Clare Mallison for The Globe and MailThe Globe and Mail
Hotel gyms can be some of the dreariest in the world. They're often slotted into windowless orphan spots the architect couldn't decide what to do with, decorated with lame motivational posters, and cut off not only from the rest of the hotel but from the rest of the city as well.
Just because you're travelling for work, that's no reason you shouldn't get a little of what Canmore, Wichita or Regensburg, Germany, has to offer. And it's spring, which means that summer and all the baring of flesh the season entails is close at hand.
Business travel tends to be one of the most sedentary of lifestyles, but if you play it right, it can be one of the most active. Hotels, still in shock from the beating they've been taking worldwide, are realizing that offering outdoor exercise options, including free bikes and guides to trails, are one more differentiator in a persistently fallow field.
For Mark Kelley, one of the CBC's most travelled correspondents and host of Connect with Mark Kelley, getting out when you're on the road is a necessity.
"It's really hit or miss with the hotel gyms," he says. "Some are top-notch and there are others that are just a closet with a treadmill in it."
The conspicuously fit host never goes on a trip without his running shoes, and though hotel gyms are often grim, the staff can often be the key to decent outdoor exercise.
When he was last in Vancouver, Kelley stayed at the Metropolitan. "They were great," he says. "The concierge took a city map and gave me a great cycling route, and a good jogging route too. I had the same experience in Portland [Ore.]"
When he asked there about a 45-minute run, the concierge suggested five good routes.
Asking for advice, especially when in a new city or at a new hotel, is vital to avoid an unpleasant run or bike ride, Kelley says. "It's really unsatisfying to go on a run and get stuck in traffic," he says.
Business trips are often focused affairs, keeping you in the part of the city or countryside specifically linked to whatever deal is going down. Getting outside the business zone by running, cycling or even kayaking can be mentally and emotionally refreshing.
An extreme example: one of Kelley's best travel exercise experiences in Indonesia after the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.
He was staying at a house with his crew and decided to get away from the destruction and death - bodies were still being found as much as two months after the disaster - by taking his runs inland, away from the worst-hit areas.
"There were canals there and I was just running alongside them; I had school kids running alongside me, kids on mopeds, and it showed me a completely different side of this terribly devastated place. It was something that only opened up to me because of my decision to go for a run."
Of course, every city has its own exercise appeal. Lake and seaside hotels lend themselves well to boardwalk or beach runs; and there are especially good cycle cities, such as Montreal with its protected bicycle lanes and Bixi street-side bike rental system ( www.bixi.com; from May to November), or Copenhagen with its 350 kilometres of cycle routes. (Check out a list of the best cities for cycling in the United States at http://bit.ly/BestUSCycleCities.)
For those stuck at the airport, even airport hotels are beginning to offer options. Take Vancouver's Delta Airport Hotel. Just 10 minutes from the airport and every bit the stereotypical fun-free business stopover spot, the hotel hands out walking and running guides to guests when they check in, with routes that take you past an old fishing village complete with a historic cannery, or into prime eagle-spotting areas. There's even a running trail that goes around the airport and back.
In addition to being more fun, outdoor exercise has distinct fitness advantages, says Mylene Brousseau of outdoor-oriented Equilibrium Fitness ( www.getfitoutdoors.ca) in Victoria.
"When you go outdoors, the terrain is uneven, so your body's constantly adjusting to that," she says, pointing to the same underlying principle that has made Pilates balls so popular. "If it's windy, your body has to adjust its balance for that. If it's cold, your body has to work harder to keep warm, and if it's warm, your body has to work harder to keep cool."
Brousseau says outdoor exercise is better for mental focus too. "If you're working on the treadmill, you can think about what's for dinner; if you're outdoors, you have to be aware of roots and rocks and all kinds of obstacles."
It's these sorts of mental benefits that Kelley figures are the biggest payoff for him.
"I work long, 12-, 13-hour days, and you just can't do that if you're not fit," he says. "And for the interviewing work I do, when I'm exercising, it keeps me far sharper, focused, able to retain more information. I find if I don't do it, I'm foggy and my work suffers because of it."
So, you could run with the eagles and sharpen your mental acuity - or you could sit and spin while staring at a poster that tells you the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. You decide.
Special to The Globe and Mail
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