As soon as I arrived, I was prepared to compete.  Focused and determined, the goal of this race was simply to do well and what an exhilarating experience it was.  With a time trial start, I started 10th on the 300 meter swim and came out of it 8th racing to transition.  I hopped on my bike and started plucking the other bikers.  7th, 6th, 5th… one by one I was getting in front of the group until the beginning of the second lap when I passed what I counted as being the leader “Good luck” he said to me as I took the lead in the race.  Alone in front I was now the hunted, enjoying a glimpse of what athletes like Chris Lieto must feel like anticipating their weaker split of the run after T2.  When I came into the second transition my friend yelled at me “First Male In!” and the adrenaline started pumping as I put my shoes on wondering how long I could hold contenders behind me.  Mile 1…Mile 2…and I was still in front.  As I approached the finish line I heard cheers and yells only to realize that it was for the individuals behind me who were just about to pass me.  Unable to match their acceleration I relented and finished fourth overall, first in my age group. Mission accomplished, I made it to my age group podium once more!

The Hudson river race morning, a magical experience throughout the day

After the cheers subsided and as I looked back at the race a few days later, I felt that I could I have done better.   Not necessarily in terms of performance but more in terms of enjoying the race and the experience itself.  With my goal of simply winning, there was little time spend enjoying the people around, the stories that often unfold during a triathlon, the scenery of the Virginian country side.  I felt that I missed part of the experience itself during that race, blinded by my pure competitive spirit.

Contrast this with my most recent at the New York City Triathlon, an olympic distance race.  This race has always been part of our annual plan with the goal of gaining more experience in olympic-distances and larger races in preparation for Ironman Miami.  However, this past month has been plagued with health issues limiting my training significantly.  Diagnosed with anemia I have been very fatigued and unable to perform remotely where I wanted to.  To top that off, the week prior to the race I fell victim to a severe cold turned sinus infection and raced on antibiotics to take the edge off.  Clearly NYC would not be my best race and frankly with the size of the field there was no way to make it to a podium.  Nonetheless I enjoyed myself tremendously.  I simply raced to race and have fun as opposed to win.  I enjoyed the experience of swimming in the Hudson, riding along Henry Hudson Parkway which was closed for the event.  The run along 72nd street was full of energetic spectators and the finish in Central Park was simply epic.  All in the hottest event in its history, I finished the race in the top 20% of my age group, something very respectable.  But more importantly, I truly and sincerely enjoyed myself in the streets of New York, I admired the paratriathletes competing with us with inspiring performances (many of whom beat me by large margins), I took in the cheers from spectators along the empty streets, I truly cherished every moment.

As I sit here recovering from the last bout of illness (hopefully) I reflect on both of these races and their differences.  The first one was not part of my initial plan and was purely to satisfy my thirst of winning or doing well.  The second one had a long term objective and was truly focused on finishing and enjoying the experience.  Though I did better in the first one, I had much more fun in New York City because I raced for that purpose.  I raced for the pleasure of racing and the thrill of experience.

Running along 72nd towards Central Park. The huge crowds on each side brought the energy NYC is known for.

Of course winning and doing well is important to many of us who train as we do and make sacrifices along the way to do well in races.  Like many other type A personalities, I tend to be very competitive is most areas of my life professionally and personally.  But competitiveness alone likely takes away from some of the experience and if there is a lesson these past two triathlons have taught me, it is that having fun is a crucial element of any endeavor…and one that I believe will probably make you perform better as well.

At the most recent Boston Marathon, Ryan Hall committed to making the most of his experience.  Towards the end, when he realized he would not win the race, he decided to enjoy it even more and started  zigzagging along the road with his arms out like an airplane to fully take in the experience.  Many have criticized him for it, but I applaud him.  This is a perfect example of an athlete at the highest competitive level (Ryan being the top American marathoner) who also remains committed to enjoying his experiences and races to the fullest.

So go out there and train hard, work hard and apply due diligence in all aspects of your life.  But when the time comes, remember to enjoy and cherish your experiences, or you may miss out on much of what life has to give you.

