Hills in Prague

Yesterday's train situation didn't allow for any workouts, sadly. However, Zdenek (the man whose family I am staying with) did take me on some incredible sightseeing last night. We explored the Prague Castle grounds, including an amazing chapel where a choir was giving a tribute to Frederick Chopin. All kinds of VIPs and high security limited the extent to which we could walk around, but that kind of made it cooler. We walked through the maze of streets that lead down from the upper castle to the Charles Bridge, across the river, and into the heart of Prague. There we stopped in a few pubs for beers, but mostly walked from incredible sight to incredible sight. I attached some photos to the end of this post.

Today, I started the day by walking with Zdenek and his son up Hvezda Park. It used to be a hunting grounds for the knights and kings of the area, but now it is a nature preserve where runners, dog walkers, and hikers can go to get away from the city. The trees and colors reminded me of fall in Princeton.

Zdenek's house is not far from the park, sitting essentially on the middle portion of the hill that leads up to the top. So, while he was helping his kids with some homework, I used the hill for a workout. Walking it out, I determined that the street just next to his house is 160 meters, with a cross street at the 80 meter mark that provides a short flat reprieve. Otherwise, it's about a 15 degree slope the whole way.

The workout looked like this...

5 rounds of:

80 meter hill walking lunge

80 meter hill sprint

10 handstand pushup

Trying to sprint the second half of the hill after lunging the first was pretty laughable, but I managed to make it all 5 rounds without taking my foot off the gas. The handstand pushups got really tough by the 3rd round, first due to my being really out of breath, and second to fatigue. Overall I was really happy with this workout. A little less exciting then the Berlin Fire Department challenge, but still very effective.

Oct 18, 2009