Fitting in Fitness – On the Road Edition

Last week I set off on a quick business trip to Asia.

Two autumn views of Asia

Japan and red leaves


China in golden light.

I used to travel all the time for work – like three continents in 10 days all the time – but thankfully over the last year my travel requirements have scaled back.  More time at home has really benefitted my life outside of work, and in particular my fitness.

When I was gone, one of my friends tweeted me a quick question: “How do you manage to train with all your travel?”  It got me to thinking that perhaps some of my tips might be helpful.  And at a minimum it made me take a lot of photos while travelling, which I hope you enjoy…

Tip #1 – Give yourself time on arrival to adjust

The longer the flight, the bigger the time difference, the better it is to have some time to adjust to the place you are travelling to before jumping into meetings.  I suffer from fatigue so try, whenever possible, to get to my meetings a day early.  I also try to avoid overnight flights although this is not always possible.

For this trip to Asia I chose (after discussions with my husband) to leave a day early.  That meant leaving home on a Saturday to arrive in Asia on a Sunday, so that when I started my meetings on Monday evening I would have one clear night of sleep under me.

I pay for the additional night on my own account (even when it is work travel).  Doing so gives me a lot of flexibility – including time to sight see and to visit friends.  This trip I chose to head out to the Japanese countryside, to take in the autumn leaves and to enjoy the hot springs and great food.

Tip #2 – Sleep whenever you can

I feel absolutely no hesitation about taking a nap whenever I can.  I fit them in whenever I have a break in meetings.  For example, we finished up for the afternoon at 5, and had to meet for dinner at 6.  Perfect – enough time to grab 30 minutes of rest.  I get quite fatigued when travelling so this really helps me to feel constantly recharged and able to be on fine form for the next meeting or dinner.  Instead of being grumpy tired, I am able to be cheery and focused for the small amount of time I need to be.

I love naps.

Tip #3 – Watch your caffeine intake, focus on water instead

I am the first to confess that I instinctively have a coffee or tea when I feel tired.  But combined with jetlag this is a lethal combination – it can really disrupt already disrupted sleep patterns.  Instead of having caffeine all day long, I make sure to follow the same patterns I have at home.  So coffee in the morning hours only.  And when I feel tired, I have water.  Travelling, and airplanes, leads to dehydration so this is a good habit anyway when you are on the road.  I specifically focused on this last week, as one of my target goals when it comes to nutrition and healthy living.  Success!

Tip #4 – Don’t stress out about missing training from the training plan

Last year was my first year of working with a structured training plan.  I learned a lot – but one of the things that I realised was that I was stressing out when I did not hit every set on my training plan.

When I look at my training plan for last week, 9 sessions stares me in the face.  Of these, 6 are what are considered high priority.  And of these, I managed to get 3 done (plus one more which I will call training but was really more fun than structured work).

Does that stress me out?  Not in the slightest – or should I say – not any more.  I’ve learned to be realistic.  There is not a chance of me hitting all my sets when I am fatigued, when I am on the road, when my usual facilities are not around.  That is just life.  And life happens.

Instead, I made sure to get a few good workouts in while on the road.  I woke up early – as my spin instructor said a few weeks ago, if you do the training in the morning, no one can take it away from you, and that is so true!  It was hard to get out of bed.  But after a good workout, as all my key meetings were in the morning, I felt focused, awake and ready to go.

A gym with a view – from the 46th floor looking out on Tokyo

But some gyms are just standard, run of the mill boring…

Tip #5 – Get Outside, for “Alternative Training”

One of the things they say with travel and jetlag is that it is easier to manage the more fresh air and sunshine you can experience.  So I always try to get outside – walking to meetings, after lunch 10 minute walks, anything really.

This trip to Japan I built in a day before my meetings to enjoy the scenery of the Japanese countryside.  I asked the hotel I was staying in to help me to find a guide or someone who could show me a bit of countryside, and decided that on Monday morning, before heading back into Tokyo for meetings, that I would do a short hike.

With a guide I had the chance to practice my Japanese, but also the chance to see a bit of Japan.  The leaves were changing colour, and the sun was shining.  It was a perfect start to the day.  And we walked (hiked) to the top of a waterfall, so I also got to see a bit of unspoiled scenery too.

Sengataki Falls, Karuizawa Japan

This hike was not on my plan.  But I figure walking briskly for an hour with lots of stairs has to be a form of cross training, right? 

