Taking training on the road

I spent the weekend in San Antonio with three of my very best girlfriends--Lisa, Jenn, and Diane. We've been friends since 7th grade. Every year, we pick a destination and meet up for a long weekend. And I return feeling refreshed, renewed, and nurtured.

I am not a light packer, and this weekend was no exception. Many years ago, I used to be able to get by with a small carry-on for a weekend trip. These days, however, my portable training equipment is my constant travel companion. So, off to San Antonio I went, armed with running shoes and gear, the Garmin GPS, the yoga mat and clothes. Fortunately, it's relatively easy to track down a yoga studio and the class schedule. With websites such as mapmyrun.com it's also quite simple to chart a running route in a new location. I even found a website that lists all swimming pools that are open to the public and have adult lap swim hours. If I'm driving somewhere, either for work or for play, I bring my bike. Worst case scenario, if I happen to be stuck in a recreation desert or am sidelined by unhelpful weather, I run the treadmill in the hotel gym and do push-ups and Pilates in my room.

It's funny now what I see when I travel. Steve and I were on Catalina Island a couple of weeks ago. Sitting on the beach looking out at the bay, some people see a place where boats dock for a vacation. I see imaginary lap lines and calculate in my head how many meters from one end to the other. When I was in Carmel with my mom and stepdad in August, I saw the steep hilly streets downtown not as obstacles to overcome while shopping but rather as a great interval workout. When in Florida this past January, I knew I could trust my father to give me a good 5-mile run route--one with wide shoulders or sidewalks, little traffic, and good views.

Back in San Antonio, Lisa and I mapped out a 6-mile run along the riverwalk--a lovely way to see the city. This is one thing I love about running, biking, and working out in a foreign place: I get to experience the town as the locals do. I frequent their gyms or workout studios. I run their side streets. I bike their highways. I maneuver through their rush hour traffic and witness their weekend activities from a different vantage. I look like a local, doing things the locals do. I remember one work trip to Pueblo, Colorado this past spring. I brought my bike, excited to hit the open road for a long ride.

Well, I had to put the kibosh on those plans once I realized that the highway and railroad created this nearly impenetrable barrier to anything without a motor. So, instead I enjoyed a leisurely ride through the historic neighborhoods, admiring the Victorian homes and large lots. And once back at the hotel, I threw on my running shoes and attacked the hills on foot. Aha! I'll get my heart rate up one way or another.

The bottom line is this: if training is to be a part of my life, it must go with me wherever I go. I also must learn to improvise. Planning will get me only so far. Sometimes the run route is under construction or, as happened to me one May traveling through the Colorado mountains, winter dumps a late-season snowstorm on my bike ride. And if things don't go as planned, I've learned that it doesn't help to obsess over the training session I'm missing. Instead, I listen to the message being sent and take advantage of the forced rest. And catch up on my reading.