Traveling and Training

For many athletes world wide the summer means warmer weather, kids free from school and most importantly vacation.  Vacation for so many is a time to relax, spend time with family and most important have fun, however, for many it can also be a bit of a stressor. As an athlete, no matter the caliber, your goals can take a very large precedence in life.  You spend hours a week pushing your body to limits that most consider “insane,” you cut calories to either lose weight or maintain weight and you sacrifice family time and sleep to train and race.  Often times, the last thing you want to do is take time off out of a fear of de-training or over eating and gaining back that weight you have worked so hard to lose. Step back, take a deep breath and enjoy your time!  I know, this is very  hard for you type A athletes out there (which is probably most of you), however, a little time off is good for you physically as well as mentally.  In fact, for many athletes the time off allows them to come back and handle more physically than what they were capable of previously.  Still not buying it?  Yea… I still struggle with it too so here are some recommendations to help you get a bit of physical activity and keep all of that great quality time with your family! Plan a vacation with activities involved: I have been blessed with a wife that loves to hike.  Not only does this mean our entire family gets to spend quality time together but I also get to be outside and active.  It is never super high intensity but it is enough to curb my exercise apetite and see things that you would never see from a car.  Also consider things such as snorkeling, a bike tour (not le Tour) or even kayaking/white water rafting. Swim: It might not be your swim workout but you can splash around chase your children or do a cannonball contest.  One of my favorite childhood memories from vacations was swimming/playing in the pools with my dad, mom and sister! Stairs: For those of you that these simply won’t cut it then one of the best and fastest workouts is stairs.  Almost every hotel has atleast two flights of stairs which will give you everything you need.  This is guaranteed to get your heart rate up, have you panting and with how hot stair wells usually are you are guaranteed to work up a good sweat. Most important of all, keep it fun and remember you have made a lifestyle change to better yourself.  Just don’t forget that it is possible to work vacations into your training.  This is something that we do daily for our athletes and it allows them to place their priorities where they feel they should be. Learn how one of our coaches can help you better fit travel into your training programs.  Schedule a consult today or sign up for on of our many coaching packages!