Traveling Healthy Strategy 2: Running to sightsee and maximizing hotel gyms

My name is Raymond Tsai, and I'm a foodie. I love trying new foods and will go out of my way to find delicious food. Though I can do it in moderation during my normal routine, there's just too much amazing food here in Taiwan. I do make efforts to eat as healthy as possible, which I'll go over in a future post, but my main strategy right now is trying to exercise regularly. My original goal was 3-4 times a week, but I'm working out even more since I found a way to use it to enhance my sightseeing. I have three main strategies to keep up my exercise regimen while on holiday: 1) Jogging to sightsee; 2) Making the most of hotel gyms, and; 3) Incorporating exercise in everyday activities.

Vacation Exercise Log

Day	Type	Activities and Time	Notes
Day 1	Rest	Arrived into Taipei at 5am, slept at 8pm
Day 2	Run	Ran 6.18 miles in 59m 16s	To Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall
Day 3	Run	Ran 3.18 miles in 32m 45s	To Taipei 101, then got tired and took metro back
Day 4	Hotel Gym	Elliptical 15m, free weights chestx3 sets of 10 and biceps x3 sets of 10 with 15 burpees between sets
Day 5	Run	4.75 miles in 51m 5s	With brother-in-law who doesn't run much so wanted to support his fitness efforts and walked a mile with him in the middle
Day 6	Hotel Gym	Elliptical for 20m, burpees x60, situps x20, back hyperextensions x20 and lat pulldown bar x4 sets of 10
Day 7	Run turned hike	4.63miles in 1h 23m 35s	Got lost, then distracted by the sights

Running through Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall

At first, I was just planning on running regularly to train for the 200 mile, 12 person relay I'm doing in May. So the first day, I got on my running gear and took off in a random direction, and while on my run I passed by the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, and a light went off in my head... wait a sec... what if I ran around to see the sights of Taipei, then I could hit two birds with one stone. It seemed brilliant at the time... until I tried to do it again the next day and ran to Taipei 101. I was running slower and overall felt pretty tired, so instead of doing my planned 6 miles, after 3 miles when I reached Taipei 101, I turned myself into a mall walker (i.e. shopping quickly with gym clothes on, which if it were an olympic

Ran unintentionally to Wen Wu temple, at the end of the trail mentioned at the right picture caption, you can go up the 5 flights of stairs to find the temple and take a break before going back. Do not pass the stairs, it dead ends.

Shueishi Trail is a great running trail along Sun Moon Lake's NW side (Googlemap of road along trail, the trail isn't mapped out yet, just find stairs (there are multiple) going down off the road to lakeside to find the trail), around 3.5 miles roundtrip, and well paved

event, I think I'd do quite well... I'm a fast shopper. In Taiwan, the store clerks say, "歡迎光臨", pronounced "huan ying guang lin", as you enter and again when you leave the store. It essentially strings together "welcome" and "thank you" efficiently. I make it even more efficient because I peruse the store as they get out the first 歡迎光臨, and usually am already on my way out so they'd just repeat it again immediately after. If you're in the mall with me, you'd just hear a repeating echo of 歡迎光臨 as I run in and out of stores one after another... I think Taiwanese store clerks hate me). There was clearly a kink in my plan because I was burnt out running two days in a row already, but I do like the strategy of using running as a means to sightsee, because you get to learn the landscape in a way you can't appreciate if traveling only on public transportation. Be prepared though, that sometimes you'll get sidetracked from running. For instance, this morning I was running by Sun Moon Lake, and was thwarted by getting lost, finding a big temple I decided to walk in, enjoying the views, and seeing a pretty snail on the ground... it really was quite pretty and worth stopping to watch it travel across the trail. And these stops turned my normally 10 minute mile into a 19 minute mile, but that's ok, I still got out, saw sights, and ran for a lot of it.

