Traveling Triathletes - what strategies do you use?
I travel 40 weeks a year, diff cities, inconsistent schedules but roughly 2-3 days per week. Before I joined EN, I would run, swim (pool dependent), rest on travel... and bike a lot when I'm home. When I'm home, I can generally prioritize my workouts and it works well.
With the EN plans, this strategy won't work because we bike more frequently. I am wondering if any perpetual travelers have advice. Should I do mostly HR training (vs power) for the bike and use whatever bike I can find in the hotel gym? Should I stack my runs while traveling? Other ideas to modify? Thanks!
With the EN plans, this strategy won't work because we bike more frequently. I am wondering if any perpetual travelers have advice. Should I do mostly HR training (vs power) for the bike and use whatever bike I can find in the hotel gym? Should I stack my runs while traveling? Other ideas to modify? Thanks!
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I've travelled some but not as much as you do. For some shorter trips we had a fleet vehicle 2.5 hour drive I've taken the bike with me in the van with my trainer. Probably not an option but when/if you can get take the bike with you.
When flying, which was most of the time, I also utilized the bikes in the gym on occasion but tried to run/swim while away then use an off day and shuffled the week around. If the hotel does not have a gym/pool you could choose your location based on some place you could drop in for the day but this will add up quickly.
As you move out of the OS the longer bikes will be an issue and you won't want to be on a spin bike for hours on end. Workouts are also prioritized so make sure you get in the most important workouts first then shuffle as needed.
I do marketing for a team in NASCAR and travel 20-23 weekends a year Thursday - Sunday so definitely can relate to your concerns. I am a member of a YMCA for the pool mainly but very handy as i travel as they let you use the local facility for free 2-3 times while you are in the area. Really comes in handy!
If i am traveling we normally don't leave until late Thursday afternoon so i would always do my long ride that morning and head to the airport after that. Or if that didn't work i typically have Monday off from work and another great time to get the longer ride in.
Not always convenient but if you plan ahead, look at your schedule that week you can typically find a solution to get the work outs in.
- I do zero biking on the road. I am paranoid of injuries caused by problematic bike fit on hotel gym bikes. Also cycling is a much less efficient cardio workout so if I don't have a good setup with my bike it just isn't worth it since you need 1.5-2x more time.
- In the OS I will shuffle workouts around to get in the 3 rides. It might mean riding late on a Thursday night after I get home but I will do it.
- In the in-season plans the key rides are Saturday/Sunday back-to-back which actually works with the traveling lifestyle quite well in my view
- I run everywhere I go. I have Garmin files from every continent except Antarctica! I research where to run before I go and will commonly pick a hotel to accommodate proximity to good safe running when feasible. But I will do a lot to make sure it happens...once in Brazil I had a driver take me to a place where runners do a lot of training and wait for me before taking me to the airport.
- Similar to last point above, I will schedule my travel to accommodate workouts. For example, I might take a flight home that's an hour LATER because I can fit in a run before I leave somewhere (knowing that I won't want to run when I get home at 10pm and that arriving at home at 10pm or 11pm makes very little difference, for example). The point is...I factor my workouts into my calendar as I set it up.
- I stay at hotels that have good pools or privileges at good pools. This means I am not too beholden to certain loyalty programs. For example, in downtown Philly I stay at the Hyatt because you can use the Bellevue club. In Houston I stay at the Houstonian (if I don't have to be downtown). Etc. Admittedly I am lucky because my company doesn't force me to stay at preferred hotels or have tough travel policies.
- If there are places where you find yourself often, consider taking out a membership to a gym or a chain like LA fitness which has a ton of location and lots of pools.
- I tend to avoid public pools in places I don't know. I have had some pretty odd "cultural experiences" at public pools in China, Czech Republic, Japan and some other places so I avoid it if I can.
the main thing is to be really committed to getting in your workouts!!! Make it happen!!!
It takes hardwork, love, and disciple to succeed in any IM training program, EN is no different. It definitely helps that there is guidance towards only what the coaches want you to focus on, but with international travel, it's hard to be on point with your training.
@ Matt - you are a machine!! Don't know how you do it!!