Racing successfully after traveling isn't impossible!

My friend Liz suggested here that I write a post about how I handle traveling to races, and it took me a bit to figure out exactly what to write.  Prior to two successful racing trips to Phoenix in 2017 for a half marathon and a full marathon, I had three occasions where I felt like traveling to the race contributed to disappointing results.  I learned from my mistakes in those and feel like I have a good formula now!

Lessons learned from the Dallas Marathon 2015:

• Arrive 2 days prior to the event.  This isn't practical for all races, but for goal races and particularly for marathons, I highly recommend it.   For this one, we made the 7-hour (turned 8.5 hours due to a traffic jam) drive to Dallas on Saturday, with time to check into our hotel, pick up our packets, and eat dinner before it was bedtime before race morning on Sunday.  I think this is even more important if you're flying, as illustrated by my issues with a late flight and missing rental car prior to the Phoenix marathon.
• Do your final shake out run at your race location.  After sitting in a car or on a plane for hours, loosening up is key.  This is also much easier to do if you arrive 2 days before the event!

Lessons Learned from the Easter Sun Run 2016 and the River Run 10K 2016:

• Don't ignore cumulative fatigue.  Although these races were only a 4.5-5 hour drive away from me (near where my parents live), I went into both of them tired and without any taper, and traveling was probably the nail in the coffin.  If you're going to travel for a race, even if it's not a goal race, it's probably best not to train through it.  I can get away with one "tired" strike against me; I can pull off a decent performance with one of the following "issues", but not with multiple:  traveling to the event, training through the event, sleep deprivation, travel and/or a hard work week (or both) leading up to the event.
• Keep with your normal routine pre-travel.  Obviously, traveling to the race is going to change your typical routine, but if you go into that change already frazzled, it's going to make things worse.  This is related to the not ignoring cumulative fatigue strategy.  I believe part of the reason I suffered so much in the River Run 10K was because I'd been out of my usual routine for several days prior to the race, on a work trip to Chicago.  My overall schedule was all out of whack on the trip (including eating and sleeping), and before I could bounce back I was traveling to the race.  That was too much!

 Other Helpful Hints:

• Compression socks.  Wear them while in the car and/or plane, and any other time really.
• Loosen up during travel!  If you're on a flight, get up and go to the bathroom and stay up for awhile if you can (I've found I can "accidentally" get blocked by the drink cart in the aisle and "have to" wait it out standing up).  The people sitting by you will just have to deal with it!  If you're driving, stop every 2 hours at minimum and walk around.  You don't want tight hip flexors!
• Travel size foam roller.  I've generally toted my regular foam roller to races that we drove to, but when we were in Phoenix for the marathon I bought a short one that fit in my suitcase (actually Jon's suitcase; I didn't have as much extra room!) that I can fly with.  It was $25 very well spent!
• Pack food.  Unless you're really good at this, you're going to eat out some while traveling, but I try to have plenty of familiar snacks with me at all times (always bring extra, because the best way to assure that the rest of your family wants healthy snacks they usually don't favor is to pack only enough for yourself).  This ensures I'm eating enough and that it's healthy fare!  I've packed sweet potatoes to microwave for part of my pre-race meal too; make sure you take these and any other produce out of your suitcase when you go through security if you're flying, or they will get flagged by TSA!
• White noise.  If you're like me and have trouble sleeping with any noise, and especially unfamiliar noises, this is a lifesaver.  I downloaded an app on my phone and sleep with "air conditioner" white noise playing right by my pillow, in addition to using ear plugs.  Just make sure you plug your phone into the charger if you do this, as it drains the battery and you don't want to miss your pre-race alarm on your phone!
• Stay on your schedule/routine as much as possible during travel.  This is not the time to change things up, although it's really hard not to!  Try to go to bed at your normal time, but at the same time don't stress about it if you don't make it (due to travel snafus, I was up until 1:00 a.m. Phoenix time, which is 2:00 a.m. Missouri time, two days prior to the Phoenix Marathon...that was extreme considering I usually go to bed around 9:00 p.m.!).  Try to eat at your normal times and to eat familiar foods that you know agree with you (I save the Indian buffet until after the race!).  Do your shake out run at your normal running time, and just do as much as you can that you're used to.  Our bodies definitely get used to what they do day after day.  Use common sense and don't do a ton of sight-seeing before the race; I find I can get away with quite a bit because I'm used to being on my feet all day at work, but try to keep it comparable to what you do every day.
• Don't stress about what you can't control.  This is very hard for me, but there are so many variables about race day and traveling that are simply completely out of our hands, such as the weather, flight schedules, traffic jams, etc.  Remember that you've been training, sleeping, and eating well for months during your training block, and that a day or two of unexpected events isn't going to break your race.  Control what you can and accept the rest.  The weather will certainly influence your performance; however, no amount of worry about it is going to change anything, so roll with it the best you can and remember that everyone else has to deal with the same conditions

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, have a blast!  I think it's a fact that you perform better with a smile on your face, whatever your location may be.

One additional related tidbit that I learned this week:  Don't run too many out-of-town races in a row.  I got hit with bronchitis this week after running 4 out-of-town races in 3 weekends, and they were only drives of 3.25 hours, 3 hours, and 4.75 hours.  It wasn't only the racing that did me in, as we did a lot of other family activities on all of those trips, I didn't get enough sleep, and I also worked busy weeks between them, but all of that together proved to be too much for me.  I'm annoyed at myself for pushing it, but I'll learn from it and be more conservative next time!

Note on the photo below:  I pride myself in never buying "extras" at races or from races, but they got me with this one!

Successful race after traveling