Enjoying Taiwanese wildlife during my run: Snail with a pretty shell (I'm easily amused)

Tiny hotel gym with lake view at Fleur de Chine

Since I can't run all the time to sightsee because my legs get burnt out, I decided to add hotel gyms to my regimen. Unfortunately, hotel gyms aren't the most equipped because I don't think there is a big gym culture here in Taiwan. For instance, take a look at this gym with a wonderful lake view at Sun Moon Lake's Fleur de Chine Hotel, a 5-star luxury resort that was otherwise impeccable, but the gym had 2 treadmills, 1 eliptical, 2 bicycle machines, and a lat pulldown machine. That's it. Oh and a cushioned bench. So I turned into a gym MacGuyver and just started adapting things to my own use. I used the elliptical machine to warm up for 20 minutes, and then did 2 rounds of 15 burpees on the tiny floor space, 10 lat pull downs, and 10 knees to chest sit ups by pulling out a nice cushioned bench they had against the wall, putting its pillows on the floor, and laying a towel over it to turn into a flat bench. I then did another 2 rounds of 15 burpees, 10 bicep lat pull downs, and then laid stomach down on the lat pull down seat, hooked my legs into the machine away from the weights, and did 10 back hyperextensions. All in an hour. The hotel staff looked at my like I was insane as they were bringing me a towel and water and I was sprawled out on their floor doing burpees and their gym furniture was rearranged. Lesson learned: Every gym has a floor, burpees can be done anywhere, and then you can just mix in whatever else the gym happens to have.

Choice of a squatting or sitting bathroom stall in Taiwan

Finally, my third and final strategy for increasing physical activity while traveling is taking every opportunity to exercise, even in mundane everyday activities. For instance, I found a restroom in Taiwan, and was given the choice of stall to either squat or use a toilet seat, so I always choose to squat in order to maximize time for working out. Ok... that last one is a joke, that might be a bit overboard, but the previous two strategies of running to sightsee alternating with maximizing hotel gyms still stand.

I'm exercising so much because I really am eating so much amazing (and often unhealthy) food here in Taiwan that I feel like I need to offset it by something. Plus, as mentioned, running to sightsee is actually quite rewarding and fun. However, in homage to the food of Taiwan, my next post will be a foodie post about greats finds that are definitely worth putting aside any diet, and I'll follow that up with how I make food selections to be as healthy as possible.

Traveling Healthy Strategy 1: My dirty little secret to portion control

In order to eat as healthy as possible while still indulging in the culinary delights of Taiwan, I have a really bad habit for which I'm not particularly proud. I'm ashamed. My name is Raymond, and I will waste food to be healthy.

Welcome to the first in a series of blog posts about me trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle while traveling in Taiwan. One thing that I hear quite commonly is how hard it is to be healthy when away from home, so here begins a documentation of my own attempt to do so, and I have no idea how successful I'll be.

Example 1: Leaving behind the men in ramen to be healthy

Example 2: Leaving behind the rice at dinner

Strategy 1: Don't eat anything you don't want to. One of the great pleasures of traveling is eating out and trying different foods. However, the food I order often comes with stuff that I don't want, or I just want a taste without making a meal out of it. The solution? I just don't eat what I don't want to eat. It is my way to portion control when I'm not cooking and serving myself. Ideally, I would customize the order, but that's not always an option. For instance, yesterday, I had a hankering for ramen noodles, so I got some, and ate my favorite parts: the broth, the meat, the veggies, and tried the noodles. For the most part, however, I left the noodles and accompanying bowl of rice untouched. Similarly, for dinner tonight, I just didn't eat the rice that came with the meal.

Chen Ji Noodle House has arguably better Oyster Vermicelli than Ay-Chung

Though when all is said and done, I am on vacation, so sometimes it is worth it to indulge. I just always ask myself, is the pleasure I will get from eating something worth the break from my healthy eating? The answer should usually be yes to try a bit of something and enjoy life, but no to go overboard and eat the entire thing. Sometimes, however, the answer to eat the whole thing can be yes because you know you will enjoy yourself

What's worth breaking a diet for: oyster vermicelli noodles.

 What type of things warrant a yes for me? How about oyster vermicelli noodles? Ay-Chung Flour Rice Noodles are arguably the most famous in Taipei (No. 8之1號, Éméi St, or if you get off the Xi Men MRT stop, cross Zhong Hua Street and the alley should be on the left). However, today, my friend diverted the scooter to a place he likes better, because he claims Ay-Chung is too sweet. We went to the Long Shan Temple Station's Chen Ji Noodle House (No. 166 Heping West Rd, Sec 3) instead, and I agree. I think it is better. The flavor is great, but the oysters are bigger as well.

