On the Road

It's difficult to get in exercise when you are on work trips...

I started an Excel spreadsheet log of my work outs back in 2002 (first entry is the Human Race at St. Thomas on 3/24/02 - I remember running that race in the snow when I had a bad case of flu - bad idea).

At any rate, I noticed over time that I was never getting in work outs on travel days, and much less frequently when staying at a hotel and not around my routine of my club at home.

So I made a conscious effort to change this.  I started planning my work travel with the idea that somehow I was going to get something in (early morning swim before the flight, etc.).  I called the hotel where I was staying to see what they had for workout accommodations.  I found that many of them that don't have a workout room do have a affiliation with some nearby club/pool - and a lot of times it was free.

I also would do research to see if any of the local universities would let you swim with a day pass (Univ. of Minnesota Aquatics Center charges $2 for you to swim).   And also look for good running venues (two bridges runs are my favorite).  A lot of YMCA's will let you come in with a guest fee (if you don't live there permanently).

I also started highlighting in purple my workout entries that were done on travel days.   I now have 75-100 purple entries in my log since 2008.