I travel a lot for work. Well, to be technically correct, I *used* to travel a lot for work. Since about May I have had the great fortune of working on projects which are primarily UK based – meaning that my farthest work-related trip for a while has been across London to Kingston.
But last week work travel commenced again. I found myself on a plane to Tokyo. I love Japan – I lived there for two years, and I studied the language and culture for years. I was so excited to finally get a chance to travel to Japan for work.
But going from London to Tokyo – FOR 2 DAYS – is hard work.
I started the week with a game plan on how to fit in training with travel. But I KNEW that there was every likelihood that my best laid training plans may not happen.
So I looked at my schedule, shifted things around, decided to take Tuesday and Wednesday as my two rest days (the days I would be in Tokyo), and packed my bags on Sunday with the best of intentions.
Monday I managed to get out the door for the open-air pool and got in 2200m of drill work before my flight.
Tuesday morning I landed in Tokyo after a red eye flight, and spent my day running on adrenaline and green tea (I love macha).
Akasaka, Tokyo – walking to the office
With the 8 hour time difference I couldn’t sleep well on Tuesday night, so was up at 5 on Wednesday. I decided to do something, anything, and put on my workout gear. I headed to the elevator, but rather than stopping at the sixth floor gym, I decided to head out of the hotel and go for a long walk in the rain to see Tokyo wake up.
It was a great start to my day. But it really wasn’t training. In fact, my heart race felt all over the place, thready and somewhere between 100 and 120 for just a simple stair climb to the top of the Hie Jinja.
Hie Jinja, Tokyo, in the rain at 6 in the morning
Wednesday night I collapsed into bed, struggling to get up to catch my flight on Thursday. Flying west, I knew I would land with enough time to make my evening spin class and to re-start the process of trying to stick with my training plan.
Thursday was good – spinning post a long flight was a great idea. I felt like all was going according to plan – until Friday evening. Instead of leaving the office at a reasonable time, I found myself lost in some sort of spaced-out zone, staring at my PC, and coming to around 7 pm. Too late for a good training session. I told myself that I would wake up early on Saturday to swim at the open air pool before I headed out of London for a wedding – but my bed was too comfortable and I barely managed to eek in a 30 minute elliptical session. And upon my return on Sunday, I decided I was just too tired from my crazy week and instead caught up on about 3 weeks of paperwork.
So… I put my best laid plans aside, in favour of sleep and recovery. Does that make me a slacker? Or sensible?
PS – any and all tips on how to manage training with travel would be greatly appreciated!
I almost had the sleeping in the meeting problem! On Wednesday because I basically slept in three sets of 2 hours (nice training reference huh?!) I wound up very tired first thing in the morning. I really struggled until lunchtime. Next trip I am hoping to extend a little on each side, and combine with other work travel requirements. The 2 day turnaround is just brutal…
Its rough. I actually had a trip to the states on my peak training week for the marathon and although I fit in my training while away, I missed a few days on my return due to jetlag plus a cold I picked up. I ended up missing my longest run of my entire training plan. Its tough to mange, it really is.
Austin I think you are one of the people who travels more than me! How do you do it? I guess with running it is a case of packing trainers and running kit for all your trips? Do you find that your heart rate is off? Do you fit in the training before your day, or after, when you are travelling? Thanks for the thoughts. I suspect this fall travel and training will be my biggest challenge!