Holiday training focus – Minimize the damage.
As we enter this final Holiday season push, I wanted to go over the mindset that might be helpful in your training during these harder weeks. Harder means in motivation, temptations to not work out, or even from a weight/nutrition perspective. The Holiday cookies, eggnog, boiled custard, all that good home cooked food, heavy beers and red wine can be tempting.
The goal as an athlete to get through a window of time like this is simple: to kick out on the other side with a decent amount of fitness in order to train effectively again. Whether the Holidays, a big push at work, life’s schedule or even being limited due to a injury, the goal should never be to fight the limited training time. Instead, map out a strategy that allows you to kick out the other side of this stretch with some remaining fitness. No, you won’t at a peak fitness level. No – you won’t be a lean training machine. But you won’t out of shape! You are able to go through the 3-5 disciplines of our sport (I am including some strength/core work and stretch cordz/jump rope etc. as the extra disciplines) without getting too sore or tired. You can ride effectively, run somewhat light, and swim decently. I often say this: if you come out of the holidays fit enough to be 2 good training weeks away from feeling normal and prepared for training again, great!
Its all about the platform I talk to you all about. We want to have a platform of fitness we can work from. From that platform we can dial it up and still absorb the bigger training effectively. We can also dial it back from that platform and go with the flow for 2-3 weeks without losing too much. In both aspects we don’t go over board. We don’t up the training from this platform by too much in order to be shelled for 2 weeks, nor do we completely slow down too dramatically to fall out of shape. Its all a gentle adjustment. No matter what the scenario, I guarantee a level of training in the future where you will have completely forgotten about feeling out of shape or unfit – whether 10 days prior or 4 weeks prior. So be smart now, don’t burn the bridges (you all know what I am talking about!) and keep the platform somewhat within reach.
Or to write it out differently? Chill out! Go with the Holiday flow! Ask yourself, how do I get through these next 2-3 weeks without giving up too much but not stressing out about training and diet during a fun, chill and harmonious time of year. Don’t be THAT person that sits in the corner without any Holiday sweets, drinking water and passing on all the hors d’oeuvres because you are worried how you’ll look in a swimsuit coming back to swim practice …If you think that way, you ARE the athlete in those Ironman YouTube parodies. Or Zumba vs. Crossfit etc. and then you need to go to bed anyways for your morning long bike ride….
How do I get through these next 2-3 weeks without my family thinking I am a dud, and my friends vowing to never go out with me for beers and bourbon again? Get in some training, get in the work you CAN get in without adding stress to an already busy and stressful time of year. If that means cutting the swim short or running instead because you don’t need to drive to a pool, great! If that means taking a 1 hr spin class with some espresso doped instructor at your in-laws local ‘club’, so be it. You are doing a little something every day. Ideally 60-90 minutes per day, but minimum 45-60 minutes. If you are in a scenario where you can train more, awesome. Or if there is an occasional longer training window on a given day, sweet. Otherwise, minimize the damage that these 2-3 weeks can do…
That is the key. Don’t think of this time as getting fitter, think of it as holding on to some fitness. And if life gets in the way, minimize the damage. Kick out the other side knowing you are 10-14 days of consistent training away from feeling 100% healthy and fit again. Then you can drink your wheatgrass detox smoothie while snacking on rice cakes all you want. But for now – just go with the flow, and plan to get your life back in 2-3 weeks. Your family & friends will thank you!