We caught up with her to find out how she stays so fit, and how she stays happy.
Wanna see more Anne V.?Check her out heli-hiking in our January issue here.
SELF: What are some of your favorite active vacations you’ve taken?
Anne V.: If I’m skiing, I love Deer Valley.
I think it’s really stunning there.
Usually all my vacations are very active.
To me that’s the greatest holiday ever.
I like to stay very active.
SELF:What are your hiking essentials?
I always bring goji berries and cashews, and I make my own trail mix.
I love Jay Z, and hip-hop.
That’s pretty much it!
SELF:What do you usually wear when you go hiking?
AV:As goofy as it sounds, I wear the zip-off pants!
SELF:Did you grow up doing all of this in the mountains?
AV:My dad was always very active.
He was actually a really big runner, and I kind of got into this later on.
SELF: Oh my gosh!
That’s a lot for an 8-year-old!
AV:I know!
We were really going for it.
Honestly, I hated it so much.
The only salads I ever ate in Russia were with mayo!
I don’t know what lettuce is; I don’t know what personal trainers are.
So I went back to running, and in a way my whole mentality changed.
It felt so familiar and it felt like home.
And from that point, I’ve been running.
It’s amazing memory that I had with my dad, and now I really love it.
So I’m happy that my dad forced me to do it, because it made me active.
SELF: What do you do besides running to stay active?
AV:I’ll do anything.
I’m a very go-with-the-flow kind of person.
In general, I am trying to pick up tennis now.
It’s something I really want to learn.
I like to do sprint workouts on the beach, and box.
I like to train like if I were a track-and-field runner.
We go to a track and do sprints, we jump up on the seats.
I like to be challenged.
I don’t like to be in a gym.
It becomes more fun [if you’re outside].
SELF:How do you relax after all of that?
What’s your favorite way to unwind?
AV:At the end of the day I do appreciations and gratitude in my journal.
And then I write about my favorite part of the day, which is actually really cool.
When you go back, literally, it makes you smile.
Image Credit:Charlie Engman
