Travel and Training

When we plan a trip, we hope to leave behind regular responsibilities.  Possibly thinking there will be time, maybe more time, to train.  Of course, if we’re traveling to a destination race, we are likely tapering for the event. 

We are in the middle of a road trip to Florida aimed at escaping the winter cold, snow, and ice in northern New England for three weeks.  This trip also involves visiting five groups of friends and relatives enroute and back. It’s an ambitious schedule, probably packing in too much, that had to be moved up a day to avoid a snowstorm.

Traveling south, it seemed realistic to expect to be able to put in some quality workouts not impeded by winter weather.  The first stop was In upstate New York, still mired in winter.  My studded Ice Bugs were needed for that run.  In northern Virginia, it was cold but clear, allowing for an easy five miler.  Driving to Durham, NC for a two-day stop was uneventful, but with heavy rain forecast for the second day, I ran eight miles, also at an easy pace, and opted for a walk in the rain the second day.  The Durham YMCA had a good weight room, which came in handy.  

Heading to Savannah, Georgia we hit the first major delay of the trip. A U-Haul truck that had rushed past us apparently overturned, disabling several other vehicles, entirely stopping traffic for two hours.  I have never been in that long of a traffic delay.  It was a nice day and people got out of their cars and trucks to commiserate.  When we finally made it to Savannah, I was looking forward to water running in the hotel pool, only to find the pool had been drained. Foiled! The next morning, a circuitous four-miles around the hotel neighborhood preceded heading to our Florida destination, St. Augustine, for a two week stay.

All the running during the trip down was, at best, baseline, something to counter hours of sitting in the car. It was probably best not to push it anyhow.  Sleep quality suffers and eating routine disrupted.  And while weights and a gym can usually be found, like Dorothy says in the Wizard of Oz: “There’s no place like home.”

Finally in place for a while, with 60-degree weather and finding a local gym with a pool, I was able to consider putting in some more effort.  After an easy five on the first day, I put on racing shoes and ran an uptempo seven miles.  After a day of water running, I ran another six and signed up for a local 3K race, which turned out to be a perfect day for running — 50 degrees, no wind. It was fortunate the race wasn’t longer.  I really wasn’t sure I had it in me but was able to put the hammer down and truly race!  Thus, it turned out the 10 days of travel hadn’t left me too sapped.  While it wasn’t home, a workout rhythm had been taking shape. 

Now with another week in St. Augustine, I look to go long at least once and do an abbreviated track workout before embarking on the four day return.  Then, there’s just two days before running a New England Grand Prix 5K in Portsmouth, a four-hour drive from home.  Not ideal, but that’s part of the price of living in a more remote location.  

Hard to say what will transpire over these next two weeks.  Likely, there will be some surprises.  That’s the nature of travel.  In fact, that’s one reason why people travel — to get away from the known and routine.  We have to be willing to take what comes, make the most of and learn from it.  

So, while serious training may need to pause during an extended trip, some baseline running can serve to improve the experience.  There is no better way to explore a new place than to run it.  We see things that otherwise would pass us by unnoticed in the car.  We get a sense of how people recreate by finding bikepaths, accessible trails, and see others using them. 

Travel and training?  Maybe akin to oil and water.  But travel and running does make perfect sense.