Playing In The Hotel Gym

I just spent the weekend visiting my daughter at college for her birthday. I knew we’d be eating out a lot–she planned our days around where and when we’d eat, from The Cheesecake Factory Friday night, to Oscar Blues for lunch on Saturday to Perkins for brunch on Sunday. I’d like to say that I ordered light options and ate mindfully, but that wouldn’t be the real story. I had pizza, a burger & fries, and pancakes & sausage. But, I did start each day at the hotel gym.

Saturday I decided to do a type of circuit workout, alternating running on the treadmill with super sets of free weights. I warmed up for 10 min on the TM, and then did 3 sets of deadlifts alternated with military presses. Back to the TM for 5 min, then 3 sets of squats/bicep curls. Another 5 min on the TM, then 3 sets of lunges/shoulder raises. Back to the TM, then 3 sets of plié squats/French presses. I finished on the TM and then stretched.

It was a fun workout that went quickly. I know I skipped push-ups and ab work, but there weren’t any mats and the towels were skimpy, and I didn’t want to get that close to the carpet.

Sunday I wanted to do 10K on the TM but it wouldn’t let me program that in. The max “manual” program time was 20 minutes and I don’t run that fast! I thought I could do two 5k programs (one of the options) but it was on 0% incline and even if I increased it, it reset to 0% every minute. I opted for the 20 min “rolling hills” program and did that twice, with a few minutes on “manual” in between.

It was a good program with two 10 min hills that went from 0% to 3% and back down, spending 1:15 at each elevation interval (0, 1, 1.5, 1.5, 2.5, 3, 2.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1). I did it at 6.0 mph and it was plenty challenging. I was dripping with sweat after my second program, and did a long cool down (running and walking) and then some stretching.

It’s annoying when hotel treadmills are limited to weird programs, but I was able to make the best of this one, get good workouts in, and burn off at least some of my indulgences!