Fitness Travel: 3 Travel Tips to Stay Fit
A Last Minute Trip to Lido Key, Florida
I’m writing this post while on a plane headed home. It’s always sad when a vacation ends but once the morning comes that I’m scheduled to fly back I’m antsy to get back to my regular routine. This time I was especially ready to get back to Wisconsin since my dog Bentley needed to stay home with a babysitter:) This Lido Key trip is the first of a series of posts about travel and tips to keep you fit while traveling.
Travel: Things Don’t Always Go as Planned
This trip began as may do for some reason; hurried and frazzled. I’ve been doing some research on how to prepare for travel so I really thought I was ready to go. I’ve been to Florida several times so I knew what clothes I needed to bring and I wasn’t leaving for the Minneapolis airport until the afternoon so I thought I had plenty of time to take care of errands and load up my truck to head out. Well, Mother Nature had the last laugh. Rain, sleet, followed by snow hit Wisconsin. The photo shown in this post is prior to my leaving for the airport. I’m smiling in this picture because sometimes you just need to laugh at what life throws at you. What you can’t see is that to the right of me is the security truck that had been checking service at my home. It slid backwards down the driveway and ended up stuck sideways blocking the entire drive. A tow truck was attempting to move the vehicle and I’m running late to head on I-94 to make my flight at the Minneapolis airport! Yup, that suitcase you see needs to be trudged through the snow 500 feet to the top of the driveway where I had to park my truck. Did I mention it’s super icy under all of the snow? Since it’s highly unlikely that the service truck will get out soon the drivers politely offer to grab a suitcase and help my husband and I up the hill. There was one small injury but that’s another story. Slips happen; wrists will need to be x-rayed.
Day 1 – Arrival
When you have a late check-in at a hotel you can encounter problems. When we checked into the hotel we were informed that they had “accidentally” given our room with a king size bed to someone else. We slept in a what seemed like a very small full size bed that night. This is what happens when you plan a trip at the last minute during the holiday season. Believe me I know; it’s happened before:) With a little perseverance we were able to find a cancellation at another resort and change accommodations the following day. Everything worked out better than we originally planned.
Fitness Travel Tip #1: For stress free travel; be flexible!
Workouts: Take Advantage of Your Surroundings
Sunny, 80+ Degrees:
Mornings began with runs from Lido Key through St. Armand’s Circle over the Ringling Bridge and back. Running and walking the Ringling Bridge is very popular with locals and tourists alike and the views are spectacular. I’m really just starting to train again. I stopped consistently running last Spring because of an injury and some breathing issues. I needed a bit of a break but I now realize that I took too much time off and I’m starting from scratch. This run was 5 miles which would have been my short run in the past. This week it served as my long run. Hard on the ego but that’s a blog post for another day. You can run the Ringling Bridge and easily vary your route to increase your distances.
Fitness Travel Tip #2: Ask the concierge at your hotel for local running and walking routes.
Rainy, Cool:
The first rain day began as I was attempting the incline going over the Ringling Bridge toward Sarasota. It was raining and windy so it felt like running into a wall. The second rain day I decided to try the resort’s fitness center. I used weight machines and the Precor machine. Because I used a different form of exercise I was actually sore the next day!
Fitness Travel Tip #3: Always check the resorts fitness center. It may give you an opportunity to try a new machine and switch up your routine.
Our Next Adventure
Our next stop: Thailand!
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Here’s to finding your style,™ – Kim
