Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 128, March 2020 | Page 39

LESSONS LEARNT THROUGH
TRIAL AND ERROR
Naomi has found through hard experience that some
travel disasters and long layovers make for interesting
adventures, and she shares the following travel tips
1 Plan the Plane Ride
It’s not always possible to plan too far ahead, and
‘life’ can still happen even when you do, but as far
as you can, try to book your flights way in advance
to get shorter/direct flights within the price range
you can afford, and on the dates that fits in best with
your race. Also, minimise layovers, except if it’s going
to benefit you. Booking early will also allow you to
reserve a window seat (the best seat for sleeping),
and your meal preferences. Also, investing in a quality
neck pillow, a soft and comfy mask and some noise
cancelling headphones doesn’t hurt, either.
In my case I knew the flights between SA and New
Zealand are some of the longest, and the time zone
difference is about 11 hours, so I picked a flight with
a long layover in Bali, Indonesia – a country we don’t
need a visa for – and had the best sleep I’ve had in
years, in a cool, quiet hotel room, with a run the next
morning before heading back to the airport. The rest
and movement made the world’s difference, and
helped me to adapt to the time change quicker.
2 Jippo the Jet Lag
The fight between your body clock and the destination
time clock, known as “Jet lag,” can cause sleep-loss,
headaches, dizziness, fatigue and stomach issues, to
name a few. All are things you want to avoid shortly
before or during a race. I’ve found it helpful to set my
alarm to the destination time as soon as I get on the
plane, and to calculate the best time to fall asleep and
wake up accordingly. If the time difference is quite
significant, it also helps to start adjusting your body
four to five days before the trip.
For example, if you are travelling to the East, get up 30
minutes earlier and go to bed 30 minutes earlier every
day (and the other way round for the West). It also
helps to ‘bank’ on sleep a few days before you plan
to travel… which is easier said than done if you stress
about everything, like me, but it’s still worth a try.
3 Move on the Move
In theory, it’s good to move as much as possible
during a long flight, but if you’re squished between
two big guys in a middle seat and they’re both
sleeping, there’s only so much you can do. My rule of
thumb is to try to stand up and walk around every two
hours, if possible (in between movies). If I’m stuck, I
try to at least do a few butt clenches, and move my
legs as much as I can in a sitting position. It promotes
blood flow and reduces stiffness and soreness. During
a layover, take the stairs, walk and stretch. During my
marathon-layover in Dubai, I covered every square
centimetre of the airport, thrice. It didn’t help for sleep
deprivation, but my muscles were grateful!
4 Early is Everything
I’ve read up quite a bit about adjusting to time zones,
because I’ve personally struggled quite a bit with this.
Even when racing in Mauritius, where the flight is fairly
short and the time difference is only about two hours,
I felt like a zombie for days. One article said the rule of
thumb is a day to adjust for every hour of difference,
so for a place with a three-hour difference, you will
need about three days to adjust. Another article said
a minimum of three days per hour are necessary. Like
everything, it’s probably different for every person, but
the more time you have at your destination before the
race, the better your chances of adjusting.
Arriving early also takes a lot of the race day stress
off your shoulders. I’ve never heard any athlete say
that they’ve been bummed that they arrived too long
before the race. On the contrary, the horror stories
are more often than not the “I only arrived the night
before” ones. It gives you time to familiarise yourself
with and enjoy the surroundings, recce parts of the
route so you know what to expect, or to buy those
gels or batteries you forgot at home.
5 Think Drink
It’s difficult to stay hydrated during a flight – nobody
wants to stand in queue for the loo every 10 minutes –
but every athlete knows the importance of hydration.
In struggling to find a solution for myself, I read that
some Olympic athletes snack on salty food before
their flight to help their body retain water. I’m yet to
test this, but providing you have access to enough
water in-flight, this makes sense. Minimising coffee
and alcohol, however temping they may seem, will
also help you to better manage your sleep (and avoid
the loo queue).
6 Food That’s Good
Let’s face it, aeroplane food is not always athlete-
friendly. It’s not necessarily bad-tasting, but can lack
in nutritional value, or just be too little for those with
a fast metabolism. I think the problem is that it’s just
so different from the food we normally fuel ourselves
with. I’ve found that eating a big, healthy meal at the
airport before I jet off, and packing healthy snacks
that are familiar to my stomach, helps. It also means
you don’t have to stay awake for whenever the food
trolley comes round. After receiving a carb-bomb on
my first flight, I got some healthy snacks at the airport
and skipped some of the inflight meals altogether. I
felt lighter and better on arrival.
I eat a mostly plant-based diet, and thus requested
vegan meals for my flights to New Zealand, but ended
up getting bread, rice, pasta, cake, plastic spread
and some very dodgy expired soy milk on one plate.
Not exceptionally healthy, especially for someone
who’s also gluten intolerant. On my flights back
there were no vegetarian meals for me, even though
I had requested them. Another helpful tip: There
are vegetarian options on most flights, but they’ve
become quite popular, so you have to remember to
book these at least 24 hours before your flight!
7 Don’t Do Drugs
I have spoken to doctors and fellow athletes, and
everyone seems to agree that sleeping tablets should
be avoided. They can take days to be worked out of
your system and can have significant side-effects. I,
for one, take two days to wake up after one sleeping
pill! If you really deem it necessary to take medication,
a safe choice is melatonin, a natural hormone
secreted by your brain during darkness that promotes
sleep, but still consult your doctor before using it.
8 Stress Less
My Achilles heel as an athlete is stress, and so when
I travel to race, I try and manage things within my
power to avoid unnecessarily adding to the stress.
This includes starting to pack a few days ahead
– remember to look at the compulsory gear list,
because they can have unexpected requests, like
three headlamps, or a safety body bag.
Printing out flights and accommodation bookings
and itineraries, and keeping copies of my personal
documents in several places in case something gets
lost/stolen, also provides some peace of mind. I also
try and book accommodation and transportation
ahead for at least the first day or two, and clearly mark
and wrap my check-in bags. And, as I have visited the
Lost Luggage counter one too many times, I pack the
stuff I simply cannot do without, like my race vest and
shoes, in my hand luggage.
9 Travel Take-aways
In my experience you always come back a richer
person after travelling, even though you might be
broke, or broken. Even if the race itself doesn’t go
according to plan, at the very least you can say that
you’ve seen a new place, met people from across
the globe and got a stamp in your passport. I’ve
travelled to Mauritius for the Dodo Trail, only to get
lost and disqualified while being in a podium position,
but I learned to windsurf on the same trip, and I can
honestly say I’d do it again if I could!
So, if you are considering an international race, don’t
let the actual travel to get there hold you back. Plan
ahead and minimise the stress and negatives, but
also enjoy the chaos, novelty and unpredictability of it
all. It’s part of the racing experience, and it’s how you
grow as a person!
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