Category Archives: travel

5 Tips to Work Out While Traveling

In the past month I have done a lot of traveling. First Hawaii, then to Sunriver, OR for 4 days (where I got to meet Leslie!) followed by a weekend of camping, and I for the last few days I have been in CT visiting Ryan’s family. Lots going on!

When going on vacation or traveling for work, it can be so easy to just take time off from exercise. Sometimes that is the right thing to do…. but often I will feel so much better by getting out for some kind of workout!

Here are some of my favorite tips for working out while traveling.

1. Use it as a way to see the sights or explore. When we were in Hawaii, Ryan and I ran through a park that we would never have seen if it weren’t for going on a run! It can be so much fun to explore new areas on either a run or a bike ride. It might take some planning ahead of time so you don’t get lost or to plan your distance, but it is totally worth it!

2. Aim for a morning workout. While I don’t always hold true to this, it often seems much easier to get a workout done in the morning when on vacation. Once you are sitting on the beach it takes so much more effort to get your butt up and just after rolling out of bed. Plus, you will feel accomplished for the rest of the day!

3. Try to schedule a step back week. If you are training for a big race and you know you have a trip ahead, it can be best to build for a few weeks before leaving. Reducing mileage while you are away can keep you from needing to find time for a few hour run. I didn’t do that this week for my marathon training, but I think it can be a good practice.

4. Fit in something in the time you have. Sometimes it is best to just be flexible. If you have 30 minutes, but at home you would have an hour, don’t skip you workout! You can have a great workout in 30 minutes. Try increasing intensity or run intervals to mix things up. Or do some strength training with body weight exercises — there are so many options.

5. Seize the opportunities. When we were camping a few weeks ago, we ended up going to a lake for a day. We rented some kayaks and swam across with our friends kayaking nearby. This ended up being a great part of everyone’s trip! If you are in a new area, it can be great to find different exercise opportunities — biking, go on a long walk, kayak — try out a new activity that everyone can enjoy and do together for a unique workout.

What are your best tips for getting in a workout while you are traveling?

Hawaii Fun: Part II

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When I left off, I was describing all the fun we had on Oahu. We then went to the Big Island of Hawaii!! We had about two and a half days there. The first day we visited the Kona Brewing Company — so good!!

One of the days Ryan and I ventured off on our own for the day to visit Volcanoes National Park. The island of Hawaii is actually made of five volcanoes, with some of them erupting in the not too distant past. They had a lot of tours where you could walk to see flowing lava. We didn’t see that, but did get to see a lot of smoke coming out from the volcano in the park. We also went to see the end of the road in the park where lava flowed over it in 2003. It was raining at the park when we arrived, but luckily it cleared out and we had a great day!

We also went to a luau at another nearby hotel at sunset. The next night there were hula dancers at our hotel doing a little performance. My Mom and I got a good photo with one of the dancers! 🙂

The last day before we left, we stopped to check out the lava tubes near the airport. Basically, they are huge holes where lava had flowed underground. My brother, Ryan and I climbed around in them a bit. It is tough to walk over the lava rock — very jagged.

Overall it was an amazing trip! I loved spending some good time with my family. We had a great week, and I can’t wait until the next time we get together! xoxo

Hawaiian Fun: Part I

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As I mentioned in my quick update last week — I was away for the week with my family in Hawaii! We had an amazing time, and I wanted to share with you some of the details.

During our trip, we visiting two of the islands: Oahu and Hawaii (the Big Island). We spent the first four days in Waikiki on Oahu, and the last three in a little town North of Kailua-Kona called Waikoloa on Hawaii.

We made sure to keep busy most days with different excursions, but also had some time to relax on the beach, play cards, and swim in the pools. Since I have way too many photos that I love from the trip, I’ll break this down into a couple posts. This one will focus on Oahu.

During our time on Oahu, we visited Pearl Harbor, went snorkeling, went on a sunrise photography tour, and enjoyed some gorgeous sunsets from our hotel.

Pearl Harbor was beautiful and moving. We also toured the USS Arizona. It was really interesting to walk around and explore the battleship.

The photography tour was amazing. Every stop we made was gorgeous, and I took SO many photos!!

When we were snorkeling we even got to see a couple turtles!! The guides mentioned they usually see a few more, but there were some scuba divers that were scaring them away. One of the turtles came to the surface really close to me and another person. It was amazing to see it stick his head up out of the water! Here’s a photo of one of them below the surface — you can see how large it was compared to the scuba diver!

At the end of the day we always had a gorgeous sunset!

