Closing 2011 with a bang...and a bit of a tan:)

Paradise.  That is what I experienced over the past week in the Dominican Republic.  My husband and I were invited by our good friend Nico, and we stayed in a villa in “Casa de Campo” (a place where the rich and famous go to vacation) – definitely something I would have never experience if it weren’t for Nico and his family (gracious hosts, thank you!).

There, Andrew and I met new friends and together we all enjoyed the luxuries of this paradise: spent new year’s day on a yacht in the middle of the ocean, played beach volley-ball, ran most days to familiarize ourselves with the hang out spots, enjoyed ridiculously incredible authentic home-made food (I had no trouble putting on my 5lbs of extra weight that I neededJ), had marathon games of “mafia” and “crazy 8 countdown” almost every night, and much much more.  The games definitely brought out everyone’s competitiveness, it was fun!

As for rowing – I found a very interesting way of cross training while on vacation!  It’s called “tanning”J.  Just kidding (somewhat).  The gym at the local hotel did have a weight room and so fortunately I was able to get onto a type of rowing machine for a couple of workouts and also do my weights circuit.  Unfortunately though, the rowing machine was quite different than the standard rowing machine I’m used to, so I struggled to effectively activate my leg drive, which is why I tried a few other ways of simulating the rowing motion.  Knowing that I need to work on my finish timing (having my arms finish at the same time as my legs), I did the following:  tied bands around a door knob so that I could pull the ends of the bands with my hands and get some tension, while wrapping another band around my knees so that when I would squat and stand, the bands would force me stay strong and activate my legs and glutes.  Doing this for 3 sets of 10 minutes (each set followed by 30 squat jumps) definitely hurt!

Too bad the tanning part of my training didn’t help me stay as fit as I needed to.  I got back this morning at 2am and got up at 8am as I had to get on my computer and attack the work day.  I just finished about 4 hours of training, and it shows that I lost some of my fitness.  Right before leaving to Dominican I was able to hold an average of 170 watts for 2 sets of 30 minute low stroke rate pyramids…and today I could barely hang on to 160W average.  But was it worth it…yes!  I know I can make it up as long as I buckle down and get down to business!

Everyone needs a mental/physical break once in a while so that the fire inside continues to burn strong right?!  Well, it’s good to know that I’m not the only one.  Even professionals need a break…

In the Dominican, we had the pleasure of hanging out with Jose Bautista (he’s a professional Baseball player who plays for the Toronto Blue Jays).  He is the number one Blue Jay, and has previously earned the title of American League Home Run Champion.  He was incredibly modest and humble, despite his big success here in Toronto.

All in all, an amazing vacation ends, but an amazing journey still continues onJ.

Happy 2012 everyone!