I love staying active while I’m on vacation – not only because it makes me feel great, but also because it’s a fun way to see the city! My friend Kris (who I was staying with in Paris) and I got up for two morning runs while I was there – first up was a run along the Promenade Planteé, which is a cool lifted walkway/trail through the city. It’s really nice because you miss the stoplights!
Kris said that she’s been talking to her running friends about wanting to incorporate some strength moves into their runs, so I decided to lead her in a fun running boot camp so she could share the moves with her buddies next time they run together!
I used the benches and stairs we found along the run and put together a mix of moves. Urban adventure! We did dips on benches:
Sprinted some stairs:
Rocked out some walking lunges:
Did squats into bench jumps:
Worked on our boat pose:
Did all sorts of pushups:
Activated our glutes with some leg lifts:
Pretended to be superman to work our lower backs:
And did some core work in the form of planks with alternating knee to elbow touches (so hard):
We also hit up some of the exercise stations along the trail.
Such an awesome workout! We probably covered about a 5k running-wise, but with all the boot camp stops were out for quite awhile. Both of us were definitely sore the next day! By the way, fun fact: this trail has not only a normal water fountain but also a carbonated water fountain. Only in Europe. ;)
We did another running boot camp in a beautiful park near Kris’s place in the 12th arrondissement later on in the trip – it’s called Bois de Vincennes and is worth checking out if you can! Gorgeous lake and nice trails, and off the beaten path, too.
AND, there were peacocks. We came around a corner and BAM: there was a peacock, fully showing off all his gorgeous feathers. How cool! I’d never seen that in person before!
I was pumped, as you can see. ;)
Coming up next week in the Europe adventure recap series, stay tuned for a post about the two cool day trips we did from Paris: to Giverny (Monet’s garden!) and the Loire Valley (castles + wine tasting)! Plus, a recap from my Paris Running Tour: 11 miles of history, sightseeing, and awesomeness.
Great workout!!! She’ll have loads of ideas for her friends when she’s out with them next!!!
Awesome! :) It was so much fun!! I ran Promenade Plantee with my girls yesterday and tonight actually and showed them the secret spot for bootcamp next time!
Yay, wish I were with you!!
Running in Paris would be fun and that looks like a great workout!
I love how you added lots of fitness to your vacation! I hope to do that when I’m able to travel. I can’t wait to hear about your trip to Giverny – I’m such an art nerd!
Had no idea there was a raised walkway like that in Paris. Very nice!
I love your shirt and shorts – where did you get them?!
Unfortunately they’re both old, but the tee is Oakley and the shorts are New Balance!
looks like you had a great time and a great workout.
Looks like an AWESOME and more importantly, fun work out :)
Love the sparkling water fountain!
I thought about doing a running tour while I was in Paris, but since I traveled with my Grandmother and didn’t want to do it alone I opted out. I agree that running/walking is he best way to explore a new city so I did plenty of that on my own outside of Paris. Looks like a great trail you did!