# Enjoy The Christmas Holidays WITHOUT Impacting Your Training Progress | Ep 520

An episode of [Oxygenaddict Triathlon Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/951501034), 18 Dec 2024, 42 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/ea99f7d8/podcast/play/95962344/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2024-11-17%2F391721979-44100-2-a9479b294823e.mp3

In this episode of the Oxygenaddict Podcast, we're focusing on how to spend the crucial Christmas week in a way that sets you up for a healthy and recovered start to the New Year. Coaches Rob Wilby and Chris Palfreyman discuss the SEEDS approach: Sleep, Eating, Exercise, Drinking, and Stress management, taking inspiration from the work of Dr. Simon Marshall. You'll hear tips on: • Sleep: Improving sleep habits, like reducing screen time before bed, adding an extra 30 minutes of sleep per night, using sleep monitoring tools, avoiding eating close to bedtime, and including daily exercise to enhance sleep quality. • Eating: Nutrition and meal planning tips that balance healthy choices with the enjoyment of holiday treats. Learn how treats don’t always have to be chocolate and how to plan Christmas salads that are both nutritious and festive. • Exercise: Keeping active during the holidays but not making training the priority. Explore alternatives like strength and conditioning, yoga, and flexibility exercises. Understand why it's okay if pools are closed during this period. • Drinking: Guidance on limiting alcohol intake and maintaining hydration. • Stress Management: Techniques for managing stress through time outdoors, walking in nature, meditation, journaling, and using Heart Rate Variability (HRV) tracking to monitor stress levels. This episode is designed to help you navigate the holiday season with a focus on health and recovery, ensuring you're ready to kick off the new year in the best shape possible for your Ironman training. * * * * * * * * SPONSORS * * * * * * * * Like what you heard in this show? Join hundreds of other age group triathletes making the most of their limited training time, training with Team OxygenAddict! http://team.oxygenaddict.com - The most comprehensive triathlon coaching program for busy age groupers. Book an application call to see if you'd be a good fit for Team Oxygenaddict for the coming 12 months here: https://team.oxygenaddict.com/consultation-call/ * * * * * * * * * * * * precisionfuelandhydration.com Precision Fuel & Hydration help athletes personalise their hydration and fuelling strategies for training and racing. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised race nutrition plan for your next event. And then book a free 20-minute video consultation with a member of the PF&H Athlete Support Team to refine your strategy. Listeners get 15% off their first order of fuel and electrolytes with Precision Fuel & Hydration. Simply use this link and the discount will be auto-applied at the checkout. * * * * * * * * * * * * Watch on youtube Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcasts

## Transcript

[0:03] Hello and welcome to the Oxygen Addict podcast.
[0:05] We're brought to you every week by our sponsors Precision Fuel
[0:08] and hydration.com. You can personalise your
[0:11] fuelling and hydration strategy so you perform at your best with
[0:14] 15% off your first order of electrolytes and carbohydrate
[0:17] fuel with the code OXYGEN 24 at precisionfuelandhydration.com.
[0:22] So welcome to the show everybody.
[0:23] I'm your host coach Rob Willby, and I am joined by coach Chris
[0:27] Palferman. Chris, how are you today?
[0:29] Hey. Rob, I'm very well.
[0:30] Thank you. Good to hear, mate.
[0:32] Every week we bring you an episode of this podcast to help
[0:35] motivate and inspire you. There's a couple of things you
[0:38] can do for us before we get started today.
[0:39] If you wouldn't mind, if you like this episode, please click
[0:43] follow on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or click Like and
[0:46] subscribe on YouTube. And I've just received the
[0:49] Spotify wrap up of the year thing this morning through
[0:52] Chris, which showed us that something like 78% of our
[0:55] listeners have been new to listening to the show this year.
[0:58] And it's mainly because our current listeners are sharing
[1:01] episodes over WhatsApp, believe it or not.
[1:03] So if you're one of the current listeners who is clicking share
[1:07] this episode and sending it to friends, we really, really
[1:10] appreciate it. The show scene, massive growth,
[1:13] I think it was, I want to share the numbers on socials later on
[1:16] when I've got my act together. It was something like 78% growth
[1:19] this year on new listeners, which is just absolutely
[1:22] brilliant. And it's all down to people who
[1:24] are listening who are sharing the episode.
[1:25] So hopefully, Chris, we're doing something right if people are
[1:28] sharing it. But thank you so much to the
[1:30] listeners who are doing that. It's it's really hard in in
[1:34] today's climate to get any kind of traction on YouTube and in
[1:37] podcasts by giving out genuine information rather than by
[1:42] giving out click bait stuff or photographs of people in bikinis
[1:45] or whatever. So hopefully the genuine
[1:49] information we're giving people on how to Train for Iron Man and
[1:53] triathlon has helped. Our biggest show of the year was
[1:55] the How to Train for Iron Man in six months, which was our
[1:58] biggest downloaded show ever. And a lot of the new listeners
[2:03] to the show have come to us through that one.
[2:05] So there is the appetite for out there for people learning about,
[2:10] you know, training and how to compete in triathlon.
[2:12] So that's great news. And if you're looking for help
[2:15] and advice with your training for Iron Man 70.3 for any kind
[2:19] of endurance event, please get in touch with us.
[2:21] You can e-mail Chris and I at help@oxygenaddict.com or there's
[2:25] a link in the show notes that books are called to our
[2:27] calendar. We'll talk more about that
[2:29] later. But team Oxygen addicts, we
[2:31] genuinely think we've got the best all round training platform
[2:35] for age group as you've got busy lives.
[2:36] So if you like the kind of advice you've been hearing and
[2:39] you want to find out more and you're looking to take the step
[2:42] up with your training to get some proper coaching, then
[2:44] please, please get in touch. All right, then this week's
[2:47] episode is going to be focusing on what to do over Christmas,
[2:52] the Christmas recovery week. And we're timing this so that as
[2:56] you're listening to it, it's going to be Christmas week next
[2:58] week. And I think we kick it off Chris
[3:00] today with your words of wisdom. These went straight in, in the
[3:04] top ten of Chris's words of wisdom that I've ever heard.
