Gimnasio en la Playa: Jogging and yoga on the beach in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Hi, blog readers. I hope you had a great holiday!
If you’re wondering why I haven’t posted in awhile, it’s because Jake and I finally went on our honeymoon. We spent eight days and seven nights in glorious Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
We had a private four-course dinner on the beach. Then fell into a food coma. The definition of romance.
The honeymoon was my last CHEAT cheat week before the legit-for-real-no-fucking-around competition diet starts. I took full advantage, and may have gained 4-5 lbs. in the last week and a half.
That doesn’t mean I didn’t work out, though! Whether it was jogging, snorkeling, hiking or yoga, I did some sort of exercise every day. I made an effort to make every workout different, given my environment was not the Kansas suburban side streets.
First, jogging on the beach. This shit is hard. Like crazy hard. Our resort had a 500-meter private beach with cliffs on each side. It was long enough to jog back and forth without getting bored.
The view from our room was absolutely terrible, wasn’t it?
Nope – it was awesome.
The first time, I went in the morning at low tide, so I could find harder sand. My shoes just kept sinking, though, and when I tried to run closer to the surf, I kept getting soggy socks. Misery. I somehow managed two miles with my warm-up and cool-down included. I followed it with a jump squat/lunge/plank circuit. It was not graceful.
Soggy socks and shoes in foamy surf. Very uncomfortable running conditions.
The next time I went, my friend Kris came with (he and his wife – who is one of my best friends – met us down there for vacation). We decided to run barefoot to keep the water/sand weight off our feet.
IT WAS SO MUCH EASIER!
I was able to get in 2.6 miles of running, plus .2 warm-up and .2 cool-down. The waves were hypnotic. I was so happy I felt like this:
Go to the 2:26 mark. Thanks for the inspiration, Justin.
Obligatory post-run jumping in the waves photo.
Then I realized I had a giant blister on my toe from the sand. Drained that baby and felt a lot better.
Quite a bit of fluid build up on one tiny toe.
Next, yoga on the beach. Our resort offered free yoga class every morning at 9 a.m. For being free hotel yoga, it was a great class. The sequences were challenging enough that Cara and I could move up a level if we wanted to, and there were plenty of hip and calf stretches (great for travel). Kris took this photo of us during class like a creeper.
Cara and I are the ones in the front row who are going the opposite direction of everyone else in class. Derp.
These were just the beach workouts. We don’t have a lot of beaches in Kansas, but if you have any tips to share for next year’s trip to a fancy destination, I’m all ears!
Looks like an awesome trip! I’ve only attempted beach running a couple times — it’s nearly impossible! I’m impressed.