A year ago a great friend of mine pushed me to sign up for my first triathlon, the 2009 Virginia Run Sprint Triathlon.  I’d always thought of myself as pretty athletic in the sense that I lifted weights regularly and had cycled a bit in the past, so why not, that sounded like a good idea at the time.  In preparation for the race I did a few runs but couldn’t run more than 2 miles because of terrible shin splints.  I dusted off my bike, took it for a spin and swam a few times at the local pool.  My training at the time (if you can even call it that) was severely hampered by a large deal that I supported and I found myself on the road for six weeks where the pressures to work long hours, eat junk food and drink with co-workers were simply too great to overcome.  The result was a 215 lbs, out-of-shape, individual who finished 3rd from the bottom in my age group and thought I was going to die in the process.  I’m not sure what it was but that moment at the finish line, I caught the triathlon bug and everything else is history.

A year has passed now and I just finished the same race as a way to celebrate my one year anniversary into the sport.  As I look back to where I started I can barely recognize this person that toed the line a year ago but the transformation has been much more about my lifestyle than simply an athletic improvement.

Before the race both years, I barely recognize this person who toed the line a year ago

Externally, the changes are obvious by any standard.  The pictures alone speak for themselves in the simple physical changes that a year of committed training have had on me.  Performance-wise, my 1:23:49 finish of 2009 trumped by over 21 minutes this year which led me to a second place finish for my age group is astonishing.  As I was planning this year’s season, I was hoping for a mere 10 minute improvement and I clearly far exceeded that goal.  It is also important to note that all of my time splits have improved in a year and across all three sports.

And yet, though I have obviously improved at my ability to perform in the sport of triathlon, much deeper changes have also occurred.  As I look back at this person I barely recognize, I see someone who was tremendously challenged with balancing all aspects of his life.  We all have multiple interests, activities and requirements.  Work, family life, entertainment, activities all end up in natural conflict as life evolves and I have always struggled with the balance of all these components.

The outside layer alone speaks volume about the changes that have occurred in a year

In the past, my passions often impeded on one another.  Work and its travel had often placed any physical activity on a back seat for weeks at a time.  When I was home, physical activity might have impacted my family life and when it wasn’t, my family life would be hurting my ability to work.  Though I will certainly not claim to have found the perfect balance, this past year has been a huge improvement.  By committing to goals and communicating them to family, friends and co-workers, things have generally fallen into place in a much more harmonious manner and as a result have positively impacted by general well-being.

My wife not long ago even confessed that she likes me better now than before I was doing triathlons even though I can assure you that work has increased and my time spent on physical activities has grown.  I would even dare to say that this new balance has resulted in positive career growth shown through an increase in responsibilities.  Healthwise of course the improvement is massive with 35 lbs lost and perfect blood test results at my last physical something my wife still thanks me for as my snoring has stopped thereby improving both her quality and quantity of sleep.  I can also say that my immune system has greatly improved and I can’t remember the last time I missed a day of work due to illness.

The sport of triathlon is not easy and certainly not for everyone but balancing your passions is important regardless of who you are.  Busy executive, stay-at-home parent, college student and just about anyone has challenges with time management and prioritization and I can assure you that none of this gets easier as time goes on.  For me, discovering a passion for a sport helped improve my life in many way, perhaps it can help that of others as well.

Making the Triathlon a family affair

In addition to communicating and agreeing to our priorities with my family, I always try to get my kids to participate where I can.  Through the winter we often took bike rides around a local lake close to the house.  As spring arrived, and they saw me practice my transitions, they often joined me in sprint races down the driveway and we “raced” until they won (Admittedly at times I was so tired that they actually did beat me).  As this race was close to the house, we talked about it and they agreed to and were excited to come and see me race.  Frankly, the only difficulty was to explain to them that daddy probably wasn’t going to win…

The kids made signs for me!

The night before was exciting.  I prepared my race kit, packed my bags, rehearsed transition, the kids made cheering signs, my brother and his fiancee planned travel logistics for them, we all went carb-loading and my wife tried to keep our unborn-son safely in the oven.  I was excited and nervous at the same time and barely slept that night and as soon as my alarm went off that morning I jumped out of the bed and was out the door in mere minutes due to my OCD-like level of preparation the night before.