[3:08] Last night when we did our team oxygenetic monthly coaching
[3:11] call, we were discussing how we're going to approach the
[3:14] Christmas week and the various kinds of challenges people face
[3:18] over the Christmas week. And I think the thing you said
[3:22] summed up the best. So I'm going to put you on the
[3:24] spot. Let's see if you can even
[3:25] remember what you said. Now what?
[3:27] What was your advice to athletes last night?
[3:29] My advice is use the festive period to do whatever you need
[3:34] to do to make sure that you're ready to rock'n'roll January the
[3:38] 1st or January the second. Healthy and raring to go.
[3:42] If you can hit those two really simple objectives and a lot of
[3:45] you will be thinking, Oh well, that sounds pretty wishy washy,
[3:48] you know. What about increasing my FTP?
[3:51] What about swimming? All that stuff.
[3:53] Festive period Christmas time isn't the time to do that.
[3:57] Yeah, I know you've been talking about it a lot recently as well
[3:59] Rob, but you've seen many athletes get it wrong and that
[4:03] is far worse than getting it a little bit right in terms of the
[4:07] Christmas period is such a tricky 1.
[4:08] The pools are closed, there's alcohol, there's lack of sleep.
[4:12] There's usually plenty of people in the house and it's really
[4:16] hard to find that space to go and do your training but also
[4:20] have your body and mind in a place to actually absorb it.
[4:23] So I had a conversation with one of my one to one athletes
[4:25] yesterday and I said to be honest, take the training with a
[4:29] pinch of salt. It's there for a rough
[4:30] structure. Go for a 20 minute jog if you
[4:33] can, go for a short ride if you can.
[4:36] If the pool's closed, don't worry.
[4:38] And to be honest, if that athlete does none of it, but
[4:41] they come into January feeling healthy, which is kind of the
[4:44] main point, but also raring to go, then that's going to be
[4:47] total success because that's when we're going to start
[4:50] building the training in. You're not going to make huge
[4:53] gains over the Christmas period and we don't want you to.
[4:56] Yeah, I think Andy made a really good point last night, didn't
[4:59] he, that we have to look at the festive period through the lens
[5:03] of the amount of overall life stress.
[5:06] And the temptation is to think, well I've got a week off work,
[5:09] I'll have loads of time to train.
[5:11] And the reality is that not only do you not have loads more time
[5:15] to train than usual, most people have have less time to train
[5:19] than usual. And so it's the first year we've
[5:23] we've approached, we've approached this Christmas week
[5:26] really proactively and sat back and said, do you know what?
[5:30] We need to put our stake in the ground here.
[5:32] And we really need to say to people, look, let's, let's
[5:36] really put recovery at the heart of what we do.
[5:38] Let's put recovery after a hard training block, make it really
[5:41] important schedule a recovery week around the fact that almost
[5:46] all people are going to have this really busy, hectic
[5:49] schedule without very much time, without very much sleep, with
[5:53] lots more alcohol, without the usual good nutrition.
[5:56] So let's plan into that and rather than, you know, the
[5:59] opposite, the opposite extremists there.
[6:01] I love bringing this example up because I think it's the most
[6:03] bonkers idea ever. The Rafa Festive 500, God bless
[6:06] them. But, and I'm sure the people who
[6:08] absolutely thrive off this, but there are a very small number of
[6:11] them who do because how do you fit all that in for the majority
[6:15] of people who have got busy jobs, who've got family lives,
[6:17] super, super difficult. So think the way to the way to
[6:23] give this a bit of framing is want to say to athletes who we
[6:27] coach and to listeners who we don't coach.
[6:30] Let's give you a framework for how your Christmas week can be.
[6:34] And instead of having a training plan, have some things that you
[6:37] can concentrate on that will, as you said, put you in a better
[6:41] position come January the first without them necessarily being
[6:46] fitness and exercise training based.
[6:48] That's what I want people to have as a take away from this
[6:50] episode. I'm just going to add 2 little
[6:52] pieces on top of that, which is one.
[6:55] Maybe we need to get rid of the word training.
[6:57] When we're not talking about progressive load, I think we all
[7:01] fall into the trouble thinking training more, more, more, get
[7:03] fitter, fitter, fitter. But we're talking about very
[7:05] specific 7 days of the year where we don't really want you
[7:10] to be increasing the stress. And that's mental stress, but
[7:13] also the physical stress that we put you through through the
[7:16] sessions. So I think when we're talking
[7:18] about any of the structure that Rob's about to talk us through,
[7:20] they're not training sessions. They are structure to guide you
[7:24] towards hopefully feeling healthy and raring to go in
[7:28] January. Remember, they're the only two
[7:29] objectives. We're not looking at any other
[7:32] metric. So if you can hit those two
[7:34] things. And the other thing is approach
[7:36] the week totally guilt free. Whatever Rob's about to talk you
[7:40] through, it's this is what we want you to do as coaches.
[7:44] It's guilt free. You're doing the right thing.
[7:46] And I think a lot of us over the Christmas period get really
[7:49] agitated and think I should be training.
[7:51] And I know that one of my club partners or training partners is
[7:55] going for a three hour ride. That's they might be, they might
[7:58] do that, let them go and do that and that's OK.
[8:02] But stay with your friends and family and be guilt free.
[8:05] Be in the moment, spend that time with family.
[8:07] And I think it's really easy to forget the whole point of
[8:11] Christmas and it's to make the most of it with your family and
[8:13] friends and which are athletes And the majority of us are full
[8:17] time working. We rarely have that kind of
[8:20] green light to fully be in the moment and stop.
[8:23] And I think you really have to do that now.
[8:25] So Rob, over to you with the actual structure.
[8:28] Yeah, May, I've, I've made these mistakes in the past.
[8:32] I'm sure lots of people listening have.
[8:34] I remember getting involved and for, for no other reason than
[8:38] one of the guys I used to train with came up with a spreadsheet
[8:41] and shared it with us and decided he was going to allocate
[8:45] points to all of us across December.
