Competition Prep & Travel. Like Oil and Water. Don't really Mix

So, as many of you know I travel all over the United States offering my one of a kind teacher training program for pole fitness instructors 3 weekends of every month. I am on one of those trips now and it reminded me to share my travel tips. In addition, this is the number one question I get from fellow fitness competitors; "how do I stay on plan within 5 weeks of show and travel?"

The key to any successful enterprise is preparation. I prepare my food in advance. I prepare my post it notes. I also prepare my eating schedule against my travel schedule.

1. Food Preparation: Some foods travel better than others.
* Bad Travel Foods: All the squashes turn kind of sour. Fish like Tilapia require more refrigeration and it gets this weird gel that congeals around it. Asparagus and all frozen veggies and fruits turn really soggy.
* Good Travel Foods: Hard Boiled Eggs, Ground Beef and Turkey Balls, Tuna Packets, all Veggies only slightly baked never boiled, brown rice, quinoa, and swt potatoes. Flax oil pills, so I don't have to check bags. Whey protein powder pre measured into single scoop baggies. Grapefruit and apple are the best traveling fruits but berries are really challenging. Strawberries travel best.
* Storage: All of the foods I prep are placed in zip log bags or really cheap storage containers. I like storage containers better. My zip lock bags always leak so if I need to use zip lock bags I double bag it. Never mix foods because they have different expiration. My storage containers and zip lock bags are the key to easy travel because as I eat something I throw the container away. Never carry dirty stinky storage containers home. I also set up these storage containers in bulk. I do not separate them by meal. This started to confuse me and took up too much space. Lastly, I never pack extra food. This will encourage me to eat the extra food.
*Refrigeration on the Road: Not everything needs refrigeration. Most of my trips are 5 days. If they are any longer then I will only stay in a hotel that has refrigerators, Motel 6 actually works best for me. On a 5 day trip I don't really worry about refrigeration. I request extra Ice Buckets. I only ice my meats covering the entire container with ice, then I place the veggies on top.

2. Prepare my Post It Notes.
I prepare my post it notes with each of my meals per day per post it note. I always have to travel with materials for work. I place all those materials in a binder.When I open the binder the post its are stuck to the inside of the cover of the binder. This is a gentle reminder to stay on track. I used to actually label the travel containers but that was really confusing for me.

3. Prepare my Eating Schedule.
Although I normally eat 5 meals per day when I am close to show, travel plans don't always allow for this. Oddly enough you would think I eat less meals but I actually end up eating more meals when I travel. Usually 6 or 7. It is the exact same amount of food just less per meal. If I plan on eating 6 or 7 meals, every 2 hours, and I miss a meal because of my travel or work chaos I can easily combine 2 meals. Also, I will always plan a snack or a meal while I am sitting on an airplane. There is nothing worse then having some guy with potato chips crunching next to you and you still have 2 more hours before your next meal. My airplane days are the biggest challenge. I look at my flight itinerary and make sure a meal is planned during that time, then I start backing out my meals 2 hours from that flight. I include my eating schedule on my Post Its for that day. If you are on vacation and are site seeing I still do the same thing but my food has to be on the go foods.

So this is my 3 step approach to traveling while prep'ing for a fitness competition. I hope it helps.

Hugs,
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