Training in Las Vegas

I'm on a vacation in scorching hot Las Vegas at the Encore part of the Wynn resort. Even though this is a vacation and I'm having a great time a workout was still necessary to continue that progress towards a under 12:00 ironman, and maybe even a strong marathon in 2012 for Boston qualifying. The new theme for the Vegas resorts is one that though some people might not be a fan of I loved. They billed me for a resort fee that included full access to the fitness room and wifi. The fitness center was a small piece of any gym you would pay a monthly fee for. The equipment all had it's own tv to watch, complimentary headphones to listen to, water bottles and towels. My wife Hilary and I did a workout with weights, abbs and then of course some cardio. I started with a warmup of 6.7 mph for the first ten minutes or so and worked my way up to a 5 minute climax at 9.5 mph. I only went five miles on the run, but it was a relaxing environment and definitely made the bucket of corona's by the pool that much better knowing I had worked off some of those calories. I am helping Hilary develop a weight training program and begin a running program to build for better overall body strength as well as run in the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon. The plan is to workout the next two days while in Vegas. The beauty of Vegas is that we walked multiple miles yesterday, I had to throw some elbows and get physical at the COACH outlets to get my wife a couple new purses and really stay active throughout the entire day. Though fighting off housewives from throughout the country to make my wife happy with a new purse was a good workout, it is nice to know that Vegas is starting to force that healthier lifestyle on us and make these vacations that much easier to continue the training. I cooled down with a few hours by the pool and intend to continue that R n R with a nice dinner at Aureole watching wine fairies fly 5 stories to get me that perfect bottle of wine and then the Lion King at the Mandalay Bay. While on vacation I use my workouts as a way to not lose what I've been working so hard at, not necessarily trying to make major gains. Though the fitness center room was great for letting me keep the workouts going, the Wifi was a nice added touch to help me update this blog.