[8:48] And I think, I can't remember the points score exactly, but
[8:50] you got points for doing a one hour run and it was a maximum of
[8:53] two one hour runs a day. And we got drawn into this
[8:56] ridiculous, you know, convinced ourselves that doing lots of
[9:00] running was going to be the thing that helped us next year.
[9:02] And I got in a head to head tussle with this guy.
[9:05] And it got to the point where I was going to, I was fully
[9:08] planning to go out and do 2/1 hour runs on Christmas Day so
[9:11] that I got maximum points. You know, so that's the lens
[9:15] that I look at this through. I am a recovered maniac.
[9:19] So I understand the compulsion to train for training sake as
[9:24] well, at least as well as anybody out there.
[9:28] And as I've aged and as I've done work on myself, I've got to
[9:30] the point where I like to think I'm a little bit more balanced
[9:33] now. So for those of you who are
[9:36] incredibly driven and incredibly compulsive with the training, I
[9:40] think your first thing you said is the lens to see this through.
[9:43] There is a point to this. The point from a training point
[9:46] of view is to recover from the training that you've already
[9:48] done in that block and get yourself ready for all the
[9:51] training you're going to do in that block.
[9:53] And you can still do some stuff in the middle that's actively
[9:56] going to help your rest recovery and get you ready to go again.
[9:59] So for those of you who are thinking it's not about the
[10:01] Christmas festivities for me, fine, frame it around.
[10:05] How can I best get my body refreshed and how can I best get
[10:08] ready for the next block? So here's our framework.
[10:11] We've got five things that we're going to talk to you about.
[10:13] And I've talked about these these frameworks before and I
[10:16] think they're really good. It's taken from, it's not my
[10:19] work this, although it lines up with a lot of the things that I
[10:22] believe it's from a guy called Doctor Simon Marshall.
[10:26] He wrote a great book called The Brave Athlete, and this sits
[10:30] outside that a little bit, but his framework is called a seeds
[10:32] framework. And I, I just love this because
[10:36] it, it breaks down the things or some of the things that you need
[10:39] to take care of to have a well balanced life and to have a
[10:43] healthy body so that you can exercise and train.
[10:46] And I think again, there's two balances there for the people
[10:49] who are really obsessed with the training.
[10:51] Think of it as the five things that you can balance that are
[10:54] essentially going to, it's like a cheat code as how to get
[10:57] better outside of the training. So we'll go through the five
[11:01] things, we'll name them first and we'll go through them one by
[11:04] one and then we'll apply them how you can sort of take care of
[11:07] each one of these things over the Christmas period.
[11:09] The five things that make up seeds are sleep, exercise,
[11:13] eating, drinking, and stress management.
[11:17] And just by framing the five things that simple way, I think
[11:21] we can see that most of us focus on the exercise part of it,
[11:25] maybe on the eating part of it through nutrition.
[11:29] Maybe the rest of it is just window dressing a lot of the
[11:31] time. And I genuinely don't think it
[11:34] should be if we're looking to take care of our marginal gains
[11:37] essentially. So let's kick it off with, let's
[11:42] kick it off with sleep, I think because this is the one where it
[11:46] feels looking ahead as though you've got some time off work
[11:50] and you should be able to get some extra asleep.
[11:53] The reality though, is that there's lots of, for a lot of
[11:55] people, there's lots of social occasions that go out and
[11:57] involve staying out really late. So from an athletic point of
[12:01] view, how do we minimise that sleep disruption?
[12:04] I think that's the first thing to talk about, isn't it?
[12:06] How do we, how do we look at it through the lens and go, all
[12:09] right, well, we're going to have some nights out here, but we
[12:11] have to recognise that these come at a cost.
[12:14] And did your nan ever used to say to you every hour you go to
[12:17] bed after 12:00 is like three more hours of sleep that you've
[12:20] missed? I love that line.
[12:22] She used to say in French though, because she was French,
[12:24] but yeah, very much the same. Yeah, love that.
[12:28] I think it's true and it's true especially as you get older.
[12:30] The other side of 50, man, if I get beyond midnight, it's like
[12:35] I've got a hangover and I'm jet lagged the next day.
[12:38] Yeah. The thing says we're not the fun
[12:41] police, we're not here to try and stop people having fun.
[12:42] But be aware, make it visible, plan these things out and know
[12:46] that if you are going to have some nights out and you're not
[12:48] getting to bed till 2345 in the morning, there is going to be an
[12:52] increased cost to that over the week ahead.
[12:56] And if you're the obsessed triathlete, is that preparing
[12:59] you as well as possible for the for the block that's coming in
[13:02] January? I think that's the first thing
[13:04] to say. I actually think, Rob, we're the
[13:06] opposite of the fun police with what we've just said.
[13:09] I think that we're encouraging people to have fun and obviously
[13:13] people have sorts of different ideas what fun might mean for
[13:16] them, but we're saying step out of your routine and be in the
[13:20] moment, be with your family, be with your friends.
[13:22] If they're going to the pub, go to the pub, absolutely fine.
[13:25] We genuinely encourage that because I do think that the
[13:29] athlete that is able to switch off can then switch that switch
[13:33] back on. And when it's on, it's really
[13:36] on. And as you said before the
[13:37] podcast, it's it's time to rock'n'roll.
[13:39] And if you can do that in January, then we're absolutely
[13:41] laughing. But we don't, we don't need you
[13:43] to do that now. So we're not the fun police, but
[13:46] we're, we're quite the opposite. Go and have fun.
[13:48] Switch off, do whatever, do whatever's available.
[13:52] Totally. And I think again, one of the
[13:54] things when we discuss the episode beforehand is just like
[13:58] when we discussed looking back over the block through the lens
[14:01] of how your tests have gone to see what your habits have been
[14:04] like, almost like the the tests are a byproduct of those habits.
[14:08] I think analysing what you do on a, on a week where your
[14:11] training's much lower can help you focus on, well, when we get
[14:15] out the Christmas period, sleep is like a performance enhancing
[14:18] drug. If I can find a way to get an
[14:20] extra 30 minutes and it's a good thing to sit and think about.
