Good morning! Anyone else excited for the Bachelorette finale part 2 tonight?
As a person who was, honestly, dreading this season, because I was not a fan of Hannah going in, I am absolutely here for the end of the season. I am 100% behind the way she handled the Luke P. situation, and 100% behind the way she carried herself in "After the Final Rose" and beyond. I'm excited to find out how all this craziness ends, and even more excited to find out who the next Bachelor is:
I'm into Mike, or Tyler (if he loses), or Peter. SO many good options!
Yesterday we got some not so great news about the infection in Shawn's arm. Apparently, the cultures they sent off turned up positive for an infection in the bone, which was the worst case scenario going in. Keep him in your thoughts and send up some positive vibes to him as we figure out next steps. He's been banned from another week of any strenuous hiking to keep the wound as clean as possible.
Until we are back on the mountains, we will keep enjoying short walks in the evenings at the beautiful Colorado parks like this one:
This is one of the trails out of South Platte Park, about 2 miles away from our hotel. There are so many parks here! It blows my mind. I'll be out running an errand and stumble across another park almost every other day.
I haven't talked a ton about what it's been like trying to eat healthy while living out of a hotel, but I have been doing my best! We have a Sprouts, Whole Foods, Natural Grocers, and King Soopers (Kroger) all within about a 10 minute drive from us. Since we have a small kitchen in the room, I try to cook as much as I can. Unfortunately, we don't have an oven, so that's been a major bummer. There is a pretty nice grill station on the back patio here, so we have utilized that pretty often. With these views, who wouldn't want to grill back there?
I'm still receiving my Butcher Box out here, so we have grilled everything from chicken, to steak, to these delicious burgers we made last night. Although it takes a bit of planning, it's definitely possible to stay on track even while traveling!
Our hotel offers free breakfast each morning, however, the options for keeping it clean are pretty limited. Occasionally, I will grab a couple hard boiled eggs, or some of their breakfast potatoes, but for the most part, I cook my breakfast in the room on the tiny stove they provide us. For lunches, I buy tons of veggies and make big salads in the room. I also packed my Nutribullet so that I can make smoothies. It could definitely be worse. **I will make a post next week on my typical weekly grocery haul to give you guys an idea of the food I am consuming out here! I'll also make a note of some of my favorite things to buy at Sprouts, Natural Grocers, and Whole Foods, including some of the things I like to splurge on ;).
On the fitness front, I am continuing on my quest to try ALL OF THE GYMS in Denver. Not really, but I am dropping in to several this week and still have a few on my list for next week. When I don't have the time to make it out somewhere, I go to the hotel gym or head out on a long walk/run instead. It isn't too shabby! The hotel gym is a pretty decent sized space, especially since I'm typically the only one in there. They have dumbbells, resistance bands, a bench, a bike, elliptical, treadmill, a BOSU ball, exercise ball, pull-up bar, and a cable machine. There are an endless number of workouts I could design using this equipment. It's just more fun for me to mix it up, meet new people, and try new things now and then. I'll be heading to a CrossFit gym down the road from us for a lunch time workout today.
If you happen to be traveling soon, or just need a workout to do at home, try this "Sweaty Hotel Circuit." I did this one the other day in the hotel gym when I was running short on time. It will take you about 30-40 minutes, and will leave you dripping with sweat. If you don't have weights or a bench, check out the substitute movements below!
Run: I did .25 miles on the treadmill, but you can run the same distance outside or jog in place for 2 minutes!
Lunges: Alternate legs stepping forward or backwards with dumbbells by your side. If you don't have weights, lunge without them!
Bench step-ups: If you don't have a bench, use a chair, a couch, the bed, or a set of stairs. If you have none of these, do high knees instead.
Power clean and jerk: Both dumbbells touch the ground on each rep, clean to your shoulders, then push press or jerk overhead. If you are unfamiliar with this movement, you can do bicep curls to shoulder press instead. If you don't have weights, do 10 burpees instead!
Double unders: The jump rope must pass under your feet twice with each jump for doubles, once for singles. No rope? Jump without one!
Weighted sit-ups: Hold a single dumbbell across your chest and perform your sit-up. If you don't have weights, or if the movement becomes too difficult with it, perform sit-ups without weight!
Let me know if you give it a try! Enjoy :)