How to Handle The Holiday Season

Focus on training through the holidays

Heading into the holidays, you might be asking yourself what to do with training! Complete rest and tuck into the eggnog? Or stay on the full throttle gas right through the holidays come hell or high water!?

I have some ideas and thoughts that might help you get creative and navigate this time period.

Typically, you have a few more commitments on the friends, family, and work front as the year comes to an end and holiday cheer is in the air. All year, we ask the network in our life to support us and give us the freedom to focus on our sport. Through the holidays, I find it’s useful for long-term investment to give back to your support network. Give them more time. Miss a session or two and invest in them now so you have their support later in the year when you need it. We ask a lot of the people around us in the thick of our seasons and when we are training hard. Now is a good time to give back to them.

A strategy I’ve used over the years that I have found works very well is spending the month of December focused on one single goal that could most impact your overall season. Get up early and get it done first thing in the morning so it’s done and out of the way before your day gets rolling. Check it off the list for the day and then if holiday stuff pops up throughout the day, you don’t miss out.

 For example, I have my team do a 25-day run challenge. We do it as a team so everyone can have fun and have peer support to stay on task. You can get up early, get it done, and time efficiency is good. In regard to the impact on the season, I’ve found running 25 straight days in December has a huge positive impact for athletes to carry into their next season. But it doesn’t have to be running. It could be a challenge that is specific to you. The key is you get up and get it done, and it has a positive impact on your year. This way, you relieve the stress of your normal multi-day session and commitment, but you have the satisfaction of doing some good work to keep you progressing forward.

These are my top tips for the holiday season. Be creative, be flexible, have some fun and enjoy the holidays!