[14:23] I've done a little bit of reading about this and the
[14:26] reckon that just an extra 30 minutes of sleep a night is
[14:28] going to be a real big bonus for people.
[14:30] So spend some time looking into that.
[14:32] How, how can you track the sleep?
[14:34] I know since I've had the Apple Watch, I've been really
[14:37] interested to look at what my quality of sleep has been.
[14:40] And lo and behold, there is this massive correlation between the
[14:44] nights when I don't look at my phone and I read a book before
[14:46] bed and the lights off at 11 and I don't eat late versus when I
[14:50] do all of those things wrong. It is a big correlation for me.
[14:54] Might not be for everybody, but that's is put it in plain sight
[14:58] for me. Now, if I've got the phone out
[15:00] at 1:00 in the morning and I've had a massive load of quality
[15:03] streets just before bed, it's on me the next day if I don't feel
[15:07] good. And that's really important for
[15:08] a person with a psychological makeup like me.
[15:11] I've got believe I'm in charge of those things.
[15:15] So how do you, I think I can relate to that.
[15:20] I know what you mean by quality Streets are there, I'm going to,
[15:22] I'm going to destroy them all. But I feel like this is coming
[15:26] from a place of real passion for you, that you've got the
[15:29] experience where you know that there's something that inhibits
[15:33] your good sleep and there'll be plenty of people in exactly the
[15:37] same position. So what are you advising them?
[15:40] Are you saying just don't we? Well, no, I don't think it's AI.
[15:44] Don't think it's a case of saying to people don't do this
[15:47] during the Christmas period. But if we take my own thing as
[15:50] an example, you're going to go, you're going to eat more
[15:54] chocolatey foods than you would do usual.
[15:57] So the control I try and put on it is to say, right, there's a
[16:00] 7:00 cap on this. After 7:00 I'm not going to eat,
[16:03] I thought. We weren't the fun police, Rob.
[16:05] And then you're talking about 7:00 cap for chocolate.
[16:09] Yeah, that's, well, that's me. That's what I have to try and
[16:11] do. And let's be clear, like I do
[16:13] not manage to do this most of the time, but the days that I
[16:16] do, I sleep better. So there's the correlation.
[16:20] If I'm struggling mentally, if I'm low on energy, if I'm
[16:23] feeling not great, I have to say to myself, right, you need to
[16:26] take some control of this. Don't do these things so that
[16:29] you can get more sleep and, and roll over.
[16:32] And again, it's not so much about Christmas, it's about
[16:34] building a habit going forward of, you know, what small thing
[16:37] can I change that'll have a relatively bigger effect.
[16:41] I think that's an interesting point.
[16:43] The difference between the listener thinking that we're
[16:46] telling them what to do or not do versus actually, I think what
[16:52] we're trying to get across is do whatever you're going to do, but
[16:56] have the awareness of some of the pros and cons that come with
[16:59] it. And one might be your sleep's
[17:01] going to be affected or potential hangovers or
[17:04] motivation the next day or that that's absolutely fine.
[17:07] As long as you're making conscious decisions for your
[17:10] actions. We're totally fine have the box
[17:12] of pointy streets as long as you're aware.
[17:15] But then don't be frustrated with yourself the next day when
[17:18] you want to go for a run, you're struggling to do so again, it it
[17:23] gets really complicated when you're kind of thinking about
[17:25] the the mental health and the physical health where they
[17:29] interlink. And Christmas is an absolute
[17:33] nightmare for that because we don't feel great because we're
[17:35] probably overeating a long time. Yeah, mental health takes a hit.
[17:38] And then we're not doing as much exercise as we used to and it
[17:40] can quickly spiral. But I think for me, the main
[17:43] takeaway when it comes to the decision making around sleep and
[17:47] all those decisions is, is just be aware.
[17:49] And whatever you go and do, do that, that's OK.
[17:53] But be aware that there may be a consequence along the way.
[17:56] Yeah, 100%. And I think that leads us on to
[17:59] the second point we were going to talk about, which is, which
[18:01] is the eating part of seeds, the nutrition and the meal planning
[18:04] part over the Christmas period. Like the key thing he said,
[18:08] don't be afraid of treats. I think it's a celebration for a
[18:11] reason. But the thing to be aware of is
[18:16] and, and if your Christmas is anything like mine, you'll get
[18:18] this. If I go to a family gathering
[18:20] every day for four days, they tend to be the kind of Christmas
[18:24] buffet family gathering where there's food out from about 1:00
[18:28] and there's more food appears and aunties and grandmas bring
[18:31] more food out and that table is full.
[18:34] It's hard, man. It's hard to it's hard to apply
[18:37] those rigorous nutrition rules. So one of the things that we try
[18:41] and do is we try and have a little meal planner for the rest
[18:44] of the time and plan the healthy things that we're going to eat.
[18:46] Even if it's healthy breakfasts and healthy lunchtime salads,
[18:50] kind of knowing that the destruction is coming later in
[18:53] the time conscious decision for a big salad at lunchtime can be
[18:57] a can be a small mental when when when the quality St truck
[19:01] is rolling at you at high speed later in the afternoon.
[19:04] I like that. And what's your take on A lot of
[19:08] the people in my kind of sporting community always talk
[19:11] about I'm going to get out before the Christmas lunch and
[19:14] go and smash myself on the bike or go and do a long run to then
[19:18] reward myself or make it easier when I see that massive plate of
[19:22] food in front of me. Do you think that's a bit of a
[19:25] slippery slope, or actually there's a bit of logic to that
[19:28] thinking? I think it's probably better
[19:30] than not doing a run or a ride and then and then overeating
[19:33] like the rest of the population are going to be.
[19:35] I mean, we're going to come on to the exercise part of this in
[19:37] a minute. But I, I have a little Christmas
[19:41] tradition of going for a jog on Christmas morning because my dad
[19:45] was crazy and used to Take Me Out for a jog when I was like 9
[19:48] or 10. And it's something that we've
[19:49] always done and continued to this day.
