Unlike most people, I am always leery of vacations.
Especially ones where I have to fly somewhere. Most people see vacations as time to get away from your normal hectic schedule and relax. For me, I like my normal schedule and I see vacations as a workout-roadblock. Even if I'm really looking forward to seeing whomever I'm going to see or whatever I'm on vacation to do. But as most of my friends tell me, I'm a little over the top. Most people like to relax by having a beer after work with their co-workers or watching TV and vegging out for a bit, but for me I like to relax by exercising. This has helped me immensely in building fitness and staying strong, but the implied part of what my friends are saying is that I'm missing out on a very important something called rest.
Last week, I flew to Arizona to see my boyfriend. In doing this I knew full well that with his work schedule and the heat in AZ, there was a good chance I would not be exercising at my normal level of intensity. I was totally fine with this idea, until I was stuck on a 4+ hour layover in Memphis, TN after only having gotten in one workout that day. Empty time and me do not go well together. I am the kind of person, who is at their best when busy. I like to have a planned schedule and activities/ideas set up for each day. I love having my calendar that I can write everything up on, including all of my workouts. I do not have dead time. Dead time is when I sleep.
So sitting in that airport, thrown off by the time difference, I was struggling. Why you ask? A) I was annoyed that I was stuck somewhere for 4 hours, instead of being with the man I love, and B) You can't exercise in an airport. Well, unless you do what I did. I'd missed my evening workout that day because of the flight, and the layover was annoying me because instead of getting in a solid 6 mile run, I was sitting on my duff. After talking to my boyfriend via skype for a while, he suggested I do air squats in a corner to burn off some steam. I am not sure if he meant it or not, or if he actually expected me to do this. But I did. I did 125 air squats and I felt a whole lot better afterwards. It was not a full crossfit routine, but at least I got something in. To be honest, I contemplated doing a series of air squats, push ups, and sit ups, but I was not wearing workout clothes. Annnnd the security guards were starting to give me funny looks.
Eventually I got to AZ and once there, all the stress of trying to fit in a workout melted away. Every day I was there, I was up pretty early, so I had ample time to do my morning workout before the heat became unbearable. But I do not deal with time differences well and sleeping in makes me lazy. So Wednesday through Friday went something like this: I'd wake up at 8 am and spend about 4 hours futzing on the Internet and watching TV. Eventually I'd get up and go down to the gym at the hotel and do a decent workout: run a few miles on the treadmill, kick my ass in a stationary bike workout or complete a crossfit circuit or two.
After that, I'd spend a good portion of the rest of the day "bronzing" by the hotel pool. After my boyfriend got off work, we'd go to a different bigger gym (about a 15-20 minute drive away, AZ is immensely spread out) for another workout or we'd go rock climbing. I should now mention that if I am being honest, it was great fun lounging about and spending the day relaxing and exercising. If I could get paid to do that, my life would be set. During the weekend (at which point I was supposed to do a 18 mile run), I did not workout at all. On Saturday, we went tubing on this crazy river which was very cold (65 degrees), but since the air temperature was well above 95 degrees, the water felt quite nice. That was an entire day filled with a good deal of fun. And Sunday, I took a rest day and we watched movies and "bronzed" poolside. But exercise was put off until I returned to DC.
In all honesty, the lack of long run was entirely my decision, well that, and the 3 hour time difference, annnnd the 85+ degree heat which jumped up to 90+ as soon as the sun came out every day. Part of me was disappointed in myself for not doing my workout despite the conditions, the other part of me was perfectly happy skipping my workout this time. One of my pool running buddies wrote a piece awhile ago (see here) about types of runners. According to her classification, I am very much a Type 2. My workouts are the best part of my day and often the most important. If I miss one (or some) due to injury, illness, over sleeping, traveling, and/or vacations, I usually am extremely frustrated with myself. But the only thing MORE important than a big workout or long run for me, is my boyfriend. And that week, I flew across the country to see the man I love, and I knew full well that while I had that 18 mile run planned, there was a good chance I would end up not running that far, if at all. And it was worth it. Because all the training in the world can never be as valuable to me as time spent with someone I care about.
So while the exercise-aholic in me was a tad bummed, I was mostly just glad I had all of those extra moments that waking up early, to dress in the dark and disappear out onto the long road pounding my feet into the pavement, would have stolen away. Sometimes, giving up a run to rest is the best thing you can do for yourself. Plus for me, there is no shortage of inspiration, no falter in the faith I have in running. There is no setback I can't overcome and nothing that will break my spirit. I will have off days. I will have crummy runs and races. I will have vacations where I end up choosing rest or snuggling over a workout. But I know that those things make me a stronger runner. I know that I will always be back. I will always pick up where I left off.
See, because there are too many reasons NOT to run, but I only need one to get me up, out, and on my feet, and it's that I can.
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