Arm westling at the arcade by Ximen

There you have it, one of my traveling strategies, as well as a suggestion for going off the beaten path for one of my favorite Taiwanese foods. Stay tuned to the next post where I'll go over exercise while traveling, which involves more than just arm wrestling at the arcade, though that's fun too.

Still fighting one year later: An update on progress

Hi everyone! I'm baaaaaack. Sorry for the hiatus, but based on feedback from mentors, I decided to play it safe and stop posting during my medical residency application cycle. However, on the heels of recently matching at the UCLA Family Medicine Residency Program, and my guest blog post to Stanford Scope Blog about my decision to pursue family medicine, I'm excited to come back to my personal blog about my own fitness journey. To start off, I just want to give a general update on my progress.

Fight for Air Climb 2012 and 2013

This past weekend (on Saturday, March 23, 2013), I participated in the Fight for Air Climb in San Francisco to raise money for the American Lung Association. Besides doing it for a good cause, it is also a way for me to measure my own fitness progress in the past year. Over the past year, I've lost 40+ lbs and have had to change out my wardrobe, but now I can report that I'm actually fitter, faster, and stronger too comparing my results from the past 2 years! Last year, I climbed 52 stories in 17:18, which I was already proud of. At that time, I remember hearing other people set time-based goals, and I would just think to myself, "I just don't want to die and I hope I can finish." I was thrilled to make it to the top alive and still breathing, which was a huge fitness feat. This year, I knew I had progressed because I had a time goal too, to climb 52 stories in less than 15:00, and in the end, I clocked in at 12:29. It felt great!

In short, don't take my leave of absence as an indication that I put my healthy lifestyle on hold. I'll continue posting with some lessons learned in the past few months, including being off of Paleo for a month while in Guatemala in February, my strategy for staying healthy while traveling to Taiwan in the next few weeks, and some new recipes as well. Stay tuned! Thanks all, nice to be back!

Comparison of my results in climbing 52 stories for Fight for Air Climb 2013 (top) and Fight for Air Climb 2012 (bottom). Of note, our technology also advanced in the past year from paper based results to a futuristic computer results kiosk....

I Can. I Will. I Did my first pull-up.

I wasn't even thinking about doing a pull-up yesterday. I was just stretching. Earlier in the day, when I was on facebook, I noticed Tim, the owner of Crossfit Palo Alto, posted, "Your mantra to repeat today, before and during the WOD is, 'I CAN. I WILL.'" At first, I thought, "That's odd, Tim doesn't normally post about mantras for workouts..." Then, I saw why. The WOD (Workout of the Day) was a hero WOD called "Nutts", named in honor of a fallen Canadian soldier Lieutenant Nuttall. In strictest form, it was a workout to be done as fast as possible of 10 Handstand push-ups, 15 Deadlifts (250lbs), 25 30" Box jumps, 50 Pull-ups, 100 Wall ball shots (20 lbs med ball to 10ft), 200 Double-unders, and a 400 meter run carrying a 45lb plate. In all honesty, this sounded absolutely psychotic, but I'm starting to accept that my own self-doubt tends to be my greatest enemy, so I followed Tim's advice. I told myself, "I can. I will." To prove my conviction, mostly to myself, I decided to stretch in preparation. In doing so, I unexpectedly achieved one of my biggest fitness goals.

I wanted to do a pull-up ever since I started working out. For me, it was an elusive goal, because I've never done a pull-up before in my life. It just seemed like this abstract idea, like telling someone who has never sung opera before to perform an aria. That didn't stop me from trying though, mostly because I remember watching people do pull-ups in high school and thinking, "Wow, how do they do that?" Around July, I gave myself 6 months to do an unassisted pull-up, or in other words, until the end of this year. Before almost every gym session, I would put a band on a bar that helped support my weight and practiced my pull-ups. Last week, I switched bands to one that provided less assistance, the second to last level before I would be with no bands at all. I still struggled with form though, so the Crossfit coaches helped me out by giving me advice on how to refine my kipping swing, find a rhythm, and maximize use of the band. Yesterday evening, I was just hanging and swinging from the bar without any bands. I didn't want to burn myself out before the actual workout by actually doing pull-ups, especially since we had 50 to do, but I could hang and kipping swing to stretch. Then someone said, "Try pulling up!" I laughed, "That's silly. I can't do a pull-up yet." I was still trying to figure out how to do it properly with the new band. After some more encouragement, I figured what's the harm in trying? So I pulled...and I went up... and then I screamed, like I always do when trying a new activity. When I finished screaming (1-2 seconds), I noticed my chin was above the bar. Tim, who was wrapping up the last class asked, "Did you just do a pull-up?" I honestly wasn't sure. A yes or no question shouldn't be so hard to answer. I felt like I was getting pimped by an attending, and I had to think it through before giving a response. I mean, I was holding the bar, and then I pulled, and then my chin went above the bar. That's a pull-up right? "I think I did...," I finally replied. Wait a sec... I did my very first pull-up ever! The rest of gym members clapped in congratulations, I rang the bell indicating a new personal record, and recorded it up on the "personal records" whiteboard. Then I went back and did another pull-up.