[19:51] Put a Santa hat on and go out for a 20 minute jog on Christmas
[19:54] morning. And it's certainly not training,
[19:56] but it is being outside and it's, it's moving through
[20:00] nature. So.
[20:02] I think, I think that's the next thing to talk about is the
[20:06] exercise part of the seeds planner.
[20:10] You summed it up beautifully before when he said don't think
[20:12] of it as training. I've got something to add to
[20:15] that, which is when I was out earlier, I was out for a walk in
[20:18] the woods and I've realised that the arc of my life has gone.
[20:23] I started running and cycling because I wanted to race people
[20:26] who also enjoyed running and cycling.
[20:29] And I started to train because I wanted to win and wanted to beat
[20:32] people. And as the ark started to
[20:35] flatten, I started to realise that I much enjoyed training in
[20:39] nature. Then I enjoyed training running
[20:42] through city streets, for example.
[20:44] And then that shifted to an awareness of I really enjoyed
[20:48] being outdoors in nature and moving.
[20:50] And so for a while it was like I would, I would exercise and I
[20:53] would go to a beautiful place to train.
[20:56] Now it's the opposite way round. It's like the movement in nature
[20:59] is the thing that's important to me.
[21:01] And I think that's the lens to see Christmas exercise through.
[21:05] Get your body out. There's a there's a sheepdog
[21:07] living inside all of us that needs to move forward through
[21:10] nature. Take that sheepdog out for a
[21:12] walk in nature for an hour. And if that's what you do during
[21:16] during Christmas, I think we're we're preaching to the choir
[21:18] here already telling people to make exercises daily part their
[21:21] routine. It's almost the Christmas week.
[21:24] Advice is to step back from that but still get yourself outside
[21:28] and move in nature every day. I think a good little add on to
[21:34] that is it's just try and be an example and I don't want to get
[21:40] on a high horse. I'm certainly not an example to
[21:42] many people at all. But I think when you're making
[21:45] those decision, make those decisions around the Christmas
[21:49] period, look around the room and maybe you can be an example for
[21:53] the rest of the room and just go out for a 20 minute walk.
[21:55] A lot of people will literally just stay in that room 10 hours.
[22:00] And that's not an exaggeration. I've seen it many times, my
[22:02] family members. And when I put my hand up and I
[22:05] say I'm just going to go out for a 20 minute walk, who wants to
[22:07] join me? One or two reluctant hands will
[22:10] come and I'll bring them out. And the difference between that
[22:14] little group of people coming back from that walk, having been
[22:17] in the woods, full of indoor films, fresh air, had many
[22:21] different conversations versus the ones that have stayed on the
[22:24] sofa. So I think if you can sure have
[22:27] a drink, have all the chocolates, have all the food.
[22:29] But if at some point you can ask yourself, am I being the example
[22:33] of the athlete? Because the majority of you are
[22:35] the athletes of the family. So step up to that role and
[22:38] don't necessarily follow the crowd.
[22:40] The crowd's always going to pull you to the sofa and watch
[22:42] another 4 hours of TV. But if you can just put your
[22:45] hand up and say I'm going for a walk, come with me.
[22:49] You're guaranteed to put a people a smile on people's
[22:51] faces. So I think that's another little
[22:53] bonus. Yeah, yeah.
[22:56] Get the get the sheepdog inside everybody out, get the pack
[23:00] moving in nature, get everybody's sheepdogs happy
[23:03] before they come back inside to lie down and and eat more.
[23:06] Yeah, that's good. I had a note here to to talk
[23:10] about, you've already mentioned this.
[23:12] Pools are closed and that's OK. We can, we can have the panic in
[23:15] the brain that we don't get to swim.
[23:17] I came really close in our plans this year to just not putting
[23:20] any swimming at all in the plan over Christmas week.
[23:22] And then I thought, well, there's going to be some people
[23:25] who have a pool and they're going to have access or they're
[23:27] away at Christmas or whatever. But it really is genuinely, the
[23:31] world isn't going to end if you don't swim for a week.
[23:33] So don't panic over it. There's no access to the pool,
[23:36] no problem, That's fine. The other little thing, with as
[23:40] much as we've said, make it about exercise, not training.
[23:44] Still do your S&C that 5 or 10 minutes a day that you can do
[23:48] first thing, last thing while the T VS on, do a few crunches
[23:52] and hit bridges, do a bit of yoga, do a bit of flexibility.
[23:55] That's 5 minutes well spent during your day, I think.
[23:58] So that's a little bit of exercise.
[23:59] That's super easy to fit into the day, isn't it?
[24:02] Yeah, totally. I wrote a little note down which
[24:08] may help a few people, which is use your smart training, but use
[24:13] your exercise to include other family members.
[24:17] So it's a bit like what we're saying earlier about being an
[24:20] example and bringing people with you.
[24:21] Again, I think it's an amazing opportunity to go for a jog with
[24:25] a family member or a friend who may be a very different phase in
[24:30] their athletic pursuit and they may be really, really slow
[24:33] runners and it might be more of a walk.
[24:35] That's OK. Be that person that encourages
[24:38] to go out with them and and just have a chat and go for a run.
[24:42] Same with go for a run with some kids.
[24:44] You know, there are always loads of kids in the.
[24:46] House getting kids out for a jog on Christmas Day awesome,
[24:49] awesome. And you never, ever pass another
[24:51] kid. When you're out with kids
[24:53] running who doesn't want to join you?
[24:55] You can see them. God damn, I want to be running
[24:57] with those kids. Yeah, that's.
[24:58] Brilliant. So if you can be that person
[25:00] that encourages activities and exercise for health and for
[25:06] positivity, I think that's kind of our job as athletes done for
[25:10] for the festive period. So use your activities and use
[25:12] your training in inverted commas as that opportunity as opposed
[25:16] to the usually it's kind of a selfish pursuit of us always
[25:20] trying to increase our aerobic capacity.
[25:22] Well, this week's different. It's not about you this week
[25:25] it's about other people. And you can try to use
[25:27] exercises. Yeah, love it.
