Multisport: Maintaining Your Fitness on the Road

By CTS Senior Coach Dave McIntosh

With the hectic schedule mandated by the reality of modern living, our frequent time away from home leads to questions about the impact of travel on training. You’ve worked hard to gain fitness and reach your performance goals, and it’s only natural to wonder how time away from home will affect you.

Time spent on the road doesn’t necessarily mean you have to give up your training program. You’ve probably spent countless hours perfecting your craft, whether you’re a competitive athlete in search of a National Championship, or a CEO of a startup company, or training for the Corporate Cup. Either way, your training time is valuable to you and it shouldn’t be neglected because you’re away from the home base.

First of all, there are many reasons to absolutely continue exercising while on the road. Here are a few:

• Exercise relieves stress, including stress from travel.
• Exercise has been shown to increase your energy level, thus increasing your productivity during those lengthy business meetings.
• Exercise will help keep your weight in check, since meals are typically eaten out while on the road.
• You’ve already made exercise a habit, while at home – so it’s a good idea to try to keep that habit, which will in turn make it easier to readjust upon your return.

The big question, then, is how do you maintain the level of fitness that you’ve worked so hard to achieve? Here are some suggestions to keep the ball rolling in the right direction.

• Try to find a hotel that has a workout facility, or a health club located nearby. The likelihood of training will be significantly increased if you don’t have to travel a great distance to make it happen.
• If you have the ability to bring a bike with you on your trip, you’re one of the lucky ones! Take that thing out and enjoy the surroundings of the area you’re visiting. If you aren’t as fortunate, but the hotel’s fitness facility has bikes, get on and go at it there. Pedaling is pedaling, whether you’re inside or out. Your body doesn’t know the difference, and for your purposes here, having that time to turn your legs over a bit will feel good.
• Try to find alternatives to the typical training program you follow at home. If you’re a cyclist without a bike, try stair climbing swimming. If you’re a multi-sport athlete, you’re still going to be able to knock out a good amount of your training while away from home. Either way, you’ll be able to maintain general levels of fitness.
• Avoid the temptation to go overboard with the tasty temptations of restaurants and fast food while you’re away. Most, if not all of your meals will be eaten out during a period of traveling. Look for the lower-fat items on the menu and try to maintain a healthy balance of complex carbohydrates, fats, and proteins necessary to fuel your body. Also, try to keep alcohol consumption to a minimum- a drink or two won’t do you much harm, but no one needs a ton of empty calories!!

The most important thing to remember when traveling is NOT to worry and fret too much about missing workouts. It’s easy to get caught up in the mindset of “I’m going to miss three days- there goes my whole season!!!” This simply isn’t the case. More times than not, we as athletes push ourselves to extremes, and don’t allow enough time for recovery. It’s okay to take that time off every once in a while!! If you have the luxury of planning your trip during a light week in your training schedule, that would be ideal. You’ll be able to get your work done, or take your vacation, and really feel good about using that time as recovery. When you return home, you will have had the rest your mind and body has needed, and you will be ready to get back into your regular routine (and probably feel more refreshed and a whole lot better overall!!).

Maintaining your level of fitness on the road doesn’t have to be a chore. By simply planning ahead and trying some different things while you are away, you can keep the fitness you’ve worked so hard to achieve.

Dave McIntosh is a Senior Coach for Carmichael Training Systems, Inc. (CTS) who lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and competes as a cyclist on the road and track. To find out what CTS can do for you, visit www.trainright.com

© 2005, Carmichael Training Systems, Inc.