

Wilson and I have now been back in the US for two months and our life still feels pretty nomadic. I guess that is partially because we don't "live" anywhere yet in a traditional sense. We have had a home in our beloved Tahoe, but it was temporary. So tomorrow, we are on the move again through So. Cal., Colorado, Wisconsin, and who knows?

In our American life, exercising so far has been easy relative to our international traveling existence. We don't have jobs and we have a season pass that is good at 9 different ski resorts in California, Utah, and Colorado. These 2 happy conditions have led to a lot of exercise via skiing.

Also, running is not the sometimes hazardous and frequently annoying activity that it was in many of the countries we traveled. Thus, on non-ski days (or if you are Wilson -on ski days), we have been pounding trails and pavement in Nevada, Utah, California, and most recently for me Washington DC. Even Washington DC can be very conducive to trail running -- you can get lost in those trails.

Thus even though I am getting my exercise fix while being an American nomad, I am more challenged by the food piece of fitness. In the US, I feel as if I am surrounded by huge portions, sugars and grains. Many of the huge portions are my own fault -- I cook a huge pan of fried rice and then happily eat two plates because it is there and delicious. Then while at the airport, I succumb to the Cinnabon because it has been "forever" since I had one of those. I eat the double-chocolate walnut cookie at Au Bon Pain because I feel exhausted by the stress of the job search. Foods that my biology craves and that I haven't had access to tempt me at each turn.

Then when I eat the Cinnabon, I realize that it tastes flat and doughy. The double chocolate walnut cookie takes me all of 90 seconds to consume its 400 calories and then I feel slightly ill afterwards. And I usually feel ill after that second plateful of fried rice too.

I guess my US honeymoon of food is over and it is time to return to the basics of more vegetables and less sugar and grains. With all the information about sugar as an addictive irritant or gluten as a mild to extreme allergen, many of our friends have adopted much more vegetable and protein intensive diets. And these friend look and seem great! Maybe it is time for me to do the same (or at least to say "no" to the always disappointing Cinnabon).

 

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Tahoe: still taking my breath away

It has been awhile since we last checked in with the blog.  The sports world has moved on from the Olympics to March Madness – from one beloved meta-event to another.  I guess that is how I have been keeping track of time.

During this period the skiing has been pretty good, not amazing.  On the plus side, the weather has been sublime.  Temps have been in the 50’s down here at lake level, which means that the running trails near the house are in good shape. We have had tons of guest, including all of my nuclear family at various times, which has been amazing.

Up on the resort, the snow level is surprisingly high considering how little moisture has made its way into the Tahoe basin over the last 2 months.   Some of this can be attributed to kind of snow we get here, which is wetter and denser than in other parts of the country.  Practically, this means that the snow solidifies into one base layer when it warms after the storms.  So, we have been skiing the steeps of the canyons on the Nevada side of Heavenly Mountain a ton.

Beyond the fun of visiting with family and friends, skiing and hitting the trails, I have also been continually amazed at the beauty of Tahoe.  We have been coming here regularly for 6 years, so one would think that the views would be old news by now.  Instead, the views of the lake from high on the resort or from the jewel of Emerald Bay continue to amaze.

Basically every day I will be moving around on the mountain and catch myself lost in the endlessly pretty blues of the crystal clear lake.  Just today when staring out at the lake on a lift I realized I could see the underwater topography of a delta in the lake where a river flows in from the south.  I have logged hundreds of hours looking at this view, probably thousands, but here was a new discovery. 

 

Another joy of living here instead of coming up on the weekend is having more time to explore.  My favorite place has been Emerald Bay, which is about 10 miles up the West side of the Lake.  It has a little island in the bay, which is roughly one mile across at its largest point and three miles long.  The mouth of the Bay is quite small and delicate, it appears you could almost walk across but is probably 200-300 feet.  The grandness of this part of the world makes it a bit hard to accurately gauge distances. 

On Sunday a buddy and I took a drive up to the Bay.  He went down to the lake level and I went for a trail run up to a stunning mountain lake that is ringed by granite cliffs reminiscent of Yosemite.  The lake is actually in the Desolation Wilderness, a designation of public land that is particularly dear to me because it denotes the absences of machines.   This is something that America does really well, setting aside space that is wild and removed.   Many national parks abroad end up having more visible human presence, perhaps they are a bit denser and space is more at a premium compared to America.  It was sometimes weird to be in really famous national parks and for there to be so much human impact.