[25:30] Increase someone else's aerobic capacity, right.
[25:35] So I'm going to put my fun police hat on, Chris.
[25:37] This is my little my little blue light on top of the on top of
[25:40] the helmet here, because the next thing we have to talk about
[25:43] is about drinking. So as you have already said,
[25:48] there's no question that drinking is a game that gives on
[25:53] one hand and takes away with the other.
[25:55] So I think you've just got to plan your week around it.
[25:58] I think from an athletic point of view, the less drinking, the
[26:01] better. From a relaxing and socialising
[26:04] point of view, from a, for a guy who hasn't drunk for 12 years,
[26:07] God damn, Christmas is hard when you're seeing family members
[26:10] that you don't really know and you don't get a drink anymore.
[26:15] So I so for anyone who's the, the, the designated driver for
[26:18] the night, right, I get it. I really get it.
[26:21] And I'm sure other people do out there as well.
[26:23] So it's the balance, isn't it? I loved, I can't remember which
[26:26] athlete it was in, in the app that mentioned us the other day
[26:29] and said, look, I'm trying to plan ahead around the fact I've
[26:33] got this big conference. We're going to have two or three
[26:36] big nights out in a row. How do I, how do I plan my
[26:39] training around it? And the answer is, well, it's
[26:41] really, really difficult to, but good on you for being aware of
[26:44] the fact you're just not going to be able to go for a run if
[26:47] you're waking up with a raging hangover.
[26:49] And that's OK, but planned for it.
[26:52] Get yourself some extra satiated Precision Hydration 1500 ready
[26:56] for the hangover. Because like, here's a note from
[26:58] our sponsors. I don't think there is a better
[27:00] product to help with something it wasn't designed for than
[27:04] having a PFH 1500 with a hangover.
[27:08] Any of my mates I've ever given one to who still drink it.
[27:10] Just like, my God, this stuff is like, it's like the magic elixir
[27:15] of hungovers, isn't it? Yeah, so I technically I'm not
[27:20] teetotal. I do drink, but I'm not what you
[27:22] call a drinker. But over Christmas, expectations
[27:28] kind of change. And there is that social peer
[27:30] pressure that not as if we're teenagers, but there is that
[27:34] understanding within the room of come on, guys, let's open the
[27:37] Baileys again, which is OK. And that that that's fun.
[27:41] And don't get me wrong, I'll be the one.
[27:43] I'll be the one suggesting the Baileys, but I think something
[27:48] that could help is set your own expectations and don't be that
[27:52] person in the lead up to Christmas in your head thinking
[27:55] I'm not going to drink, I'm not going to drink, I'm not going to
[27:57] drink, I'm not going to drink. The 1st court goes, you know,
[28:00] yeah, I'll have a drink, please. Because then it feels like
[28:03] failure. Unless you're completely
[28:05] teetotal. I think it's OK to have a drink
[28:08] and have two drinks. Have 3 drinks, have as many as
[28:10] you want to a degree, but know that your expectations are OK.
[28:14] I'm probably going to drink today.
[28:15] Tomorrow's a bit of a write off. I'm just going to go for a walk
[28:18] with whichever family members up for it.
[28:21] And that's brilliant. That's OK.
[28:22] But if you have the expectation of not going to drink, I'm an
[28:25] athlete, I'm not going to drink, I'm an athlete.
[28:26] And then first question is, yeah, I'll have a drink for the
[28:29] rest of the day. You're thinking, oh, who am I?
[28:31] I said I was an athlete. And now I'm supposed to be an
[28:34] athlete and I'm drinking and now I'm going to drink 35 drinks and
[28:36] now I'm pissed. It's going to happen to a few of
[28:39] us. I know it is, but just set your
[28:42] expectations, Be kind on yourself.
[28:43] If you're going to have some drinks, that's fine, but don't
[28:46] set up yourself to go for a three hour ride the next day
[28:49] because again, we don't want you to do that.
[28:51] So have some drinks and just I think relax and take it easy is
[28:55] the main message on this one. And it's knowing what's going to
[28:59] happen that that's the reality of it, isn't it?
[29:01] If you're going to go out on the lash, don't plan to train the
[29:04] next day, then you're not going to.
[29:06] There's also an element of this that the planning into the next
[29:09] block takes care of as well, because it'll remind people
[29:13] who've had some time off the beer and drink over Christmas.
[29:16] It'll remind them how they feel and maybe give them that renewed
[29:19] focus of, all right, when I get into my next block, I'm going to
[29:22] stop drinking again. So there's the lesson of doing
[29:25] things differently over Christmas that you can take
[29:27] forward into the next block with you as well.
[29:31] Yeah, good. Here's my here's my grandma's.
[29:35] Avoid hangovers that are crippling.
[29:37] Tip for you, the pint of water before bed when you've been
[29:41] drinking. That can really help mitigate
[29:44] the difference between what used to feel like life and death at
[29:46] 4:00 in the morning. I'd go one further now and add
[29:50] PFH into that glass of water as well.
[29:53] Get the precision hydration in. Rob, do you have any advice to
[29:59] the individual that's looking to not drink anything, whether
[30:02] they've been total for a long period of time or whether
[30:05] they're actually just kind of challenging themselves for
[30:07] health reasons that over the Christmas period I just don't
[30:10] want to drink? What's the what?
[30:12] What are your thoughts on that? I think the two parts of it are
[30:16] have a plan for what you are going to drink because if you
[30:19] end up at a party, I know in the early days, the early days of me
[30:22] not drinking, the challenge was going to a social function and
[30:25] finding out there is nothing but alcohol at the at the function.
[30:28] So take something with you to drink.
[30:30] These days people are luckier that non alcohol beer actually
[30:34] tastes decent. Back in the day your choices
[30:37] were calibre or water and you choose the water every time.
[30:40] It was like being punished if you tried to and no alcohol
[30:43] beer, but taking some no alcohol beers with you to a party.
