The Process Part I
This article was first written in Spring of 2019, republished with edits Feb 2021.
The Process Part I
My friend asked me one day what my “process” was.
She said she knew I must have one because I am a champion.
“All champions have a process,” she said.
She was correct. I have one and I am happy to share it with you in the case that my process might be beneficial to you in some way as well.
This story here, Part I, is about my “process” for traveling to track meets.
I live in paradise. There is no doubt about it. The swaying palm trees, perfect temperature year round and beautiful ocean are just a few tidbits to the formula of Maui’s utopian island charm. However, the beautiful isolation also means I have to travel a long way to compete in Masters Track and Field. Even to compete at a USATF sanctioned meet within my home state, I have to catch a flight to a neighboring island, stay overnight in a hotel and fly back the next day. To compete in Europe, as I have several times, it takes a process.
The first thing I can offer about traveling is not about leg room or upgrading to first class. Both would be lovely but for most athletes, budgeting travel is a concern. The first thing I offer is about nutrition.
TSA in Maui know me well by now and I know their routine. I joke that my giant blue duffle bag has only a tiny bit of clothes (have you SEEN our microscopic Team USA uniforms afterall?) and is really all just food and supplements. Before I travel I make sure my nutrition is taken care of for the duration of my trip and at least the first few days at my destination. This is important because food while traveling can be inflammatory and unpredictable at best. When you arrive at your destination you must control your food environment as much as possible. Packing enough for your first day or two while you figure out what restaurants have the cleanest food is essential. I have heard some nightmare stories about traveling to other countries and not being able to eat anything or eating something and getting sick. Always have snacks on you when you get there in case you get stuck in an overextended opening ceremony (happens all the time) or on a train or a broken down bus (yep that’s me!) or who knows?! My go-to meal place is usually a steakhouse in a hotel. Even in other countries they tend to have higher quality meat.
Back to travel prep! I pack a cooler bag with frozen ice packs (yes they allow that), consisting of at least 2-4 pounds of grass fed steak, sweet potatoes, and at least 3 different types of nuts-usually macadamia nuts, organic almonds and organic pine nuts each sealed in Ziploc bags. In my other food bag , I pack dried bone broth powder and Four Sigmatic instant Mushroom Coffee- found at Whole Foods. I generally do not eat grains but if I’m traveling far, for instance like the 40 plus hours it took to get to Torun, Poland, I also include either high quality canned sardines if I'm in a carnivore type phase or almond butter sandwiches made on gluten free bread if I'm needing more carbs for my long trip. Gluten is a highly inflammatory protein found in wheat, barley and rye. The key theme to showing up to a track meet or competition fresh is to be the least inflamed as possible. Inflammation will greatly hinder your athletic performance.
Most importantly, in this bag, not the checked bag that could get lost, I pack supplements.
I create supplement packets with small vitamin bags for the duration of my stay in my completion location before I leave. You can get these vitamin/pill bags at vitamin shops or Walgreens. Currently these packets consist of ATP Labs 2 Total Defense Multi, 2 Fish oil, 2 Synerzinc, 2 Synermag, and 2 Nutridyn curcumin. I take these packets 2-3 times a day while traveling and twice a day while competing. I also pack Prebiotic Fiber, Organic Powdered Greens from ATP (very important to get this kind because most powdered greens from the US are high in heavy metal toxicity.) I also pack Probiotics, and snack size ziplocs of ATP New Zealand Grass Fed Whey Protein mixed with Glutamed (glutamine/glycine blend). The Glutamed is a key component to keeping my immune system healthy. I did not have these wonderful supplements in Malaga, Spain and I caught a terrible stomach virus two days before my 400 final. I was frantically messaging my mentor Charles about my terrible diarrhea. He advised me to the pharmacy and get charcoal. I ended up taking something like 90 pills overnight. Thanks to Charles, I was able to show up to my race and make it across the finish line with World Championship bronze medal. However, I wanted the gold! I vowed never to have that happen again, and I’m lucky that ATP offered to sponsor me right after that meet in August 2018. Guess what? It has never happened again. We learn from our mistakes. I have not been sick once, not even a little bit , since then.
In addition to the protein packets, I include two empty shakers, my EAA amino acids in pre packaged small plastic bags for easy mixing, and my recovery powder called Pentacarb. TSA will check all powders so make sure your food is taken out and your powders are out in sight, clearly labeled. TSA appreciates this, it seems. A couple of times, my whey protein did trigger the test for explosives that they swipe on your palms. After two positive swipes, the supervisor came over and said, “Oh whey protein, yeah that always triggers it.” And let me go.
It is important to note here that all of my supplements are pharmaceutical grade from Canada, where regulations are strict,and they are Informed Choice Approved by WADA, the world anti-doping agency. There’s no way I’m going to chance failing a doping test after I’ve worked so hard in training!