Birthday, Beer, and Baseball

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I was hoping to get this post up last week but it just didn’t happen. This weekend Ryan and I went camping with friends. I wish I had taken a photo of the monstrous ice cream we ate on Saturday but I wasn’t carrying a camera with me! After we got back yesterday, we went out to dinner with a friend. Today we had an awesome BBQ with all the friends who rode in the Tour de Cure with us. So much great food! I made this corn and tomato salad — it was delicious.

Anyway, I still wanted to share more about our Cleveland trip, so here is more about our weekend away…

Besides the race, we also were able to visit family while in Cleveland. It was a big weekend of celebrations with my niece’s first birthday on Saturday, and my brother-in-law’s MBA graduation on Sunday. Here are some of the things we did.

Friday, after we arrived, we checked into our hotel and spent some time with family. We went for a nice long walk because it was gorgeous out. Some of us stopped in to a local brewery (The BottleHouse) for a quick tasting. It was a cool place — pinball machines, and seemed like lots of bands play at night on the weekends. We were the only ones there though at the time…I guess that’s what you get for a Friday at 3pm! At night we went out to Chocolate Bar for dinner. The food was good, but it was pretty loud. We had to try a chocolate martini!

Saturday was my niece’s 1st birthday. We had lunch and cake and she opened presents. Fun!

Then we went to the expo for packet pickup. We wandered around for a bit and checked out the merchandise. I noticed the Army booth was having a push-up and pull-ups competition. I decided I wanted to do one of them! When I went up to the booth, I told the guy I wasn’t sure which I wanted to do. He asked if I had done a pull-up before, and when I said yes, he told me that was the one I should try. If you follow me on Twitter, you already know I ended up doing 12 pull-ups! I think they were all impressed. Haha.

After the expo, we decided to check out another local brewery (Cornerstone Brewing). This one was in a little neighborhood near the expo center. They had a big flight of 9 beers, so Ryan and I shared the sampler. Another good stop.

The rest of the night was just relaxing — we grilled up dinner and got to bed early in preparation for our Sunday morning race.

If you read my recap, you can find out all about how the half marathon went. Afterward, we grabbed brunch in Cleveland Heights at the Inn on Coventry. It was delicious! After doing a lot of walking, we used the afternoon to relax and went to the movies. We saw the new StarTrek — I’d recommend it. At night we got Dewey’s pizza for dinner. They have so many options! The Bronx Bomber was my favorite.

On Monday the big highlight was going to the Cleveland Indians baseball game. It was really hot out! But a great day for a ball game! We ended up leaving right before the exciting finish with a Tribe win, but we still had a lot of fun.

It was a really great trip visiting family and running a race. Definitely a good RUN-cation.

Holidays at Home

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Sorry I have been a little MIA lately! Earlier this week was a little crazy with getting ready to travel, and now we are in upstate NY visiting my parents for the holidays.

So far it has been wonderful. We made it East without too many flight issues, even though there were big storms in Denver. Since we got to NY, we have visited with friends and family, wrapped Christmas gifts and eaten lots of cookies! Ryan and I have been trying to go to the gym most days, doing both some running and weight lifting.

Posting will continue to be light through the new year, but I will do my best to post when I can. I hope everyone enjoys their holidays! Spend time with those you love and care about.

What are you doing for the holidays?

Waking Up in Vegas

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After the marathon, we spent a few days hanging around in Las Vegas with friends.

[photo from Colleen]

Sunday night we tried to stay on our feet to help in recovery. We didn’t want to go back to the Strip after going back to our hotel and showering, but luckily there was a little bar across the street. We were basically the only ones there. Ordered up some chicken wings, and played a few games of shuffleboard.

Monday we walked the Strip, and went to Serendipity for lunch. Then we walked some more and finally found a sports bar in the NY, NY casino to watch Monday Night Football. Afterward we went to Wolfgang Puck at MGM for dinner. The food was SO delicious! I have been there 3 different times, and loved their food every time.

Tuesday we decided we had spent enough time on the Strip, so instead we rented a car for the day and visited the Hoover Dam! On our way there we stopped for lunch at In-N-Out. This is a West Coast must for those who haven’t tried it.

[photo from Colleen]

The Hoover Dam is pretty incredible. It is quite the feat of engineering, and incredible to see. I would highly recommend visiting if you are in the area. The drive from Las Vegas is only about 40 minutes. There are two different tour options — I recommend the more expensive one ($30) because you get to walk through more of the dam, and really see of how it was constructed.

not the greatest panoramic, but still looks pretty cool.

Overall, it was a great trip to Las Vegas! It can be so fun to travel for a race because you get to see more of the area. Already trying to figure out where the next destination race should be! Let me know if you have any good suggestions.

Defy Your Limitations

moving forward, one step at a time