Managing the Holiday Hustle and Bustle
Image by Andy Beales via Unsplash
The holiday season is officially upon us.
With the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it can be easy to officially move running to the back burner and worry about it in the new year.
Don’t.
I get it. My life gets crazy this time of year as well, and I’m rarely able to log as many miles or run as frequently as I’d like to.
But by making a few tweaks to the “normal schedule,” I’m still able to run consistently and maintain the momentum in my training that I’ve been building for the past year.
And you can do the same thing.
Try Sticking to the Schedule
As much as you can, try to maintain your normal training schedule.
Now, I realize that I just talked about tweaking your running schedule over the holidays. That said, trying to keep things as normal as possible is a great idea.
Whether we want to admit it or not, we are all creatures of habit. We love routine. So the closer we can get to maintaining the status quo, the better.
You may have to cut your runs short or you may have to run at a different time of day than you prefer, but simply running on your regular running days is the ideal situation.
Ideal Situation? Yeah, Right…
When you can’t maintain your regular running routine for one reason or another, you have to adjust.
A 20-30 minute easy run a few times a week is enough to keep your momentum going. And you’re not going to lose much if any fitness from dialing back the volume and intensity of your training.
I promise.
In fact, you might even feel refreshed in January after omitting long runs/tempo runs/speed sessions for a couple of weeks.
Take Advantage of the Seasonal Opportunities
For many families, time together over the holidays is sacred.
So disappearing for a run, even a quick couple of miles, may not be possible.
Is there a chance you could convince the family to make running in the Santa Scamper/Reindeer Run/Jingle Bell Jog a new family tradition? The non-runners can watch the little kids while you run the race with the nieces and nephews?
If you find yourself at the local sledding hill, what’s stopping you from running up the hill?
If you’re heading to the ice skating rink, get a little extra cross training in.
You may not be able to run as often as normal during the holidays, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do some type of exercise between now and the end of the year.
Do the Best You Can
If you have to miss a run, that’s ok.
If you have to miss a week of running, that’s ok too.
While I would encourage you to maintain as much consistency over the coming weeks as you can, if you miss a day or two or 10 due to holiday festivities you’ll be fine.
Just get that next run in as soon as you have the chance and you won’t miss a beat once January is upon us!
