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Training While You Work
How to maximize your training time while traveling for business
Most of my clients are not professionals. Or at least, they're not professional
cyclists. The majority of people I work with are trying to be the best
bike racers they can be within the context of the rest of their lives--work,
school, family--they have other commitments that they might not be able
to sacrifice to be a full-time bike racer. One of my biggest challenges
as a coach is helping them find the balance between their professions
and their personal goals on the bike.
Within that paradigm comes a classic challenge for professionals: the
business trip. More difficult than training itself is the issue of how
to train when you're on the road for work. In many cases, increasing your
fitness with a hard week of training is simply out of the question, and
maintaining what you have is difficult enough. There are some strategies
to help you get through it if you find yourself on the road during the
racing season when it's not for racing.
One of the first things I do is try to plan ahead. If you know in advance
that your trip is coming up and training will be difficult, try to set
your program up so that you're on a rest week when you're away from home.
There's no sense in trying to force a week of high volume or intensity
when training and racing are going to have to take a backseat to work
and travel. If your business takes you to a big city, simply getting out
of town might be a challenge, never mind finding a place to do uninterrupted
intervals. Scheduling a week of easy rides will take the pressure of training
off at a time when you don't need any extra stress.
If you find yourself unable to plan a rest week because it just doesn't
fit your schedule or the trip comes up unexpectedly, then you've got to
make the best of what's available. Take a look on the web or in a magazine
at the racing schedule in the city you're headed to. Again, because finding
new roads can be a challenge if you have limited time, try to find out
about a local training race or group ride during the week. And if there's
a race nearby on the weekend, see if you can schedule your trip to come
back a few days later and take advantage of the opportunity to race in
a different region and against different riders.
Even if you are able to schedule in a rest week, you might find that there's
simply no way you can take your bike with you. That may sound like a fitness
catastrophe, but it's not as bad as you'd think. Plan ahead by first calling
the hotel and inquiring about any nearby gyms that offer regular spin
classes during the week. If you bring your own shoes and pedals, you can
normally plug in and get set up somewhat close to your normal position.
The hotel itself might even have a good enough quality exercise bike that
you can put your own equipment on. Also ask about local bike shops that
might be able to loan or rent you a real racing bike. Often if they see
that your serious and your willing to give them a credit card for collateral,
someone from the shop might even have an extra bike of their own you can
borrow.
Often clients ask about running when they're on the road, but unless it's
during the cyclo-cross season, there's nothing that'll slow you down faster.
I'd rather see them find a pool to do laps in than deal with the impact
running involves.
Above all else when you're on a business trip, don't push it! If you're
changing time zones, spending all day on a plane, and stressed out from
hectic meetings, the last thing you need to do is push yourself over the
edge by training. If you need to recover from life, take the recovery
and cut your losses. Getting greedy with your form usually leaves you
worse off than if you simply tried to maintain what you had.
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