Work. Travel. Training
How does one balance these three categories of one's life? How do I make it sustainable?
Work travel is something that has permeated my life for years. How do I keep fit? In short: I don’t.
Work travel is usually intense. I must get through a lot in a short time, so exercise gets put on the back-burner. There’s no way I can train in the evening after a 14-hour work day in the searing heat, or 9 hours bouncing in a vehicle on terrible roads followed by a 3-course dinner with investors. The time I can motivate to train is in the morning – IF I’ve had enough sleep and it’s not pitch-dark.
Generally having a week’s break from exercise isn’t too bad, but right now, I’ve just come out of an intense 5-week bout of travel to 7 countries, 12 changes in time-zone and 25 flights (working on offsetting those).
So, what do I do?
The key things for me:
1. Sleep
Sleep is essential for work and exercise productivity. As far as possible, I don’t compromise on this. But I’m always messed around by early travel/meetings, late endings, time-zone changes, hosting others. The key is to get home not totally broken, so you can slip into your normal training routine and not get sick.
2. Strengthening
If I have a gym to hand, then it’s easy to jump on some cardio machines, throw some weights around and get psyched by the other travelers also trying to keep up their routines. But sometimes those tiny/old gyms are shockingly depressing.
My saving grace is a TRX-like suspension trainer thingie. It fits in my tiny suitcase, I can put it up on poles / trees / behind doors. I can make myself feel slightly human again by getting delightfully worked shoulders, forearms and abs. And then there are always push-ups, planks and sit-ups to throw into the mix.
3. Eating well
I try to eat well, but sometimes my resolve vanishes in front of freshly made bread with farm-butter, or the chocolate brownie placed in front of me during a meeting (surely that should be illegal?). But I feel guilty. And memories of crimpers slip from my buttery fingers, and ever-expanding rear-end.
So, I generally always come home a little heavier and less fit. With some training, jaunts up the hill and healthy eating I start feeling me again. It’s hard to match the joy of being on the mountain after a long time away.