I was so happy, and finally, the thought of, "I can. I will." became something I actually believed. I did "Nutts" in 36:35, though scaled down to something I could handle safely. Specifically, I did 5 handstand pushups and 5 shoulder touches, 15 deadlifts with 185lbs, 25 30" box jumps, 50 pull-ups with a blue band for 20 (3rd lightest one) and blue band + red band (2nd lightest one) for 30, 100 wallball shots with a 14lbs medicine ball, 100 double unders and 300 single unders, and then scurried (instead of running, a bonafide scaling option: the scurry) 400 meters with a 35lbs plate. I felt great afterward, not only because I did my pull-up, and finished "Nutts", but also because I'm excited. I'm excited because every reached goal just opens the door for new possibilities, new opportunities, and even bigger goals. I'm thrilled that I was able to finish yesterday's beast of a workout, but it also showed how much room there is still to improve. I haven't set my new goals yet, but I'll be sure to share when I do. I still can't believe I did a pull-up. Me! A pull-up! Wow!

Happy Halloween: My treat is a year's worth of progress

Trish, myself and Andrew after a Halloween Crossfit workout

Happy Halloween everyone!!! I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween this evening. I spent my Halloween evening working out with my friends at CrossFit Palo Alto. As always, we still made sure we had our fun (see picture of some fellow members in Halloween costumes they somehow worked out in). As I was recording my results for the evening, I had this feeling that I did the same workout last Halloween too because some of the quirky Halloween-themed names sounded familiar. I flipped back in my notebook, and not only had I done it before, but last Halloween was the first time I ever worked out at Crossfit. It was exciting to compare my results! 

The workout today was called "Hallow-bata". The objective was to do as many reps as you could of an exercise within 20 seconds. Between each 20 second interval there was 10 seconds of rest. We would repeat each exercise for 8 rounds of the 20 second intervals. Then, there would be a 30 second rest to allow us to move on to the next exercise. We did 4 different exercises in total. Our score consisted of the grand total of all the reps we were able to complete. The 4 different exercises and their Halloween-themed names were: 1) "Green Slimey Grasshoppers" - grasshoppers, which I've never done before Crossfit, consist of being in a push-up position and bending one knee and externally rotating that leg at the hip to get your shin as close as you can to the opposite arm; 2) "Headless Horseman" - not sure where this name came from, but I didn't lose my head thank goodness. It consists of picking up a kettle bell from the floor with one arm, putting the kettle bell in the palm of your other arm and then pressing it up. On the way down, you grab the handle with the same arm you used to picked it up and place the weight back on the ground; 3) "Cauldron Jumps" - box jumps, except we jumped over the box to the other side, and; 4) "Deadly Double Unders" - jumping rope with the rope going under twice with each jump.

Comparison of my results 1 year apart

The result? I was able to do 292 reps in total tonight, compared to 119 last year. I was amazed that in one year, I was able to do more than twice the amount of reps. Since it was my very first session last year, I wasn't as good about recording what I was doing (like the actual weight I used). I think it is safe to say, though, that I used less than the 12kg I used tonight, I vaguely remember just stepping up and down on the box instead of jumping, and I absolutely couldn't do double unders yet since I just started doing them a month ago. Today helped me appreciate how far I've come, and how much fitter I am now than I was last Halloween. It is difficult to recognize progress on a day to day basis, but seeing a year's worth of change was shocking! This is the best treat of all. Just to see how far I've come. Sorry I wasn't able to carve a pumpkin this year though... couldn't think of anyone I wanted to carve this year. I'll just share my pumpkin from last year, and maybe next year I'll do another...

My pumpkin carving from last year