Travel Considerations
Traveling as an athlete presents many challenges, and the goal is to bring your best performance from point A to point B. After spending many hours, days, and weeks dedicated to executing consistent training and progressing your skills, traveling presents some challenges that may interfere with maintaining that edge you built up in training. It is worth noting that at any event, everyone has to deal with the challenges of traveling, and almost no one can bring 100% to race day. With this in mind, the goal is to limit traveling’s impact on your performance to the best of your ability. It is not just the travel itself that is a disruption, but rather it is a disruption in your routine and your familiar training environment that you must learn to cope with.
To start, it is important to be on time and ahead of things when traveling. Your focus on a travel day should be on traveling, then recovering from that travel, and not too much else. If you are flying, aim to get to the airport at least two hours before your departure, as this will eliminate any unnecessary stress of pressing too close to a deadline. If you are driving, get in the habit of arriving 15-30 minutes early to your destination to lower stress and give yourself a buffer if you hit traffic. Ensure you know your schedule and backtrack from when your plane takes off (or when you plan to arrive if you are driving). Have your bags packed and everything ready well in advance of leaving. You can begin packing the week of your travel day little by little to make sure everything is ready the day you leave. An athlete will need to pack many different things but the main things include equipment, kit, sport nutrition, travel nutrition, a bottle, and personal items in a backpack.
Traveling itself can be a stressor, and travel fatigue is a real thing whether you are driving or flying. In my experience, it is best to get from point A to B as quickly and efficiently as possible with minimal stops in between. Prolonging your time on the road or trying to train your way through traveling can accumulate too much fatigue that leaves you depleted when you arrive along with subpar training along the way. A good combo might be to accept that you will take on fatigue from traveling, spend as few days traveling as you can, accept that those days will not elicit the highest quality training, then focus on recovering the best you can once you arrive.
Another key thing to keep in mind is your health and personal hygiene. When you are traveling, you will be exposing yourself to many different people and public places. Wash your hands frequently, always carry hand sanitizer, avoid touching your face as best you can, and wear a face mask in enclosed public spaces. Your immune system is already under enough stress from physical training so it wont take much for illness to take hold if you are exposed to viruses during travel. Lean on being safe rather than sorry!
Once you’ve determined where the race venue is, research the different accommodation that are available. You can use hotels, AirBnB, Vrbo, or camp. As an athlete, it is important to try to find accommodations with a full or partial kitchen to maintain quality nutrition and limit your risk of foodborne illness leading into your race. The country and or state you are traveling to may offer a different cuisine, so be prepared to be flexible with the food available at restaurants and grocery stores. You can also research what grocery stores/restaurants are available and do your best to replicate foods you are accustomed to by shopping for the foods you normally consume once you arrive. If there is a language barrier, have Google Translate ready at the grocery store. When you are traveling, grocery stores can be a good choice for athletes to get more variety of nutrients without having to rely on convenience stores or fast food.
Don’t overthink nutrition when traveling, it is more important to be flexible and adaptable on the go. Staying hydrated is important and even more so when flying due to the high altitude. Bringing some of your own nutritious snacks can ensure that you are getting sufficient energy and nutrient intake on the go. Dried fruits, energy bars, vegetables, fruits, nuts, protein shakes, and a cooler bag for yogurts, sandwiches, or lunch meats are other good options to consider. Choosing foods that are more nutrient dense may be worth considering as travel days will have lower total energy expenditures. Avoid the temptation to drink caffeine in the afternoon to stay awake during travel, this will help you in the short term, but negatively impact your sleep in the long run.
Another thing to consider when traveling is the change in time zones. This is especially the case when flying to races, but it may only be a factor to consider once you are crossing more than two or more time zones. For every time zone you cross, the body takes about one day to adjust to the new time. The body has an internal clock that is in sync with the sunrise and sunset called the “circadian rythm”. This rhythm inside the body regulates hormonal production and other bodily functions that are on a schedule with light exposure from the sun. If you cross time zones, the body does not adjust as quickly as we can move with modern day transportation. Exposure to light is the greatest stimulus to effect your internal body clock, so exposing yourself to sunlight in the early morning upon arrival is a great way to start syncing your body clock with the new time zone you are in. Meal timing is another stimulus for adjusting the internal body clock, and adjusting your meal times to the new time zone you are traveling can help your body sync more smoothly once you arrive.