When we arrive to the race site, we noticed significant chop in the water which worried us a bit about the swim but preparations went well and my family arrived shortly before race start.  The one wonderful thing that children have taught me is how to put things into perspective.  Though I was quite nervous before the race, when I spent a few moments with them before the start it helped calm my nerves and realize that what was important is that I got to share this event with them more than racing itself.  The time passed quickly and before I knew it, the gun start signaled the beginning of the swim in the beautiful, yet rough setting.

A successful finish of the race for all of us

The race went by in a blur.  The swim was hard as the rough waters hampered sighting and the waves rendered breathing difficult.  After swallowing a bit of lake water, I switched to the bike allowing me to bring my heart rate down and fuel up on liquids and nutrition.  The second transition was the highlight of my race.  The kids were right next to me and cheered me on loudly as I changed into running gear and I took a few seconds to give them high fives.  To see their faces as they cheered and taking those few seconds to recognize them made their day and frankly was the best moment of the event.  6.2 miles later and I crossed the finish line rejoining my proud family and friends.  Little did I know my day was long from over…

After the race, life returned to its routine.  We ate a bit and drove back, the kids wanted to do some sprinting in the driveway (ouch), I had a load of sushi for dinner (an excellent recovery meal I might add) and after checking the data from the race I went to bed at 9:55PM promptly falling asleep by 10:00PM, exhausted and thrilled about the day.  I’ll always remember my wife waking me at 10:05PM that same night wondering what could possibly be so important to wake me up from such a sound sleep.  It turns out that though my unborn son had answered my prayers to let me race before he came out, he was now ready ready to join the excitement.  By 10:15 we were in the car heading to the hospital.

The excitement of the day was irresistible for our third son who joined us shortly after the race

Though I managed to find a bit of comfort in a wooden chair, the night went by quickly and before we knew it, a very healthy boy was born Sunday morning.  The excitement was of course intense but my stamina was running slow and after making sure everyone was all right, I looked at my wife who took pity on me and told me to go get some rest.  By 7AM, after checking up on our two sons at home under the care of my mother, I finally found some very welcomed sleep.  What an exciting day!  Obviously if I can do a triathlon, bring a child into this world and sleep less than 4 hours in 3 days, I so can do an Ironman!

Balancing life’s priorities between work, training and family is a complicated affair but involving everybody is the key.  I’m not sure how often I rubbed my wife’s belly whispering to our little one to stay in until after my race, but his answering my requests proved the point that one had best include everyone in the decision chain…

A beautiful View of the Capitol during the DC National Half and Full Marathon

To avoid undue repetition I won’t spent much time highlighting this aspect of taking the long way, instead, I will focus on learning about the environment you are in at the time.  On March 20^th, I had the opportunity to run in the Washington DC Half-Marathon (my first) which took us through the various neighborhoods of the capital. Starting in the east side by Robert F. Kennedy’s stadium, the beginning of the route took us by the capitol, along the mall, past the white house before heading north through Dupont Circle and beyond.  As we left the more manicured neighborhoods of the city, we entered some of the lower-income areas and saw a part of the city which I admit I had never really seen.  As we ran deeper inside DC, the crowds grew more fun and lively waiting for us with music, cheers, even beer stations at times.  There is a feeling that one can get from walking (or running) through various neighborhoods of a city that would be impossible to gather simply by driving through it.  Understanding the culture of one’s environment can only be done by being right where the people live and staying in the public, well-groomed environments cannot possibly provide a comprehensive view of that culture or a sense for how its people act, react and interact with one another.   In most cases, this requires taking the long way.

