In the run-up to my first Highland Games competition in 2023, I spent 16 of 25 days traveling for work. In that time, I took seven flights across three time zones and drove about 1,500 miles. At most destinations, I arrived late, woke early, then stood on hard floors all day with limited chances to drink water. Somewhere in there, I also went to the velodrome for track cycling sprint practice (including an elimination race) and to visit a weightlifting gym for heavy snatches, around lifting & throws practices when I was home.
Despite all that, I made above-average marks in all my Games throws – just two days removed from the last trip, after sleeping on my sister-in-law’s couch.
This is part 3 in a series about being a Road Warrior and keeping your body in good condition despite frequent travel.
Bonus: all these tips help when you travel for competition, too.
Familiar Routines Kick Off Your Recovery
In the previous piece, I shared how I bring my home routines with me as an athlete traveling frequently. Starting and ending my days in a consistent way help ease my nerves but they can’t keep me lucid.
Rather than rely on caffeine and sugar to get through my work days on the road, I try to optimize my sleep. I do that by obsessing about sleep hygiene and controlling my controllables.
Manage Travel With Sleep Hygiene
I never get enough sleep on work trips. I rarely get enough sleep on personal trips and when I do, the hours don’t tend to align with my typical home bed time. So to get the best possible sleep while traveling, I do a few things on the road I don’t do at home.
I travel with ear plugs and a sleep mask. You’ll feel like you’re wasting a few hundred dollars trying different ear plugs and mask shapes & materials to find something you love, but it’s worth every dollar. My bedroom at home is cool, dark, and quiet. Rarely is a hotel room even one of those, much less all three. So at least giving my brain a version of dark and quiet let’s me sleep deeper.
For long trips, I actually have my own pillow case, too. Texture can be a bigger disruptor to quality sleep than you might believe, but my silk pillow case is actually to reduce how dry and scratchy my face feels (related to hydration, but also to general comfort). Plus, since it’s a familiar pillow case, it helps me settle into sleep quicker.
I described parts of my routines in the previous piece, but what I select within those routines matters, too. I don’t bother with coffee if it isn’t good coffee, so I either bring my travel French press with my own coffee grounds for the longest trips or I pack tea sachets for quick trips. I like spicy chai or red tea in the morning; ginger or chamomile at night. Familiar flavors are the main thing, but the hint of caffeine in the morning and the herbal tea in the evening reminds my body where we are in the sleep/wake cycle, thus I sleep better.
But a few other things support sleep hygiene beyond routines and familiarity: hotels are full of blinking, flashing, pulsing, and running lights. Plus, I need to charge all my devices and, unlike home, it’s not as simple as moving them to another room. So I have a master charging kit with all the necessary plugs, then I put my stuff on the chair of the hotel room desk and push it all the way in. The desk obscures the light from my devices.
Now we get all the way crazy: I turn the hotel room alarm clock face down; I cover the phone with a washcloth; and I move room furniture to block any other weird lights. Most hotels aren’t so bad that I have to lay a towel along the bottom of the door…but don’t think for a second I’m above it. Your skin reacts to light, too. The reaction isn’t as severe as light on your eyes (so get the sleep mask), but it can be enough to alter your REM/non-REM cycle, so cover up all the blinking if you really need good sleep.
Next up, we’ll cover strategically using exercise so you can stay on track and keep getting better despite these disruptive trips.
Jump to…
- Part 1: Road Warrior Hydration
- Part 2: Road Warrior Routines [you’re here!]
- Part 3: Road Warrior Sleep Hygiene
- Part 4: Road Warrior Exercise