Working Out on Vacation

Just got back from my vacation last night.  I had a WONDERFUL time.  Vacations are amazing.  They truly help rest the mind and soul.  I feel refreshed!

The only bad thing about vacation is they get you out of your normal routine.  And with my my Olympic distance triathlon just a few short weeks away, I knew I had to stay at least moderately active while on vacation.  I didn't do as much as I normally would do, but I did stay active and I'm happy about that.  And Saturday and Sunday I will still get in my normal long run and bike, and hopefully a swim as well.

Luckily for me my friend Sam is training for her first half marathon, so she was totally up for some running or other activities while we were gone.  The weather in Hot Springs, AR was even hotter than it was in Kansas City.  Every day the actual temperature ranged from about 108 - 112 with a good dose of humidity added on just for the fun of it.  So we knew there would be no sleeping in on our vacation.

Some of our delicious meals at Rolando's (we ended up eating here twice)

We arrived Sunday night and didn't do much besides get checked in to our hotel and eat some dinner at Rolando's - a Latin fusion restaurant.  The dinner was delicious!  I honestly couldn't believe how good the food was in Hot Springs.  Monday am we woke up bright and early at 6am to beat the heat.  We headed out the door and did a nice 3 mile run.  It was fun just seeing new and different scenery.  I came back and attempted to swim in the hotel pool.  I had no idea it would be so small.  It took 7 strokes to go from end to end and the 7th stroke your hands were on the bottom of the pool because it was only 3 feet deep.  It was literally like swimming on a treadmill.  Oh well, at least I attempted it.  I estimated I did a short swim of about 500 meters or so.

The rest of the day was spent browsing some local shops, and then we headed to one of the old bathhouses for a wonderful spa day.....ahhhhh heaven.  I still had some major tightness in both of my calves from my triathlon on Saturday, so a massage was exactly what I needed!

The bathhouses were really beautiful.  There is a whole row of them that were built in the 1920s.

The next morning we were planning to run, but we were going to spend the entire day at Magic Springs and Crystal Falls - an amusement/water park.  We figured we would be walking and swimming all day in the 110 degree heat, so we probably would be ok to skip the workout.  We spent most of our time at the water park due to the extreme heat.  We stayed about 6 or 7 hours.  We had a blast.  We were completely exhausted by the time we got back to our hotel, so I felt like we definitely got some exercise in.

Having a nice dinner after a long day of fun

My friend Sam is 6ft tall (and amazingly beautiful), she makes me look very short.

The next morning we knew we would be heading out of town and I really wanted to get some hiking in before we left so we ran to the hiking trail from our hotel (which was about a mile) and then went on a 4 mile hike and then walked back the one mile to the hotel.  The hike was tough.  I definitely used some muscle groups I hadn't used in awhile.  My butt was so sore the next day!  The hike was beautiful.  We didn't pass many people on the hike (it was too hot to hike for most I think), but when we did come across a couple we thought we would ask them to take our photo.  So I asked, "hey would you mind snapping a quick pic"?  To which they replied, no problem, and immediately snuggled up for me to take a picture of them.  I thought I was going to die from holding the laughter in, but I didn't want to embarrass them, so I took their picture and then politely asked if they could now take ours.  Sam and I walked away dying of laughter.

Hot Springs flowing off the moutain

Sam and I had to work really hard during our hike moving trees & rocks out of the way

Our random friends we met :)

Hanging off the side of a rock.....

Oh, not really

After our hike, Sam and I showered, ate some breakfast and headed out of Hot Springs.  I dropped her off in Fayetteville where she lives and proceeded to the lovely Bella Vista, AR to stay one last night at a little Bed and Breakfast up in the countryside.  It was really beautiful.  There was only me and one other girl staying there that night, so it was very quiet.  I did some walking around the property, but not much and headed to bed early.  The next morning I decided to go for a swim before I left.  I started to get in the pool and I asked the owner, um is that a big worm or is that a snake.  Oh, yes, dear that's just a little ring neck snake I'll get it out of the pool for you.  UGH!!  It wasn't very big, but I'm sure glad I didn't swim with it!  This pool was much bigger - about 13 strokes from end to end.  I estimated about a 1000 meter swim!

Although I certainly didn't get in my normal amount of running, biking, and swimming I feel like I stayed active and that's important.  Now it's back to my routine.  I am looking forward to some longer workouts this weekend.

Sorry if I bored you with my vacation stories, but I did try to throw working out in there.

Do you workout while on vacation?  Or do you just use the time to relax?