Running Through the Streets of DC

I am now in Europe – Paris to be specific – working on another business opportunity for my company.  As it often happens, the first few days were a bit chaotic primarily reacting to the environment, the demands of the new deal, and the culture, even though I am already quite familiar with it.  The first three days were filled with meetings, business dinners, and were particularly fast paced requiring me to travel via taxis to maximize my time.  To my surprise, I had a particularly hard time adapting to my environment these first days and grew quite frustrated at my seemingly lack of adaptability, something I am usually quite good at particularly for a country where I’ve spent so many years.  For these first few days, I felt a bit lost.  The fourth day, I decided to wake an hour earlier and take the metro across Paris to go to work instead of the usual cab which required a bit of walking to even get to the station.

Walking amidst the streets of Paris and seeing it famous buildings and monuments such as the “Place de la Republique” was soothing.  Noting the pace of people walking with a purpose yet with a certain elegance, seeing people sitting at various “cafes” enjoying the dark and powerful flavor of their espressos reminded me of their famous “art de vivre”.  I saw in these few streets to the metro the French live.  Once inside the efficient underground metro system I saw how people of different economic backgrounds, race heritage, sex, or age interact and meld so well together.  I noted how pregnant women or mothers were treated like queens, (much more so than within our American heritage I must say) and similarly how purposefully people move and are unlikely to pause to help you lest they knew you.

This Paris Metro line is 100% automated to avoid impact during the regular strikes of metro employees.

By the time I had reached the office that fourth day I felt that I understood my environment better and was ready to interact with the local culture.  From then on my movements were slower but more purposeful, my focus became one aimed at the relationships versus the tasks, my meals became social events as opposed to events focused on ingesting food.  I became more engrained in the local culture and felt like the resulting work my time there was much more successful and frankly, I enjoyed it more.  The rest of the week I made it a point to take the long way, walking through the crowded streets of the city of lights, taking its public transportation system and my time.  I walked through the Canal St. Martin and saw lovers strolling, I felt the city wake and rest as I travelled its worn sidewalks, I noticed the dance between pedestrians, cyclists and motorists, I noted how people smiled and dined, how they smoked and talked, how they drove and dressed.  Taking the long way became more and more enjoyable as the week went by.

The busy streets of Saint Germain

Though taking the public transportation system while in Europe was likely slower than a taxi and left less time to work out and stay close to my training plan, it was truly beneficial in so many ways.  It made me appreciate the culture more, it made me more efficient in my job and in dealing with local people.  Though the sport of triathlon is an important part of my life, putting it on hold for a week while I had the immense opportunity to be in a different environment was entirely worth it.  That is the challenge in balancing our various passions, it sometimes means that it’s ok to put a work-out plan on hold to cherish what life brings you.  I most definitely recommend taking the long way in all you do.  Take the time to know and understand your environment, take a longer loop while you run, take the public transportation system as opposed to the blend taxi cabs.  It’s always worth it to take the long way.

A great sunrise over St. Barth

Already 2010 has been full of excitement on all fronts.  I’ve travelled to Pennsylvania, Chicago, San Antonio, Paris, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Charles for work and vacation in a short 2 months and already have enough miles to maintain status on United Airlines until 2012.  Treadmill 10-Ks, ice-covered 10-milers and frozen 5-Ks, hours on the trainer, stationary and mountain bikes, pools without heaters and warm ocean water have all helped me build a great base for this triathlon season.  I’ve surrounded myself with my wife, children, parents, brothers and close friends and taken every opportunity to spend time with them.  All in all, I’ve set the stage for a great year.

Despite a few injuries to my knees and ankles, I’m ready to kickoff the season with the National Half-Marathon on March 20th.  I’ve never done a half-marathon, come to think of it, I’ve never done a 10-K in any formal race.  Less than a year ago I couldn’t run a single mile and now I’m considering running 13.1 of them in a row.  Up until last year I’d find any and all excuses not to run including bad ankles, bad knees, shin splints and many others I’ve already forgotten.  Since then, I’ve run a few hundred miles and even had to buy my second pair of running shoes.  My swimming has improved and though my biking fitness isn’t up to speed because of bad weather conditions (just a few record snow storms in the East coast) I’m quite excited for the season to start.

The 2010 snow storm(s) made training outside a bit difficult at times

In addition to a promising triathlon season, this year will most definitely challenge my balance between family, work and sports.  In late April we are expecting our third son and have started planning changes for living with three boys in the house.  Anyone that has children or lives around them knows what a wonderful challenge they can be and how they can easily take up every minute of your available time and more.