You can get ahead of syncing your body clock to the new time zone before you leave by manipulating your exposure to light (the time you wake up and fall asleep), meal timing, and the time you train. If you are traveling across three time zones, within the week leading into your travel day you can begin waking three hours later or earlier (depending on the direction of travel) to begin adjusting the internal clock to the new destination. If traveling westward, start doing all of those things earlier, if traveling eastward, start doing all of those things later. Getting on schedule as early as possible to the new location will help you adjust more rapidly.
If you do not get ahead of shifting your body clock before you travel, when you arrive in a new timezone you have two options…one is to start waking up on your normal time schedule upon arrival and dealing with the symptoms of jet lag until they go away, or two, wake up incrementally an hour earlier or later each day at your new destination and slowly allow the body to adjust to the new time zone at a rate of one to two hours per day.
Also worth considering when traveling is how you are going to protect your sleep. Traveling often presents as less than ideal schedule, so if you fall short on sleep it is important to get naps in on the plane or in the car while you are on your way. The best tools for this would be blue light blocking glasses, an eye mask, ear plugs, and a neck pillow. Put the blue light blocking glasses on and ear plugs in before you plan to take a nap. Once you feel tired, you can put the eye mask on to completely eliminate light. Don’t wait for yourself to naturally feel tired, you will have to take action to put your body to sleep for a nap. You may find that you will be napping intermittently, meaning you consistently wake up and fall back asleep, but try to get as much sleep as you can if you fall behind.
When you are traveling via plane, keep in mind that they tend to keep the cabins quite cool, so wear a long sleeve or sweatshirt and pants when you fly. Also keep in mind that the clothes you wear while traveling are an extra pair of clothes you’re bringing with you, so try to match the type of clothing with what you’ll need once you arrive. Bring a cycling bottle to drink so you have an extra when you arrive, but do not arrive to the airport with it full, or you will be asked to pour it out when you are going through TSA. Also, each trip you are going to have to pack a different amount of kit, clothing, and equipment. Make sure you do laundry at least two days before you leave so your cycling kit has time to air dry before packing it. You’ll have to make some compromises to pack everything in all your bags and to keep them under 50lb. Think about each item you pack and ask yourself if this is a “must have”, “might need”, or “nice to have”. Unpack the nice to have’s first if your bags are overweight.
Lastly, take traveling as an opportunity to rest and recover as you head into your event. Chances are you will be sitting in a car or on a plane for hours on end, but this might be just what your body and muscles need to be fully recovered for race day. A resting state of the muscle and sleep are the two best environments for muscles to recover, so you are killing two birds with one stone when you are on your way. It’s okay to get out, stretch, and move around while traveling to avoid feeling too tight, but do not feel like you need to greatly increase your activity levels due to the sedentary activity. If you can, It may be good to get out for a 30-60min recovery spin or walk to get some blood and lymph flowing once you arrive.
SUMMARY:
Stay ahead of packing and arrive 2 hours early at the airport, or plan to arrive 15-30min early if driving
Don’t try to squeeze too much into a travel day. Focus on traveling and recovering
Travel with a face mask, bring hand sanitizer, wash your hands frequently, and avoid touching your face
Research your destination and learn what accommodations and food are available
Consider your accommodations and look for a full or partial kitchen
Shop at grocery stores vs gas stations and convenience stores
Research local restaurants
Pay extra attention to hydration and electrolytes (especially when flying)
Accept that traveling will have an impact on your overall feeling and move on quickly
Snack on nutrient-dense foods vs energy dense food
Don’t overthink it, things do not have to be perfect
Get from point A to B as quickly and efficiently as possible
Focus on recovery when you arrive to your destination and consider it may take a day or two
Consider how many time zones you cross and adjust your circadian rythm ahead of time or upon arrival (1 day per zone crossed)
Adjust your body clock ahead of time to match the time of your destination by manipulating your sleep/wake times, meal times, and the time you exercise
Pack your own travel snacks and plan ahead of time
Avoid caffeine intake in the afternoon
Actively try to take naps with an eye mask, ear plugs, and neck pillow.
Keep your training light on travel days. Their purpose should be recovery and to increase blood flow
Spend idle time reading or working while traveling