I’ve always been good about packing my running gear and getting a few workouts in while on vacation. I was apparently extra motivated this time, getting in four runs while in Jamaica.

I hit the gym on Monday morning, our first full day of vacation. The gym was pretty nice — six treadmills, two bikes, elliptical, stairs, weights, etc.  Though the setup was a little odd.  All the equipment faced a mirrored wall … while the windows behind us overlooked the water. Well, it was nice having a view through the mirrors, but I could have done without watching myself huff and puff on the treadmill!

So day one was a little rough. I quickly realized the treadmill I choose was in kilometers instead of miles and found what should have been an acceptable pace. Well, 10-minute miles was a bit more ambitious than I could handle that morning and I turned it down after the first mile. I  ended up finishing a 5K in about 32 minutes. I’ll take it!

On Tuesday I decided to hit the running trail at the resort — a .3-mile loop. I thought maybe I’d set my Garmin to .25-mile intervals and do my scheduled speedwork. But ugh, it was hot! I settled for three miles at just under an 11-minute pace. And then I got back to the room and collapsed under the air conditioner!

Wednesday I needed a break, but was back at the gym on Thursday. I tried a different treadmill this time. Four of the six didn’t have cup holders, so I had to hop off to grab my water.  I didn’t realize this on Monday when I jumped on the first one.

Turns out this treadmill was set to miles, even better. I cranked it up and felt great after my mile warmup, so I decided to do my scheduled 400-meter repeats.   I decided to do .25 fast / .25 recovery to keep the math easy. We’re done with hills now, and had eight 400s scheduled.  My goal pace is 2:02, so I ran them at what the treadmill said were eight-minute miles. It seemed a little too easy so I wonder if the speed was off!

I ran again on Saturday, four miles at a 9:40 pace, which again makes me question the treadmill speed. I usually can’t maintain that pace on the treadmill! But they were nice treadmills, I was pretty comfortable on them.

Now even though I was on vacation, I didn’t neglect the last week of the Core Challenge!

After my Monday, Tuesday and Thursday runs I added a mini ab workout.  I mixed and matched sets of various crunch/curl-up/leg lift exercises for a total of 100 each day. I added an extra workout since I spent less time on them — but I needed to shower, eat breakfast, and hit the beach!