Lots of stairs…

A super fun way to mix sight seeing with cross training, and beating jetlag!

Tip #6 – Adjust to preserve your health

One thing I notice with travel and jetlag is that my heart rate goes completely crazy.  It runs about 20 beats per minute higher than normal, due to the fatigue. 

This trip I didn’t even bother packing my heart rate monitor for training.  I just knew it would be useless.  So instead I did my sets based on perceived efforts, using easy, moderate, moderate hard, and hard as my guides for the gym sessions I did.  It was a great chance to listen to my body rather than to rely on technology.

I got home on Thursday evening, and knew that my next session would be Saturday morning (unless I felt ok to swim on Friday – I have been struggling with a tweaked elbow so don’t want to swim unless it feels comfortable).  Saturday morning was a glorious day in London – sunny, autumn, perfect.  I headed to the track for a coached run session. 

I did my usual run warm up (800m easy) – with my heart rate monitor as it was back to the usual ways of working.  But oh my…  My heart rate was at about 160 for a run where I am usually at about 120…  Massively high.  Coach T and I decided to adapt the plan.  Instead we used the session to work on my leg strength, which I need to do and often avoid as I don’t like it (especially compared with other things like swimming).  Adapting, to save my immune system (there are nasty bugs in London right now!) and to avoid over fatiguing myself.

Adapting is never easy, but it is something I am learning to do working with Coach T.  I’m learning about what to pay attention to (heart rate, breathing, small niggles and strains) – and how to make adaptations, so that I don’t push too hard which as a consequence would lower my immunity and having a longer lasting impact on my ability to train and meet my goals.

Speaking of Goals…

A lot of people have asked what I am doing next.  My schedule is still taking shape, but I can tell you that I have signed up and plan to do the following events:

January 2011 – Egmond 10.5km run (The Netherlands)
February 2011 – Strong Like Bull Training Camp (Spain)
April 2011 – MS 150 Houston to Austin 300km ride (USA)
June 2011 – Blenheim Triathlon , sprint distance (UK)
July 2011 – London Triathlon , olympic distance (UK)

I expect there will be some adjustments to the schedule to come.  I ballotted for the Chesapeake Bay Swim , a 4.4 mile swim in June 2011 in Maryland, but won’t know if I have been successful until later in November.  This will change things around a bit.  I also need to discuss with British Triathlon my participation in the paratriathlon series of events – the calendar is to be announced before the end of 2010.  And then there is the temptation of both the Fireman Triathlon in Maine (I adored our summer holiday there last year and would love to go back and do this triathlon with the Kennebunk Beach Triathlon Club) and the Barcelona Triathlon in October 2011 is very tempting.

And soon this blog and my main website will relaunch.  I am really excited for that too.  I’ve been working with some great people on that too, from the URL name to the design and development.  I hope to launch that by my 40th birthday, which is soon!

5 responses to “Fitting in Fitness – On the Road Edition”

  1. This is a great list. Granted I only travel 3-4 times a year, and rarely leave my time zone, but even that can be a big obstacle in my training.

    Keep me posted if you do the Fireman’s Tri. If it isn’t the same week as USAT Nationals, I may be in too.

  2. Thank you Donna. I have been panicking as I have a week back in the UK (from NZ) right in the middle of training for Wanaka half ironman, so in 7 days will have about 3 days flying! I remembered you had written a post about travelling and training so I’m now going to try and reschedule my training so it doesn’t look so scary and not resort to the caffeine too much. So if anyone sees me doing my core work or a bit of yoga in LAX or HKG, it’s all part of my training!!

  3. One of the things I have always thought would be handy is a good “go to” site for training core / doing yoga while on the road.  I have heard people say that Jillian Michael’s 30 day shred is good for that, but it seemed to require weights at home.  I know The-Regimen.com is new and offers the same idea.  Also Tara Stiles yoga on iTunes has some good downloads apparently.  I haven’t tried any of them (yet) but plan on doing so before the end of 2010 to see what I can add to my routines.

    So… I think doing core or yoga in the airport is totally a great idea!  Especially with such long flights from NZ to the UK!  And I reckon shifting things around to do a good amount of run training while gone will be great too – as it kills the training and fresh air/outdoor element in one go.

    Safe travels Sarah!

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