As I write this post, I’m on vacation with my wife and two sons (Ages 6 and 2). I have not done any training on this vacation and currently don’t have plans to. Training on vacation, just like deciding to train at all is a bit of a very personal decision. It depends on what you want to get out of your vacation.
A few typical things that come to mind when I think about what people want to get out of a vacation include:
- Rest: Crealy training is not rest. Rest is rest. Some people believe cross training is rest but its not. Trust me. Rest is also one of the things I most want to get out of a vacation.
- Relaxation: For many of us, running is a way we relax, blow off steam, and process event that happen in our lives. I have always found running to be one of the few activities that consistently be counted on to help relax me.
- New Experiences: Running is a great way to explore a new area. Seeing an area on foot is always superior to seeing it by most of other methods including by cycling, driving, flying, or train.
- Spending Time with Loved Ones: Unless your loved ones are going with you this is the big negative with exercising while on vacation. On my current vacation, my wife has managed to go exercise while the rest of us were sleeping. Either first thing in the morning or during my two year old son’s nap.
- Meeting New People: I value meeting new people quite a lot in life as well as well as with vacations. Going running on vacation may help facilitate meeting a few new people if you seek out a local running club. I’ve met quite a few traveling runners through my local running club and met a few others through my friends.
At the end of the day, spending time with my loves ones is what I want to get out of my vacations the most. With kids that go to sleep at 8pm and wake up at 7am, most days I see my kids for 3 hours tops. Vacation lets us spend an entire week together which hopefully helps mold who they are a bit more than I can do on a typical workday.
If I find time to do any training this vacation it will be while the family is occupied. Most likely this is during some sort of rest period. My wife tends to get first dibs in these rest periods as she’s said it’s really important to her to find the time to work out. For me, its of secondary importance.
Whether or not you run on your vacation is your decision. I fully support you in it. I think this is one of those you can do no wrong decisions. As they’re are benefits both ways. The most important thing is probably to go on vacation. Which is something we call could use more of.