2010 will be incredibly busy and exciting and holds much promise.  As I plan out for the year I am trying to take in some lessons from 2009, one of which is how to balance travel, training and family.

The last time I wrote I was still in Europe finalizing a large project and pacing myself for a strong finish.  I’m glad to say that we did finish the project well but more importantly, that I had paced myself well enough to return home and be fresh for my family and training.  In fact, after putting the kids to bed the evening I arrived from France I jumped on the bike for an hour session and it felt great!

The one major thing that I learned upon coming back is that life on the home front goes-on with and without you.  This is an important lesson and I’ll explain.

Catching yet another airplane

Life and everyone in it develops a routine whether it’s how you pick up a cup of coffee on the way to work, take breaks while at the office, or schedule your workout regimen.  But the most important routines are  established at home and children quite often find comfort in it.  When one leaves as I did on a multi-week business trip, or as some do in the military for many months life at home continues and so does its routine.  School pick up and drop-off times are established, sports and activities schedules are set, bed time routines are comfortable.  While we, those who leave our families behind adapt to our new environment, those that are left behind adapt to your absence.  Though being away is hard for everyone, it is often returning home that can be challenging.

Don’t impose your routine

When I came back from Europe, there were many things that I wanted to include in our family routines taken from France.  For example, I frankly prefer dinners later; perhaps not 9PM like the French do but certainly later than the 5:30 or 6PM that Americans often adopt.  Though I haven’t necessarily given up on getting my family to eat a bit later, this doesn’t come overnight.  Change always takes time and I have a tendency to want things my way quite rapidly which isn’t always wise.  Believe it or not, your family gets used to you being gone and they need time to get used to you being home.  Be careful not to impose your routine and try to adapt to theirs.

Don’t try to “catch-up”

A mistake I’ve made in the past is to try to cram a week’s worth of time with my children in a short weekend.  As I’ve learned the hard way, your family doesn’t always feel like they have to move around their schedule to accommodate your need to catch-up, and kids in particular are fine with restoring a routine just as if you’d never left.  It’s important as the returning traveller to blend into the existing routine, to make yourself available but not necessarily try to change things.  That was a lesson learned over time which I need to make sure to apply this year.

Stay flexible

Though the snow made it hard to train, it also gave us a chance to spend some time as a family

Flexibility is important in any aspect of one’s life and particularly for travellers.  Though this point might be slightly contradictory to the previous one, children aren’t necessarily the most consistent or predictable creatures and your best-laid plans will often succumb to their whims.  I try to plan my training carefully around the family schedule.  Swimming early in the morning before people awake, bike riding during kids naps or quiet time, running after dinner, etc…  The problem is that the unexpected will happen and I can guarantee that it WILL wreck your training or other plans.  As your bike is ready, your outfit is on, water bottles and gels packed and you look forward to a 3 hour bike ride, a child will inevitable come and tell you that they wish you’d stay and play with them.  Though the priority is obvious, the choice is at times painful.  So be ready for your family to wreck havoc in your training, whether they want to play, are sick or whatever the reason might be, your training will suffer.  Of course work will do the same.  Last minute proposals, late night conference calls, etc… all this things will impact your balance.  The only attitude to have is to remain flexible and expect changes, you’ll be better off knowing that things will change.

There's never enough time for family and friends so I always make the most of that little time we have together

I’m sure I’ll add to these lessons over time, but remember that just because you return from traveling, everyone else doesn’t necessarily feel that their lives should change because of it.  They had to adapt while you were gone, respect the fact that they don’t necessarily want to adapt when you return.  Instead, it is up to you to adapt to their needs.

I’ve learned a lot in 2009 and it was truly a break-out year for me in terms of physical fitness, business acumen, career development and life balance.  I am truly looking forward to 2010 and its challenges, to share some lessons learned from this winter’s activities and talk about this balancing act between family, business and sports.

