How to Make it Work on the Road

I'm back from a crazy-ass week of very long work hours, followed by a four-day conference with daily 15-hour agendas.  In a most unfortunate coincidence, I also had quite a bit of running to do last week.  Here are some strategies I used to stick to training when traveling for business.  They are not rocket science:

- Plan ahead.  I knew there was no way I'd get 18-20 miles in while I was away, so I worked with my boss ahead of time (two weeks beforehand) to schedule a morning before I left to run long and come in to the office an hour late.  Pro tip here: be generous with how much time you'll need when making the ask.  While I was actually done running and showered in enough time to be punctual, the 20 block walk to my office took approximately 4 hours.  Nothing worse than having to rush when you can't walk comfortably.  Once I was at the conference, I compared my workout schedule to the conference agenda, and scheduled the longest and hardest workouts (8 miles with 6 @ GMP ughhhh) for mornings with the latest start.

- Wake up ass early.  So, just like not traveling for work, then...  I was at the hotel gym when it opened to ensure that I had as much time as possible to workout, shower, and get dressed before breakfast.  (This also decreased the likelihood that I would run into colleagues, since no one who sees me in a board room should also see me in my short shorts).  Depending on your situation, both the showering part and the breakfasting part can be cut down significantly, but 1) there were Peter Thomas Roth shower products at the Hilton, so my hair looked awesome and I wanted to blow dry it to a silky sheen every day, and 2) I am a person who actually likes meeting strangers at conferences, so breakfast was my jam.

- Hit the gym.  I'm all for running as a means of exploration, but when I have specific workouts and very limited time, I don't want to use any of that time plotting a new route.  Did you spend 2 hours run-exploring the host city at your last work trip?  Congrats - you're probably nonessential!  When time is short, I explore SportsCenter on the treadmill. 



Bonus: I actually did walk around and see DC one night as part of the agenda

- Have good snacks.  I am admittedly not the type who focuses too much on food consumption, save for the night before a long run or race.  In fact, it infuriates me when people talk about what "fuel" they had at their desk on a Tuesday.  People, we're all mediocre amateurs.  Your Hale & Hearty salad wasn't fuel.  It was a depressing midtown lunch.  Let's not take ourselves so seriously.  That said, work travel tends to mess with your feeding routine, and man can only eat so much conference center chicken before he turns into rubber himself (side note: not a dig at the Capital Hilton - their food was actually pretty solid.  Croissants, call me maybe).  Toss a couple granola bars or whatever you're fond of into your briefcase so that you can have something other than a la king sauce sloshing around in your gut when you get up ass early to work out.

- Save your legs.  I failed at this one, but it's good advice going forward.  Standing up at cocktail parties, particularly in heels, is murder on your legs.  I cannot tell you how fatigued mine were when I woke up Saturday morning.  Sit whenever you can.  Or, wear flats if you don't mind looking like an unprofessional schlub, I guess. 

You'll note there's nothing in here about doing dips on the edge of your hotel bed or turning planks into an ice breaker.  That's intentional.  I'm not looking to "sneak in" a "workout" when I'm traveling for work.  I'm looking to be super efficient with very limited time and get my marathon training crossed off ye olde to do list.  Those 15 minute breaks can be used for napping or bellying up to the hotel bar, thankyouverymuch.

Any other tips for being a badass marathoner while traveling for work?