Traveling Training Hell

   I thought I had it planned out when I arrived in sunny Florida. I was going to swim in the fantastically clear water of Destin and  jog on the beach every morning to keep things going. The first day I snorkeled against a strong current for about three hours and loved every minute of it. I managed to get in that one great day and then it rained, and rained, and rained. I had only one day of exercise in two weeks. I ended up spending most of my time chatting with the local donut shop owner who had some really great advice on some very important subjects. Most of which pertained to the best places in town to eat.
  
Beautiful Florida Water!

   In Louisiana I planned to eat a light dinner and then do a short run. I returned to the hotel only to find I had become a victim of a faulty door lock. All my luggage was locked in the room until noon the next day when hotel management finally drilled through the door lock. Ever try to jog in slacks? Me neither. To make amends the hotel sent me to a great Cajun restaurant. Talk about a double whammy. While I was waiting to get my stuff I went to see an alligator farm... what else could I do in Louisiana?

Gotta Sledge Hammer?

This guy is barefoot!

   By now I was fed up with being at the mercy of the elements so I vowed to only stay in hotels that had some type of fitness center. I rolled into Arkansas and verified that the hotel indeed had a treadmill and an indoor pool. At last I was going to get in a full workout! Imagine my surprise to find the fitness room hours were from 10:00am to 9:00pm. You would think the front desk would have informed me of this when I checked in at 9:30pm! To make matters worse I had to be on the road early the next day and couldn't wait around for a chance to walk on the treadmill. 

Typical traveling day

   In Missouri I paid extra to stay in a hotel that had several treadmills and a stationary bike. This time I made sure I had access and plenty of time. I guess I should have asked if any of the equipment worked before I gave them my credit card. I have yet to hear a treadmill sound so bad AND be stuck on 1 mph.

   Chicago is a really large city and usually there are plenty of hotel rooms available... unless of course you try to book a room only a few days in advance during the International Hardware Convention. I finally got a room for an outrageous price and quickly found that walking around town was plenty of exercise. I also found that Chicago lives up to its name of having the best pizza anywhere in the U.S. I'll have to say between the walking and the pizza I came out about even. My walking speed was motivated by the gunshots and overabundance of police scenes I encountered while in town.

Chicago! I Smell Pizza!

   Ontario is absolutely gorgeous during the summer but unfortunately I had little time to enjoy it due to business meetings. The hotel had no pool or fitness center and I had no time to use it anyway so I spent five days in Toronto with not so much as a walk in the park. I did get to sample an appetizer called poutine. It is a plate full of french fries covered in cheese and a thick gravy. I'm sure it was the low fat version so it didn't hurt my diet.

   I booked a room in Niagara Falls through an agent that was extremely excited about the Denny's Restaurant in the lobby. There was no fitness center but the elevator was so slow I got plenty of cardio running up and down the seven flights of stairs to my room. I toured the falls and have to admit it was well worth the time and effort. The tour guide wouldn't let me swim the falls or the rapids below so I had to settle for a lot of walking.

   Ohio... um, I slept through it.

  All things considered I think I did fairly well. I managed to work out four times in the last two months and I only gained 10 pounds. How people manage to travel and stay fit is beyond me. Maybe next time I can take a Semi- truck and carry my personal gym along. On the other hand I could just take the Semi to keep great quantities of all the fantastic food I managed to sample on the way!