[30:47] In fact, I think it's a pretty good thing to do, even if you're
[30:49] taking real beers, because you'd be surprised the number of
[30:51] people who on the sly will take one of your zero obvious out the
[30:55] fridge and you think, well, hang on, I've only had one and
[30:58] there's none left. So there's that.
[31:00] But also explain to your friends what's going on.
[31:02] I think occasionally there's the, you know, the social peer
[31:05] pressure part. You talked about your mates
[31:07] taking you on if you're genuinely determined not to
[31:10] drink or if you've got reasons why you're not going to drink,
[31:14] setting up ahead of time. I remember going around to all
[31:16] my mates and saying look, we used to be drinking buddies, I
[31:19] need to let you know I'm not going to be drinking with you
[31:21] anymore. You can't do that in a group
[31:23] setting, but you can have that conversation with people
[31:26] individually and every single one of my friends was totally
[31:30] supportive on a one to one basis.
[31:33] When we got together in a group, they still called me all the
[31:36] names under the sun having given up drinking.
[31:39] But that's OK, you know, you've got the support on a on that
[31:42] kind of level. So I think that's the way to go.
[31:44] Have a plan. Tell people beforehand.
[31:48] I think a small no hanging fruit on that.
[31:51] And this isn't for the teetotal person.
[31:53] This is for someone that's looking to minimise their
[31:56] drinking over the Christmas period.
[31:58] Is say no to the first drink when you're in that room.
[32:01] Just say, Oh, no, I'm, you know, I'm on water or whichever non
[32:04] alcoholic choice you go for. And that breaks the momentum.
[32:09] It's that first drink. Is everyone drinking?
[32:11] No, these three people aren't. And then you're not going to be
[32:14] hassled during the rest of the evening of do you want a drink?
[32:16] Do you want a drink? And you can go and get your own
[32:18] drink at any point in the evening.
[32:19] You don't have to start with everyone because once you start
[32:22] with everyone, you're part of that momentum.
[32:24] And it's really hard to jump off the boat.
[32:26] But if you join the boat, it's very different and you're doing
[32:29] it on your own terms. I like that, I think.
[32:32] That's good. Yeah, I think that can help.
[32:34] Yeah, there is one nice little thing I'll throw in right here.
[32:38] One of the lines I was told in my early days of sobriety was
[32:41] it's the first drink that gets you drunk.
[32:43] And you sit there and go, don't be stupid.
[32:45] It's like beer four that gets me drunk.
[32:47] And the point of it is once you've had like once the lids
[32:50] off, once you've had that first drink, all bets are off,
[32:54] especially if you're the kind of drinker that I was.
[32:56] That first one means, yeah, exactly.
[32:58] You get a taste for it and you're away to the races.
[33:02] Whereas if you don't ever have that first one, things feel very
[33:06] different in the evening. So yeah.
[33:12] I've got two other real small points on this.
[33:14] So I think it's quite a big subject around Christmas.
[33:17] This is turning into the The Teetotal Podcast, isn't it?
[33:22] I might be drinking Rob. The other one is you'll probably
[33:27] end up going to a pub at some point.
[33:29] And I've, I've done this a few times and I get a real kick out
[33:32] of it, which is order a cup of tea when everyone else is like,
[33:36] what, what drink do you want? What drink do you want?
[33:38] And they're all saying, oh, Guinness, Foster's, Stella,
[33:40] whatever, just go. I'll have a cup of tea please.
[33:42] It completely breaks the momentum.
[33:44] You have your cup of tea, it creates a conversation and then
[33:47] you can go to your pint later on.
[33:50] And it's a nice way to kind of regain control of that momentum
[33:54] that you were talking about. And my last point is, as you
[34:00] head into the festive season, look forward again and look
[34:04] forward to when, when you get to the summer, think back of what
[34:12] you wanted to have achieved in that six months or 12 months.
[34:15] And the majority of you listening have already got that
[34:18] a race booked into your calendar.
[34:20] And for a lot of you, it's a big scary race.
[34:22] It's 70.3. Well, it's an Iron Man.
[34:25] And if you really want to commit to the process, then all the
[34:28] decisions you make from now will have some sort of impact,
[34:32] whether they're small or big, towards how you feel in six
[34:35] months or 12 months. So again, I don't want to be the
[34:38] fun police, but I just want to make sure that if you are fully
[34:42] throwing yourself in towards this big scary challenge and you
[34:45] want to make the most of that opportunity, then I think you'll
[34:49] get a real kick out of actually saying no.
[34:52] No to that point, no to that shot of tequila that's going to
[34:55] go round and just keep saying no.
[34:57] The more times you say no, say it three times in a row, then it
[35:00] becomes really easy. When you get into January,
[35:03] you're going to feel amazing. A lot of people will be talking
[35:06] about the hangovers, the hangovers and you'll be talking
[35:10] about I'm going for a three hour ride and I feel unbelievable.
[35:14] And it's kind of that decision making two paths.
[35:17] And I'm not saying one's right and one's wrong, but if you want
[35:21] to feel amazing in January, I think it's quite clear saying no
[35:25] to the majority of kind of nutrition and alcohol choices,
[35:31] keep saying no and it's going to feel good.
[35:33] And actually, the reality is you're probably inspiring one or
[35:37] two people in that room, even though they won't tell you.
[35:40] But seeing that one person go against the grain and say no,
[35:43] I'm, I'm not drinking. Why?
[35:45] Because I'm going to go and do an Iron Man, for example, and I
[35:48] want to give it 100%. Life's too short not to.
[35:51] That can have a real big positive impact on on that
[35:54] individual. So for those of you that are
[35:56] thinking, oh, maybe it's a bit pathetic saying no to alcohol,
[36:00] go for it. If if you believe in, you know,
[36:03] believe in that choice deep down, I'd I'd follow, follow
[36:07] your follow your instincts on that one.
[36:09] Yeah, nice. Right.
[36:12] So the last, the last part of the seeds equation is the S for
[36:15] stress management. And again, there's two parts to
[36:21] this. There's the what we do during
[36:22] Christmas week part and then there's the how this forms a
[36:26] habit that helps us going into January and moving forward.
