How to adjust your training when you are away on holiday

 I’ve always packed my trainers when I go away on holiday, I first “learnt” how to run whilst away in France so for me it’s a no brainer.  In my experience you never regret packing them but quite often regret not packing them.

Running on holiday is a very personal choice, it can add stress to what is meant to be a stress-free environment, putting pressure on the rest of the family as you try to fit your training in especially if you have a non-running partner.

Let’s get back to basics, travel is very stressful, travel with children is very stressful and as we know our bodies can’t differentiate between travel stress and training stress or emotional stress or psychological stress…. STRESS=STRESS and we can only manage so much of it.

⁠Ask yourself the following;

How stressful is your travel going to be, have you got 3 children under 8 on a long-haul flight with a 3am start?

Is your holiday going to be an active holiday or are you lying on the beach all day drinking cocktails?

Where are you on your training plan, are you in the middle of training for a big event?

In my experience;

⁠
Do what you feel like doing and what you realistically have time for.  If your holiday is walking and mountain climbing, then adding in a run will be counterproductive.  However, if you are having a beach holiday then try and add in run to keep ticking over, exploring the local area when the rest of the family are all sleeping is a wonderful thing to do.

Remember to stay hydrated and allow yourself to enjoy yourself, I’m a huge advocate of “not chasing the miles” all plans can be adjusted and adapted to fit in around your life.

Explore the area

If you really feel that you can run your long run whilst away, ensure you negotiate with your family, my husband biked with me whilst I continued training when away on holiday, but then he knows how grumpy I am if I don’t run!