Sunday, April 8, 2012

Boston Trip - Workout side of the house

The silver lining to missing the Boston Marathon this year is that I had a really great re-scheduled trip here with the family. Without this excuse to travel here we would probably not have had a "city trip" on the vacation agenda and it has been a great experience for the kids in particular. We normally default to quiet stay-put beach/river type trips.

Plus I got the lay of the land and feel like I could travel up here solo next year and my navigationally-challenged self would have a clue. The trip details are on the family blog but I like to report on the "workout" side of the house here!

The two travel days include 12 hours on a train and over 1.5 hours in a car so they were a wash (but awesomely fun for this train riding newbie). It would have been so cool to be on the bike trainer on the train!

Even on vacation I seem to wake up at 5 am so that gave me about three hours to fill before the rest of the bums family got up, so it was pretty easy to get in some runs (2) and strength training workouts in the hotel gym (2).  The hotel had nice a dual adjustable pulley machine. With that, some dumbbells, and a resistance band I'd brought, I was set. I kept up my hip/glute rehab work as well.


My "runs" (still taking it verrrry easy with walk/stretch breaks) were both along the Charles River, and one was at sunrise. What a treat! That place is busy all the time with sail boats and skulling boats (or sweep boats?).  The hotel room had a corner with floor to ceiling windows, where I would sit, watching sailboat class (?) with dozens of little identical sailboats going through their maneuvers.

There was some improptu workout fun too. Our room was on the 20th floor and soon after we arrived, Grant and I went looking at drink options in the vending machines, and we took the stairs down to examine the machines on every single floor to confirm they indeed all had identical contents. Then we had the idea to time ourselves going back up (2 minutes). We took the stairs a few more times over the next day, including one expedition that landed us "behind the scenes of the hotel" where we received a polite escort out from behind the front desk ;-) Oops!

On the third day made a pact to take only the stairs. We spotted this sign in the stairwell encouraging stair use, but noticed the few people we encountered on the stairs were hotel employees making phone calls...and we caught one smoking.  It was 4.5 round trips for Grant and 5.5 for me. It was definitely a fun, quirky part of our experience and I love that Grant is game to do weird things like that.

The big draw of Boston for the kids was Harvard and MIT. They have it in their minds they want to go there, and visiting the campuses only got them more excited for college. Regardless of where they go, it was fun to see them already looking forward to college in fourth and sixth grades! We also hit the New England Aquarium, the Science Museum, the MIT Museum, the Apple Store (for Spencer), did the Trolley Tour of Boston, and a short Harbor Tour.

Foodwise we ate well and I was surprised to discover how well I held up on just three meals a day. I had more protein than usual with breakfast to be sure I could last till lunch and it made a big difference. Kurt had suggested this ages ago and I resisted but now I see why it's a good move.

It's been a great getaway, but as always I look forward to the return home and my nice routines!