Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Vacation Workouts

Monday night Toph and I headed down to New Orleans with our friends Sam and Kate LF. Taking a road trip vacation doesn't leave much time for working out. Since I've been working my body very hard these last 3 weeks with so many races (and PRs :) ), I was welcoming some rest for my legs. I worked a full day on Monday and we left Monday night for our 14 hour drive. We stopped only at gas stations about every 2 hours and arrived in New Orleans on Tuesday late morning/early afternoon. We took naps and tried to get caught up on a normal schedule. Monday, Tuesday rest.

I'm no cowgirl, but Wednesday night we wandered in the Bourbon Cowboy and I rode one of those mechanical bulls for the first time. Those things are definitely tougher than they look. I stayed on for about a full minute. There may or may not be video of this event. Lol.

Afterwards, we discovered another bar with a mechanical bull and Kate, Sam, and Toph got to ride too. It was completely hysterical and all the videos are us jeering and laughing in the background. Bottom line, I'm counting my 1 minute bull ride as cross training since my legs were sore for the next 2 days because of it! I mean, Gingerfoxx said that Hal Higdon agrees. That means it must be true.

Thursday morning Kate and I got up early and went for a run through the French Quarter and by the levee. Of course we decided to go for a run on the hottest day of our trip. Kate wasn't feeling great because of the heat, but we were able to do 3.13 miles in 34:56 (11:09).


I had bigger plans to lift weights and do another run on the trip, but those didn't end up happening so Friday and Saturday were additional rest days. It's okay though. My body needed a break and vacation was the perfect excuse! We did a lot of walking and a lot of good eating (restaurant post to come tomorrow!)

After a good nights sleep on Saturday, I attempted a 5 mile run on Sunday at a trail by my house that I haven't been to yet. The sun was hotter than I thought and my lack of proper hydration over the past few days really caught up to me. It was a struggle to finish 3.5 miles since I drank too much water and my stomach was a sloshy mess. Old Kelly would have been extremely disappointed with this run/week and considered it a failure. New Kelly is looking at this is a much needed break and just one bad run. Today is a new day and today will be a good running day, I can feel it.

18 comments:

  1. I will be going to you for pointers when i organize my bull-riding fundraiser!! good for you for getting ANY runs in while you were down in the bayou, i had a friend who lived down there and said the humidity was like nothing else. Glad you're back in the windy city!!

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  2. It is tougher than it looks, that is all I can say! Haha... We decided to go running on our hottest day there. That is always a fun way to get in a workout. I kept thinking about getting up other days to run, but then I was either too sleepy or still hungover. :)

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  3. Vacation & Running just don't go well together in my world. I always have my stuff and want to go but it is tough to fit it in without disrupting the "fun". Great job for making it out 1x! That is great!

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  4. Yay New Kelly! I like your attitude! Your break sounds awesome. I would be afraid to ride the bull though!

    Why do you tease us and not show us these vids?! :)

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  5. Thanks! I'm glad others find it difficult too, especially when traveling with a group.

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  6. Haha, maybe I'll have to add the video... later... :) I was afraid to ride the bull but the few drinks I had already consumed along with the encouragement from the group I was with... I knew I could do it!

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  7. Ah! We were there too when we were in NOLA in the fall. You gotta love 3 for 1 beers!

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  8. YESSS! 3 for 1 is the best and only way to go in NOLA! :)

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  9. I was going to ask if there were any drinks involved!

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  10. Sounds like you had fun! Great job on the vacation workouts! It's tough to get anything in so nice job!!

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  11. Thanks! I wanted to do so much more, but then I slept and drank more instead. But that's what vacations are for, right?! :)

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  12. I like the New Kelly's attitude! :) Which trail did you run? Also the only time I have been truly successful at running while on vacation was when I was sharing a hotel room with my parents for a family reunion. It was very easy to go to bed at a reasonable hour and get up early to run in that scenario, especially since our hotel was literally next to a trail along the Mississippi.

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  13. Also, the video is to large to send. It is on my phone but I don't know how to get it off of there. I'm not posting it to YouTube. Haha

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  14. I ran the Hickory Creek trail on LaPorte. It was much nicer than I thought it would be and I think I might even entice my husband to go for a walk while I run there some time.

    Last summer I think I was successful in running at Mall of America when we went on vacation, I did 2 treadmill workouts during a 4 day weekend. I had a 7 mile long run that I waited to do until I got home. I remember thinking that 7 miles was such a struggle and impossible to do on my own. Oh how times have changed since July 2011. :) We're going again this summer so that should also be interesting. I HATE running on the treadmill now so we'll see how things go this year. The area around Mall of America isn't really all that safe. Maybe there is a Minnesota running club I could check out? As I'm typing this, I'm already getting excited at the thought.

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  15. You should totally look for a running club out there! How fun.

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  16. I already looked it up and runs at the Nike Store at Mall of America are supposed to start this spring. Perfect timing. YESSS

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