I am often called upon to support large opportunities as a subject matter expert or from a general advisory perspective.  I’ve always enjoyed participating in these “mega-deals” as I get to learn directly from the clients what they are looking for and I have an opportunity to have a large impact on the business.  As such, I often raise my hand to join these projects.  When I started in these roles many years ago, before even joining my present company, I blindly followed others who typically really kick things into high gear and hit the ground running.  There’s always so much to do in these engagements and there’s enough work to go around that one could work 24 hours a day and still not get everything accomplished.  It’s usually quite easy to burn out rapidly in these long and often stressful events.

Pacing is as important in business as it is in sports

Some people – as I did in my early years – perform a herculean effort early on in the project only to crash well before the proposal is due leaving the team with additional burden to pick up.  Others always seem to have an uncanny ability to float up above like an eagle, supporting the deal of course but with a more moderate effort.  As the deal comes closer to the end and as the team gets nearer the finish line, these people fly down low and start accelerating their participation and often carry it across the line.  This analogy is similar between sports and business where pacing yourself serves not only you but the team well.  It prevents burning up too fast and it offers more support when it is truly needed.

Now this doesn’t mean that at the end of a complex sales pursuit one can’t pull an all-nighter to put the finishing touches on a proposal, it just means that those should be saved for the end just like a sprint at the end of a race.  Though I won’t give the entire credit to my triathlon journey for the discovery of this analogy and strategy in both sports and business, I will however note that this is one element when both passions are complimentary.  The sports has certainly given men some insight into pacing, reverse-splits, and stamina.  The business on the other hand has given me some mental toughness, and helped build a psyche that can endure long stressful events.

I now find myself in the last 3-day sprint of a large and complex proposal where the hours seem to never end and stress heightens the senses.  I’m ready for this last push and I know that triathlons have made me a better businessman and business a better triathlete.  After crossing that finish line, I can go back home with my head held high knowing that I ran a good race and finished strong.  Though I loved my time in France, I must say that I’m truly looking forward to seeing my family again.

Our youngest displaying his excitement, the oldest pictured above.

From a pre-thanksgiving dinner to the actual dinner, shopping, post dinners and in between food, deserts, wine and cheeses, it was a good thing that I worked out as I did.  My older brother accompanied me on the 5K turkey trot and the Saturday morning 5.2 mile run that we did.  I also biked twice, swam once and even made it to the gym.  6 work out in 5 days was great but it turned out to be too much.  By the time I finished my 2-hour frigid bike ride on Sunday and headed to the gym I knew I was in trouble.  The headache started and a cold was coming.  I had to head back to France for 2.5 weeks worth of work the following day and there was nothing I could do.  I tried my normal overdosing of medicine but it failed this time and my travel of months, lack of sleep and stress at work finally caught up with me.  There was nothing I could do.  As I write this I’m at the end of my cold trying to prevent it from becoming a sinus infection, we’ll see where we end up of course…

Being sick would set anyone back while at home, but away in a foreign country makes it particularly painful.  Not only is the lack of facilities or equipment difficult to overcome, but the need for additional sleep to attempt a recovery makes it useless to even pretend to try to fit in a workout or two.  My first week here was empty of any workout and only this past Sunday did I manage a run on the french countryside.  The 5 mile run was slow but successful and I hope helped put my body back in shape.

The plan for the rest of the trip is simple, run a few times, get healthy and start a solid 6 week training period when I return.  Though the weather is cold and I’m sure I could find lots of excuses, I’m very confident now that I’ve been away for a while that I can find the time and means to train when I’m at home.

As I look at my schedule while working on this important project and my access to facilities and nutrition habits, I’m honestly not entirely sure how I could do better.  As I evaluate my decision to maximize training which likely resulted in my being sick I still wonder whether it truly was a bad decision.  On the one hand it set me back a bit this week but on the other I don’t know that I would have done much more with my brutal schedule here.  I had to get a bike in and a swim in so as to not go a full month without riding or swimming.  Either way is a tough decision and is precisely the difficulty in finding balance between the priorities of our lives.

