Oh dear... let's just say I really dropped the ball in New Orleans. I had imagined an afternoon of sprinting after a frisbee on the Mississippi River and at least a few minutes with my TRX Resistance Band on the daily... but instead New Orleans was a heavenly trip with minimal intense exercise and lots of really delicious food.
I do not regret a moment of it. You only get one chance to create memories and for the short four days I had in New Orleans, I valued mozying around the beautiful city, tantalizing my tastebuds and dancing over working out. C'est la vie.
However! Before I left for NOLA, there were a few workouts worth mentioning!
Monday
6 x 400 meter sprints on the treadmill with 400 meter recovery
Because homegirl kind of knew in her heart of hearts that she would not be exercising intensely on vacay.
Tuesday
BOOTY DAY! But a cruddy one at that... I had a lot of packing to do!!
Warm Up: 30 minutes walking at 3.5mph wearing a 12lb weighted incline vest on maximum incline alternating 1 minute of holding onto the handles and 1 minute of walking solo
Squats*: 12 x 40lb, 10 x 60lb, 4 sets of: 6-8 x 110lb
*Superset with 8 toes-to-bar
Weighted Lunges (3 sets of 20lb x 24 reps)
Weighted Bridges (3 sets of 75lb x15 reps)
Hammy Kickbacks* with the resistance band 3 sets and 12 reps per leg
*Superset with 35lb-plate side bends, 12 reps per side
Wednesday
Had some awesome time with my all time most fave valentine - RUNNING! Ran a wonderful slow, steady 60 minutes along the Brooklyn Waterfront. It was a wonderful, peaceful experience in the sunshine! The best kind of run!
Thursday
This was a travel day!
Friday
I did a leisurely bike ride around New Orleans with the Confedaracy of Cruisers!! I highly recommend this tour! It was fun, informative and I loveeeddd cruising around New Orleans on a bike!
We rolled around the French Quarter and learned some pretty cool factoids from this amazing tour guide named Laura. Like... did you know New Orleans was founded by a bunch of former-French-prisoners who were released from captivity solely to build a new city in the New World?! And New Orleans lovesss costuming and masquerades because eventually those prisoners' babies had babies who grew up to be embarassed of their less-than-optimal lineage. Hence, they began parading around, pretending to be Aristocrats!
Saturday and Sunday
These days were filled with lots of walking and exploring New Orleans and TONS of dancing to awesome jazz, brass band music. I even joined a Second Line one day in Treme... so ya know, parading totally counts as exercise!!
I loved New Orleans...and totally think if I ever run a marathon ever again it will be in this awesome city loaded with delicious food, incredibly kind peeps and .... REALLY delicious food. :) While this week definitely did not contribute anything to my year of PRs and Peaches... it was filled with beautiful memories and I would not change a thing about it!
Have you ever been to New Orleans? Did you love it?!