So the wife and I have an awesome vacation to Southern France/Portugal planed for ten days at the end of July. I’m looking forward to the change of pace and seeing the sights, sitting on the beach… all of it. However, enter the crazy. My training has been going quite well this year having just got back from Chicago with a 7 minute PR at 2:06 (take off another 3 for those ridiculously long transition runs) and I am looking forward to Milwaukee in August.
I’m not going to be able to pull the typical hours or intensity nor do I want to (as it is vacation) but I’d like to maintain as much as possible. We’re staying at a mix of hotels and airbnb’s in France and the last four days in Portugal at a nice hotel. I can bring my shoes and get out for run, some OWS at the beach, and maybe even get in the pool or on a bike at the hotel gym if present. I had planned to push it a bit more these ten days before I leave, use the vacation as a recovery/maintain period and then return to normal training for a week before tapering to Milwaukee.
Should I attempt to plan anything, even if just to say "I’ll swim x number of times these ten days… etc etc)? Or just take a totally “come as it may” attitude? It’s a vacation and I will treat it as such but I also know that if I completely go to shit I’ll always harbor some crazy triathlete angst against an otherwise awesome vacation.
We just got back from an 8 day vacation with the kids. I was a few weeks out from an “A” race so felt like I had to maintain some pretty decent volume; I just made a point of getting up extra early so that I could be back by the time the kids got up. Most days I returned just slightly after my wife woke up and the kids were still in bed.
Your wife will probably call you crazy (mine did) but if she wants to sleep in a bit on vacation this will work well. Just don’t crush yourself and turn into a zombie at 9pm… remember it’s vacation!
I think just maintaining by going frequently even if just for short workouts should be fine. It is vacation as others have mentioned. And based on my own n=1 experience from cutting down majorly on training time during exam time I don’t think a week or two is enough to significantly lower your fitness level. Most of your big training should be behind you already anyway.
Did 10 days vacation in England last month and ran every morning before breakfast. I would get back in time to join the family for breakfast and tour the rest of the day. There was no time for swimming or biking and frankly, after a long day of activities I was too bushed to even think of doing anymore. But it was enough to maintain my general fitness and keep the focus of the vacation on the family. Don’t over plan your training and enjoy the vacation. You’ll be back on track quickly when you return.
I leave for vacation tomorrow. I’m scaling back to 10 hours per week for the next 3 weeks. The plan is to wake up early every day and get in a solid 1.5 hours before the day gets going. My coach has workouts scheduled for every day, but I’m going to be flexible depending on what the day holds and I think that’s the key.
I leave for vacation tomorrow. I’m scaling back to 10 hours per week for the next 3 weeks. The plan is to wake up early every day and get in a solid 1.5 hours before the day gets going. My coach has workouts scheduled for every day, but I’m going to be flexible depending on what the day holds and I think that’s the key.
HA HA… ok, I’m on board for scaling back but I’m doing 7-9 hours now with rather high intensity/volume… so my scale back will be to like 4-5.