My brothers and a family friend by the Fish Market, an old-town landmark and tradition

The thought further makes me wonder if I have reached a limitation in what I can and cannot do while maintaining a balance between work and my lofty goal of an Ironman.  Though I feel comfortable that I will be able to complete the 2010 season, a full Ironman would not be compatible with this schedule and foreign travel.  Choices will eventually have to be made but for now, I’ll focus on what’s important and that includes completing my project successfully, getting healthy and returning home to see my family and train hard.  As for tonight, it includes going to sleep quickly and planning to go on a short jog in the morning.

The schedule might appear brutal starting with a Turkey Trot this morning and a 2 hour bike session on the trainer, tomorrow’s swim and gym and the rest of the weekend is likely to be just as busy.  In an odd way my body is craving the workout and needs to feel the endorphins run through my body.  The trip was hard but I’ve learned some and know that I need to plan better for the next two weeks if I want to ensure training doesn’t suffer.  Of course, people in Europe don’t take Thanksgiving off and are still calling and expecting me to handle e-mails.

When I first woke up this morning, I weighed myself and so far so good, I didn’t appear to have gained too much weight while on the road.  I managed to run a 5K Turkey Trot with my brother from France with a PR of 27:30 and felt generally good though my pacing wasn’t ideal.  Despite my best intentions to start slow and attempt negative splits I kicked it off too fast of course.  The good news is that I know I can do better and I think I can break 27 minutes.  My knees felt strong and I tried my new cw-x stability tights which felt great (particularly in overcoming the 40 degree weather).  Thanks to Kingstowne Striders for setting up this inaugural 5K!

Pretending Not To Be In Pain During the 5K Turkey Trot

Later in the day, I put my Orbea on the trainer for a 2 hour session watching a movie and focusing on short drills (Speed and one-legged).  The session was painful I must admit not only in terms of muscle fatigue but also in terms of mental toughness.  It’s obvious that I haven’t been on the bike in a while and my back, shoulders, not to mention legs, grew tired quickly. I’m hoping to go biking another couple of times before flying back to Europe next week.  Being inside for two hours was also particularly painful from a mental perspective, but the roads were wet and I can’t afford an accident.

The rest of the day was focused on preparation for our own Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow (Friday) along with joining my brothers for tonight’s festivities and our parents’ house.  In doing so, I’ve managed to spend quality time with family, I trained hard and even handled a few e-mails.  All in all, it’s been a good start to my weekend and I’m thrilled of the balance I’ve achieved. Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I have much to give thanks for, I hope you do as well.

Our Frankfurt office boasts an incredible view

Balancing travel, client meetings, preparations and sports simply didn’t happen this past week.  This current project has required extremely long hours and I’m not one to operate well with anything less than 6 hours of sleep and I frankly need 7-8 hours.  Less than that and I become stressed and often sick which makes things even worse and becomes quite counterproductive for both work and training.  The daily decisions to balance any level of training with the requirement to sleep and remain in ideal mental and physical position to focus on day-long client meetings, the need to participate in team activities and join sometimes lengthy dinners, and simply the lack of hours in any given day are a constant struggle and can be quite a source of stress.

As this looming challenging project arrived, I’d tried to plan for my travel as best as I could particularly mentally.  I know that while I travel the best I can hope for is to break even where I don’t loose much fitness.  Running is possible anywhere and as it is my weak point it is also the focus of my winter training.  As I travel I know that I can run and there’s not much excuse not to.  Even a 20 minute run is possible anywhere and I know that I am willing to sacrifice an hour of sleep for a short run so long as I have more than 6 hours of it.

Biking and swimming are harder while on the road.  I was just talking to a friend of mine and we agree that all major hotel chains around the world should have endless pools.  Sadly it doesn’t seem that everyone agrees with us and finding a pool large and long enough to have a good workout is harder than I once imagined.  Biking is similar though typically slightly more accessible, many hotels have a stationary bike but it requires more time and that is precisely what is missing when working on large projects away from home.

