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| Pool aerobics! This was genius at my resort! |
Do you work out on vacation? I’ve covered this before but always think it’s worth a mention. Think about it — we all want to look awesome FOR our tropical vacations but don’t we want to feel awesome while we are there too?
Even though I have extra time, it’s harder than ever for me to workout on vacation. Normally, that’s because anyone I’m with has no interest in working up a good sweat. They want to relax. Well, so do I. But I do my best relaxing post-endorphin rush.
These days, almost every hotel has a gym — and I knew the resort in the Dominican would too. It was even islandy with a bridge over water to get to the gym area. No air conditioning so it was sweaty at first breath but I’m glad it was there.
Even if you only work out once or twice on your vacation, you are doing great. I intended on trying to get something in every day. Aim high so you hit at least some of your marks 🙂
I arrived around 4pm on Thursday and had no time after traveling all day and going straight to the pre-wedding party. No biggie!
Friday morning wasn’t an easy one. After three too many cocktails at the party, I wasn’t feeling the workout rush. So I lounged and hydrated and didn’t put any pressure on myself. I felt pretty crappy and kept thinking about my running shoes and workout clothes in my bag. Did I drag them all here for nothing?
No way. Still feeling the effects from the night before and anticipating the wedding and long night ahead, it was SO hard to make myself workout. But I KNEW it was going to improve my situation.
Time ticked. I stared at my shoes. I looked in the mirror. I laid on the bed. I drank some water. I thought about life. Finally, I put on my workout clothes and headed to the gym. Only 15 minutes if that’s all you can take, I said.
I began with an arm workout. I’m going to get my pull-up no matter how much my arms say no! After the arm workout, running on the treadmill with not even a magazine or music sounded terrible. Nevertheless, I committed to running 2 miles in silence. I did some intervals to break it up.
Two miles later, I was done and ready to head for the showers. I completed a 40-minute workout and felt about 10 times better than before after taking a shower. You hear it all the time — you never regret a workout — and I certainly didn’t regret that one!
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| Post-workout by the pool |
That night, I felt refreshed and the endorphins stayed with me. I drank a lot of water and danced till my feet hurt. The next morning, I woke up feeling good!
We trekked over to the waterfalls and completed a 3-hour waterfall hiking/jumping tour. My legs felt strong and I had a blast jumping from fall to fall. Definitely burned some calories and got my heart rate up that day so there was no need to worry about traditional exercise, hooray!
On my last day in town, Sunday, my main goal was to spend time on the beach. I considered getting up early to run but chose to sleep instead. I felt satisfied with two solid days of exercise and truly enjoyed my last morning on the beach.
Because I made healthy food choices while there and mostly managed to keep drinking under control (hard to do at an all-inclusive resort!), I felt just fine when I arrived home after 10 hours of travel on Sunday. I got right back on the horse at Crossfit on Monday.