During the flight I don’t touch the food- airplane nor airport food. Never. Not a snack, not a meal, nothing. Why? It’s likely inflammatory as it’s filled with preservatives and low quality ingredients. I snack from my stash , take my supplement packs and consume at least two protein shakes a day during my travel made with bottled water purchased after check-in/security. Sometimes it might be 3 shakes. These help curb cravings, stabilize my blood sugar and boost my immune system. I ask for hot water from the flight attendant or, if in the airport, from a coffee shop . I mix my powdered bone broth in the hot water for snacks. This serves to boost my protein levels and support my ligaments, cartilage and tissue while I’m traveling. In addition , consuming hot beverages like bone broth or hot water with lemon on the airplane and in airports counteracts airborne viruses- which find it difficult to thrive in the hot temperatures in your sinuses and throat. The lemon or lime in the hot water gives a boost of vitamin C, aids in digestion and alkalizes your body. You can also boost your nose and throat virus protection by sucking on zinc lozenges periodically throughout your trip.
Do I sound like a science experiment yet? Well, I am. So are you. It’s all about stabilizing the chemistry in your body for maximal performance.
Ok after nutrition comes sleep. I do sleep on airplanes with a pillow behind my back for lumbar support. I also use a neck pillow. I do not recommend taking sleeping pills as this will disrupt the chemistry in your body and set you up for athletic failure. I recommend a B vitamin/magnesium blend called Yin Reserve created by my mentor, Strength Sensei Charles Poliquin. He created it for the over 800 Olympic Athletes he trained. Yin Reserve puts me into a long deep refreshing sleep during travel and while at my destination. I always get my 10 hours of sleep. If you think you can get less than 8 and perform well athletically, I’m going to tell you otherwise. The research proves it. Athletic Performance decreases and injury rate increases with less than 7-8 hours of sleep. Matthew Walker wrote a great book entailing this evidence called “Why We Sleep”. You can pick that up and read it on the plane when you are not sleeping!
What about melatonin? I don’t use it. I don’t need it with the Yin Reserve and too much will deplete your own stores. Melatonin doesn’t actually put you to sleep, it just signals that the sun has set and you may wind down now. If you compete at time that is close to normal time at home, don’t bother adjusting to the time zone. For instance, in Poland, I competed between 6-8 pm which was about 7 -9 am Hawaii time. It turns out that was the exact same time I would practice in Hawaii. My body was primed for exercise during this time due to the rhythms I had trained it at. There are a bunch of articles on pubmed that talk about how your body performs best at the time you practice. You might want to even think about training at a similar time as your competition, if you know when that will be. I had one client doing strides in her hotel hallway in Doha at midnight because her race was at midnight the next night. Back to Poland…So, instead of adjusting, I stayed up all night and slept all day. I woke feeling refreshed and ready to roll. If you do have to compete in a time that is vastly different, give yourself one day of prior arrival for every hour of time difference. So, if you are a 3 hour time zone difference, arrive at your destination at least 3 days ahead to become acclimated. 12 hours? 12 days. Think about how much you sacrifice training all year for competition. Don’t make any excuses not to be as prepared as you possibly can be. More on sleep in another article!
Next: Screen time. Limit it. Social media and emails twice a day for 20 min or less the week before competition is more than plenty ...and opt for reading books and sleeping on the plane instead of watching movies. Why? Screen time greatly depletes dopamine which is necessary for optimal physical performance. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter responsible for motivation and drive. It is the golden ticket to your optimal performance. Why? Because even after your body physically fatigues, your dopamine can give you energy to keep going, give you that kick or finish strong. You want plenty in the reserves.
Lastly: stretching. When you are not sleeping on your flight, get up and stretch. Walk around the airplane and make sure to stretch your quads. It might be your hamstrings that feel fatigued from sitting but stretching your quads will bring the life back to your legs. Trust me on that. While stretching, avoid touching surfaces in the airplane. If you use the bathroom, use a paper towel to touch anything and if you read the airplane magazine or touch the tray table, be sure to have a natural hand sanitizer ready-lavender wipes from Whole Foods is my preference. I really won’t even read airline magazines on long flights.(This article was originally written two years before covid and someone accused me of being OCD haha ) While at the airport, in between layovers, take your small foam roller or ball and roll using some muscle release type techniques. Avoid sitting in a chair. Opt for the floor by the window instead. It tends to be the cleanest because it doesn’t get much foot traffic. Stretch out your legs horizontally on the floor as much as possible. If you are resting rest horizontally leaned on your bag. If you can, add in a short vinyasa yoga flow. I have an example one in my dynamic warmup video on youtube. It works wonders. If anyone stares at you, smile and give them a shaka!
People might look at you if you do yoga in the airport, but trust me it’s a look of admiration.
People also look at you when you are standing on the podium while you are proudly singing your national anthem, accepting your gold medal.
Happy Traveling folks!!
Cynthia Monteleone is the author of Fast Over 40, a World Champion sprinter and a Metabolic Analytics Practitioner.
This article was first written in Spring of 2019, republished with edits Feb 2021.