[36:29] So it, it always feels as though there should be no stress over
[36:33] Christmas because we are told by TV that it's going to be twinkly
[36:37] lights and it's going to be nice music.
[36:39] That's never been my experience of Christmas.
[36:41] I don't know about anybody else's.
[36:43] It's, it's relatives that you haven't seen and you've
[36:46] forgotten you don't get on with. There's an awful lot of that
[36:48] goes on as well. So the first part of stress
[36:51] management, I think that is worth talking about is the time
[36:54] outdoors and moving in nature that we've already mentioned.
[36:57] That's a really great way to break up any kind of day, make
[37:02] sure you've got something built into every day where you go out
[37:04] and you get that movement in nature.
[37:08] The second couple of things that I think people can build in and
[37:11] it'll form a really good habit going into January are
[37:14] journaling, which we talked about, and meditation.
[37:17] Those two things can have a really positive effect on
[37:20] people's mindsets. And it only needs to be 5
[37:22] minutes with an A4 pad and paper first thing in the morning.
[37:26] But just the act of getting your whatever's in my brain down onto
[37:30] a piece of paper has a really surprising effect of clearing
[37:34] out the trash from the night before and letting you to move
[37:36] forwards. And the HRV tracking app that
[37:39] we've always recommended, HRV 4 training is a really great way
[37:44] to see how much stress your system is experiencing that
[37:48] morning because it's, it's often subconscious, isn't it?
[37:52] So if anyone's not used HIV for training before, you can just
[37:55] download it from the App Store and it gives you a really clear
[37:59] red light, green light, amber light traffic light system of is
[38:03] your body under significant stress?
[38:06] Is your mind subconsciously under significant stress at the
[38:08] moment? Those, I think, are three things
[38:11] that really help mitigate the stress that people are under,
[38:14] for sure. I think I, I totally signed up
[38:21] to all of those. And I think if the time it, it
[38:25] all depends on what a family Christmas looks like.
[38:28] But I know that at times in my day, everyone's doing their own
[38:33] thing and that's totally acceptable.
[38:36] And for me, I find it like the perfect time to go and sort my
[38:41] crap out. And with that, I mean, got an
[38:45] old bike that I want to use as a winter bike, but I haven't got
[38:48] around to doing it because I'm in full time work and got the
[38:51] dogs to walk after work and I just don't have time to fix it.
[38:54] So if there's an hour window where I can actually go and put
[38:57] the mud guards back on and change the chain, which is
[38:59] something that I should have done two months ago, that's
[39:01] going to help me with the original goal of being raring to
[39:05] go and being healthy in January, because I'm not going to be
[39:07] stressing about that. And when I'm I can't, I can go
[39:10] and ride my bike again outside. And it's all those little bits
[39:13] of add mini type stuff that surrounds triathlon, but it's
[39:17] not direct training, but it's going to help you be a better
[39:20] athlete. Come come January again, now's
[39:22] the perfect time to do so. But don't be the person that
[39:26] disappears from the table to go and do that.
[39:28] It's if everyone else is doing something.
[39:31] And you'll go to the shed down the end of the garden, aren't
[39:33] you? That's your escape.
[39:35] You're going to go down and drink home brewed dams and wine
[39:37] and change your chain. Exactly.
[39:39] I'm pretending that I'm wrapping up Christmas presents, but half
[39:41] the time I'm just changing chains on different bikes.
[39:45] You're 1 of about 4% of listeners who actually know how
[39:48] to change their own chain. Chris.
[39:50] That's the thing. Maybe we should have Chris's
[39:53] chain changing challenge. Maybe that should be.
[39:55] We'll get listeners to comment in the There we go comments in
[39:58] the comments box in Spotify after this episode.
[40:01] If you can change your own chain, if you've been inspired
[40:03] to do it by Chris, Oh dear, I love it.
[40:09] Hey, well, listen, that's that's all the things I had on my list
[40:11] to talk about this week. I think we've got stuff there
[40:14] for people to think about going forward through Christmas,
[40:16] haven't we? Yeah, I think the main takeaway
[40:20] is enjoy Christmas. That's what it's all about.
[40:22] Do it, have fun and think about the stuff that you can then take
[40:26] care of going into January. That's really going to help your
[40:29] year. As Coach Rob would say, have fun
[40:32] until 7:00 PM and then and then it's not so fun, is it?
[40:37] What I said. It is.
[40:39] It is. I said there's no chocolates for
[40:41] me and my fat boy Tom after 7:00.
[40:44] That's why I said, Oh dear, Other approaches may vary.
[40:48] All right, so I'm going to wrap this up.
[40:52] I want to wish everybody a really happy, merry, pleasant
[40:56] Christmas and then we'll be back with you in January.
[40:59] So here are some discount codes and deals for you.
[41:01] To wrap this up, at precisionfuelandhydration.com,
[41:04] you can use the code Oxygen 24 for 15% of your first
[41:07] electrolyte order. Remember, if you're going to be
[41:09] hammering the beers over Christmas, there's nothing as
[41:12] effective in my book as APH 1500 sachet to really get those
[41:15] electrolytes back in there. You can also use their free fuel
[41:19] and hydration planning tool to receive a personalised strategy
[41:22] for your next race that's on their website.
[41:25] It'll help you understand your own carbohydrate, electrolytes
[41:27] and fluid needs so you can refine your strategy during
[41:30] training and then you can nail it in racing.
[41:32] And you can even book a free 1 to one video consultation with
[41:35] their athlete support team over at teamoxygenaddict.com.
[41:40] I think we've got the most comprehensive endurance sports
[41:42] coaching programme for busy age groupers.
[41:44] You can book a call with Chris or I and you can have a chat
[41:48] with us and see if you'd be a good fit for joining the team.
[41:51] Let's see how we could best help you achieve your endurance event
[41:53] goals for the coming season. So remember then there's links
[41:57] in the show notes so you don't have to remember them until next
[42:00] week. Have a great safe Christmas
[42:02] week. I'm coach Rob Willby.
[42:05] You've been listening to the Oxygen Addict podcast.

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