French cuisine is hard to resist

What I hadn’t planned for was the change in nutrition.  Europeans eat much later than Americans and it is just not conducive to training or healthy eating.  After lunch around 12 or 1 waiting until dinner at 8, 9 or 10PM is just too much and so two things happen.  The first is that by 6PM, my blood sugar is so low that I have to eat something – anything – such as chocolate, cookies, or random other things that are generally unhealthy.  By the time dinner arrives I’m absolutely famished and I eat way more than I need to and of course heading to sleep right after doesn’t exactly burn any calories.  Combine these bad eating habits with the incredible German food or French cuisine and you can get an idea that my nutrition has been less than ideal for the purposes of triathlon performance.

And so despite my best attempts to plan for training or even workload and travel, I missed the nutrition aspect of it.  As I plan to fly home in a few days and prepare to return to Paris I will certainly work on adjusting and better preparing my nutrition needs.  Of course I say this as I’m about to go home for Thanksgiving dinner which I would remiss to not eat a lot of considering my lovely wife apparently purchased the largest turkey available at our local grocery store…

Traveling for work is very different than traveling for leisure.  As my company just sent me to Paris for a few days to work on a client opportunity, I left Washington DC Wednesday at 5:20PM and landed Thursday in Paris at 6:30AM to arrive at the office by 9AM.  The challenge with this schedule is that it is often hard to fall asleep at 5PM yet by the time we land we have a full day’s worth of meetings and activities.  For leisure travel, other flights are available that leave at 10PM and arrive in France at 11AM.  These flights are much better to sleep as it matches your body’s internal clock.  No such luck for me this time.

The importance then on this trip was both to try to get some sleep but also to make it as restful as possible.  Here are a few tips that I found useful.

• No Caffeine:  Even to those who claim to be “immune” to caffeine, it is an excitant and even for someone like me who is an avid coffee drinker, avoiding any caffeinated beverages will help you sleep much better
• No Alcohol:  This is one that isn’t necessarily intuitive as I’ve learned over the years.  There was a time when I indulged in a few drinks either right before or during a flight to get me to fall asleep easier.  While this is true and the inebriation will help you close your eyes, your sleep will be far less restful.  It is a tradeoff of course and each person will have different experiences but my own tell me to stay away from the drinks.
• Water:  Planes are very dehydrating.  One of the first things I do after passing security at an airport is to go buy a large bottle of water.  It flushes the system, keeps it hydrated and whether you’re flying or not is always a good thing
• Eat:  The one thing I recommend to do is to eat.  I usually try to eat either before I board or on the plane.  The digestive process tends to make me tired and helps me sleep better.
• Eyes and Ears:  I’ve collected several eye masks and ear plugs in my travels and have found them very useful.
• Blanket:  If I wear a blanket on the plane, I ensure that my seat belt is over the blanket.  This prevents flight attendants from waking me up when the seat-belt sign comes on (And it invariably does during any given flight).
• Melatonin:  I’ve used Melatonin on short overseas flights.  Melatonin is the body’s natural hormone that is produced to help you sleep and can be obtained without a prescription.  By taking some an hour before the flight it helps tell the body that it’s time to sleep.  Others use Ambient (Prescription) or Tylenol PM.  Though I’ve never tried them I have certainly heard and read that it is best to get a full eight hours of sleep with sleeping aids.  Since the flights from the East-Coast to Europe are 6-7 hours, it’s far from enough time for a full sleeping aid and may result in making you groggy.  A small dose of Melatonin (3mg) seemed to help me and suffice.
• Vitamins:  No big surprises there but I always recommend taking lots of vitamins when you travel.  It helps boost your immune system and keep you healthy.  It’s a no brainer.

This combination has certainly helped me get a couple of hours of sleep on overseas flights.  Even 2-3 hours can go a long way to help manage the day when you land and last until later afternoon/early evening when you can eclipse yourself to catch some sleep in your hotel.  Traveling is hard for anyone.  Whether as a businessman with busy schedules, an athlete with training commitments or as a parent with young children as I’ve done in the past, flights for multiple hours will place a strain on your body.  While I continue to learn new things or adaptation mechanisms on every flight, the lessons above have served me well.  I’m sure I’ll add some more over time.