How to Travel Like a Pro Athlete

We’re within the thick of the race season, which implies you’re seemingly not simply logging a whole lot of swim, bike, and run miles — you’re most likely additionally crisscrossing your area, nation, or continent (or maybe even the globe in case you’re a professional) as you journey to at least one occasion after one other. You’ve educated exhausting and ready effectively, so don’t undo all of that onerous work by touring like a rookie! It’s worthwhile to journey like an athlete. With a little bit of planning and preparation, and by mastering a couple of key abilities, you may attain each begin line contemporary, relaxed, and able to go.

9 Tricks to Journey Like an Athlete

Pack Forward

For a lot of professional athletes, packing is essentially the most loathed a part of touring, however it all the time appears to get simpler because the season goes on. The important thing to doing it efficiently (and never forgetting something very important) is to create a prioritized record of all the objects you want on your race, after which to verify these objects off as you pack them. If I do know I’m going to be touring lots, I hold my must-have objects inside my suitcase, so that they don’t get misplaced — however that’s not essentially the place they keep after I head out the door. Given how typically checked baggage arrives late (or in no way), I all the time pack my most important race objects (e.g., bike and run sneakers, race package, helmet and sunnies, Beachbody Efficiency Hydrate) plus one coaching package in my carry-on bag. This has saved me on a couple of event — and several other teammates when their baggage has been misplaced!

Examine the Climate in Your Vacation spot

This tip may appear to be a no brainer, however I can’t inform you what number of occasions I’ve assumed that it’s going to be scorching and humid in Miami or heat and dry in California and it’s been something however! Examine the forecast on your vacation spot typically, and pack accordingly, but additionally be ready for all eventualities. Mom Nature is usually a fickle girl, and he or she has a behavior of defying her predictors. If I’m tight on house in my baggage, I’ll depart toiletries at residence and purchase them at my vacation spot, so I could make room for further gear.

Have a Skilled Ship Your Bike

Packing and touring together with your bike is usually a main headache, particularly in case you’re not skilled at it. If that’s the case, search the recommendation of a extra seasoned good friend, or enlist the assistance of an area bike retailer. Many retailers supply bike-packing providers for an affordable worth. You too can use a service like TriBike Transport, which lets you drop your bike off at a taking part bike retailer and decide it up on the race location a day or so earlier than the occasion.

If you happen to resolve to journey together with your bike relatively than ship it, ensure that to familiarize your self together with your airline’s bag charges. They’ll vary from $75 to $200, and never all airways deal with your bike bag with TLC, so ensure that all the pieces is effectively wrapped and guarded. And don’t pack something further in there. You’ll typically see athletes squeezing tons of stuff into their bike bag, however that solely will increase the probabilities of your bike being broken.

Whichever possibility you select, it’s all the time prudent to get your bike serviced/checked no less than per week previous to your departure. That provides you with loads of time to repair any points that pop up.

Sleep The place You Race

I attempt to discover lodging that makes race day logistics as simple as doable. Saving a couple of dollars by staying miles away is pointless if it’s a nightmare to journey to and/or park close to the venue on race day. Having the ability to stroll, jog, or journey to your race with out trouble or stress will assist get your head in the suitable place to have a very good race. Additionally keep in mind that you probably have particular dietary wants, or simply choose to know precisely what you’re consuming (that’s me for positive!), then staying in self-catered lodging (someplace with its personal kitchen/fridge/microwave) goes to make your life significantly simpler.

Don’t Stress

Whether or not it’s an extended or a brief haul, flying could be the athlete’s enemy because of the stress it locations on the physique. I attempt to keep away from scheduling exhausting coaching periods for the day earlier than or morning of journey days, partially since you merely don’t get well as effectively after them as you do once you’re residence. Air journey additionally knocks your immune system down a notch, making you extra prone to catching a bug as you weave via airports (that are principally large petri dishes) and spend prolonged durations of time crammed in a confined house at 30,000 ft with greater than 100 different (doubtlessly illness carrying) passengers.

My recommendation: Be vigilant about what you contact and what you eat, and hold a bottle of hand sanitizer inside attain always. If doable, attempt additionally to keep up a optimistic mindset, and do all the pieces you may to reduce your stress degree. For me, that features avoiding red-eyes. I used to fly in any respect kinds of extraordinary occasions of the day and night time if it meant conserving more cash in my pocket, however I’ve since realized that not disturbing my sleep and coaching schedules is much extra essential, particularly throughout race week. In brief, don’t ever anticipate to run into me on a 4am flight (or actually, any flight earlier than 9am or after 8pm).

Guide an Aisle Seat

Sustaining wholesome blood circulation is essential for everybody, together with (and maybe particularly for) athletes. To that finish, I all the time attempt to reserve an aisle seat in order that I can rise up and stretch my legs each 60 to 90 minutes. Compression socks additionally assist. Simply you should definitely put on them below your clothes so that you don’t appear like a whole endurance-sport geek.

Keep Hydrated

Flying is a dehydrating course of due to the dry, filtered air that’s circulated via airplane cabins, so plan forward — particularly in case you’re travelling with an airline that makes you pay for water (I’m speaking about you, Spirit). I all the time take a water bottle on the aircraft with me, and can alternate consuming a diluted electrolyte beverage (e.g. watered down Beachbody Efficiency Hydrate) and plain water. Tomato juice is one other winner due to its excessive ranges of sodium (a key electrolyte). Belief me on this one: Good hydration habits can mitigate the consequences of jetlag, so drink up.

Give Your self Time to Alter

Jetlag and time zone modifications can wreak havoc on the finely tuned athlete’s physique. For every time zone traveled, I attempt to give myself no less than someday to regulate. Though jetlag consultants recommend making modifications to your day by day routine (e.g., bedtime, wake time, and many others.) by an hour a day within the days main as much as departure, I’ve by no means discovered that notably useful. As a substitute, I attempt to trick myself into the vacation spot time zone after I arrive by spending time in pure gentle as late into the day as doable, doing gentle train and mobility work to get my blood flowing, consuming contemporary meals, and doing all the pieces I can to facilitate a very good night time’s sleep (extra on that in a second). Even be aware that you’ve got simply spent prolonged time cooped up in a aircraft, so your physique may not really feel great in the case of coaching the following day. Be affected person, and don’t panic! I discover that doing my mobility work, spending time on the froth curler, and meditating (i.e., deep respiratory and stress-free) all assist convey my physique again round.

Get Some Relaxation

Sleep is clearly essential, and it may be simply disrupted by journey. I attempt to observe the identical pre-bed routine on the highway as I do at residence, in order that wherever I’m on the earth, my physique and thoughts know when it’s time for sleep. A scorching bathe/tub, some gentle stretching/mobility work, a chapter or two of a very good e book, after which earplugs and an eye fixed masks and I’m off to dreamland. I additionally attempt to keep away from blue gentle (emitted by LED gadgets equivalent to telephones, computer systems, and televisions), proper earlier than mattress, as it will possibly intrude with falling asleep. Don’t be afraid to assist the method with some melatonin (so long as you seek the advice of your physician first) and/or a couple of drops of lavender oil in your pillow. In my expertise, each work wonders in the case of resetting the physique’s clock.

So there you may have it! With a little bit of forethought and some key abilities, there’s no cause why you may’t race simply as brilliantly when touring midway all over the world as you do once you compete near residence. Good luck, and journey secure!