Spending a week away from home is always interesting. Adding to the previous post about contingencies, you really do have to PLAN your workouts accordingly. I knew going in that I couldn't ride a bike for the week and I'd have to swim and run for the week.
I contemplated two different hotels in Chicago, the Intercontinental and the Hilton Homewood Suites. The Hilton serves breakfast AND dinner, plus they have full kitchens. That means I wouldn't have to spent time worrying about what to eat, where to eat, and if I had left overs I could re-heat it. On the other hand the intercontinental has this INCREDIBLE pool - full Olympic size, Italian marble, just amazing pool! So, as I weighed the differences, I read about the Hilton Pool and it said "Lap Pool" - I thought "ok, I'll manage and I'll benefit from the extra time I'll save on finding food."
Monday AM I woke up at 6, put on my suit and went UP - yes UP to the pool on the 19th floor. It certainly was a lap pool, if by lap they meant the sound a dog makes when drinking!!! I tried to do a 1/2 mile in there, but I was actually getting DIZZY! I stopped kicking and tried to do circles, and it felt like I was in a fishbowl, or like I was a shark circling my prey.
Needless to say that was the ONLY day I swam last week!
On a brighter note.. it was the most gorgeous week weather-wise! I started out with a 3 mile jog on Monday night down the Chicago River walk to Lake Michigan. I love that they have this awesome fitness path!! From here I just became obsessed. I am trying to learn Chi-Running - AND - I was trying to take pictures. So I just took the camera on my jogs, alternated hands so it was like I was running with a weight.
It is so easy to rack up the miles in a big city with beautiful architecture, and amazing weather. Before I knew it I was up to 17 miles, at that point I knew I had to complete "A Chicago Marathon" before I left on Friday.
By Friday AM, I had 3 miles to go, so I headed out for a run at sunrise. Of course I didn't bring the good camera and it was the most spectacular sunrise! I ended up doing 4 miles without even noticing. I ended the evening out with some additional walking before my flight so I had a nice round 30 for the week.
Now I need to find something interesting to look at while running at home, because my street is boring as hell and 1 mile seems like eternity!
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