The Marathon Diaries: Being Consistently Active

I had to travel this week for work. The traveling posed obstacles to my training routine – so much of regular fitness is about being organized and prepared.

Well, this week, I wasn't. I usually prep before traveling by bringing my own food so I'm not at the mercy of eating on the go.

I had planned to go to GNC to get protein powder. That didn't happen. And normally I would call the hotel in advance to learn about the gym facility so that I could plan my workouts accordingly. That didn't happen either.

Traveling is stressful. The East Coast/ West Coast time change was challenging, with the compounding factors of sleep deprivation.

No food, no sleep, no prep all added up to one description for my training this week: RAGGEDY.

And there were other annoying mini-obstacles. I discovered that my iPod didn't work. No matter how much I charged it, no juice.

Then I discovered that I didn't pack my video camera. So, I scrambled at the last-minute to get a new camera and iPod.

On the bright side, however, through will and habit, I did manage to get my three runs in, per Sid's instructions. Luckily, the hotel had a good gym, so I was able to run inside twice and once outside, but the quality of the runs was not good.

Forget pace and stride...basically, I just shuffled, Pitbulled and Rihanna’ed my way through – just to get it done.

I did get a long run in – 90 minutes -- in my old stomping ground, Griffith Park. I LOVE that park. Nothing but dirt, trails, greenery, beautiful golf course, and hills, CRAZY hills.

I wanted to show you all of my favorite parts along the way, but in addition to feeling tight, sore, and exhausted, I had issues with the new video camera. The video is a little limited this week.

In a nutshell, got it done. In fitness there are good and bad days; good and bad weeks.

This was a bad week. That's okay. I've been at this long enough to know that Sid will get me back on course soon.

Fitness is a race for which there is not finish line. The key is to being consistently active and training no matter what is the true challenge

Now for the immediate goal in front of me, it's T minus five weeks until race day so I better pull it together. I've got A LOT of work to do.

Jennifer Turner is a veteran television executive in New York City. A certified group fitness instructor and self-proclaimed "fitness activator," she believes that everyone has ability, with the right tools, social support, and inspiration to be able to connect to fitness in an emotional way. Her mission is to activate that ability and to inspire communities across the country. Jennifer blogs at madcoolfitness.com.

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