I’m doing the Vancouver marathon next year and aiming for under 3:30, going to make the most of the trip and have a three-week holiday. I want the run to be at the beginning of my holiday (I think), so that I don't have to worry about what I'm eating, drinking and so on. So what I would like to know is;
"How long will it take for my body to recover from the Jet lag?
Can I shorten the amount of time, with certain preparations?
Where would you recommend I place race day (Sunday 4th May) in my three-week holiday?
Has anyone done the Vancouver Marathon that might be able to offer me some advice?
Cheers
Dan
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For jet lag they generally say give yourself one day for each hour of time difference. So figuring that they are 8 hours behind here, you should leave yourself 8 days. Having said that I find that the jet lag in that direction is not so bad and usually after day 3 the ackward tiredness the creeps up on you unexpectedly will probably be gone. Plus the great thing is that going that direction you get up earlier in the morning and can easily go out and have some nice training runs in the morning before there is much traffic. I would recommend doin the marathon on day 4 or 5 of your trip.
Fondly enough exercise is supposed to reduce the effects of jet lag! I've noticed a marked improvement in my jet lag experiences since I took up running 2 years ago. So get out there and run when you get there (but take it easy as pre-marathon)!
Other theories on jet lag say try to spend as much time out in the daylight when you first get there.
I agree with Linca - assuming you are arriving on day 1 (probably in the afternoon or early evening local time), you should allow for at least 2 days rest and jet lag recovery before the race. So day 4 would be the earliest.
Do you think that there would be a benifit in adopting the Canadian time a couple of days before my trip, preparing my body for the time difference?
Thanx for the advice guy's!!!
Having said this, I agree with above that flying in that direction is better than the other way round.
Good luck!
Don't usually do too much in the way of preparing pre-going. Will stay up maybe an hour to two hours later than normal 2 or 3 nights before trip and wake up about an hour later than normal the next day. Anything more than that seems to be overkill. Also find it helpful to take maybe an hour nap on the plane (or rest with eyes closed since I find it difficult to sleep on planes). This makes it possible to stay up until a decent bedtime (9 or 10pm) when you get there (instead of wanting to go to bed at 7pm).
Good luck for the race and let us know how you get on.
Anyone with any further relevant experience to pass on?
I return america the day before cranleigh 15/21m race should i really give this a miss or will i be ok to use it as a slow training run for FLM.
i know its a few monhts away but like a good boy scout i like to be prepared
JB
When I flew there in February this year, I didn't have any problems with jet lag.
You must do a run in Stanley Park; it's lovely. Look out for the black squirrels! I would also recommend a trip on a seaplane and the Museum of Anthropology at UBC.
Just save stuffing yourself with sushi until after the marathon!
Depends how you handle flying - I'd give it a miss.
My suggestion is for arriving in the UK (if you arrive in the morning), when you get home take a nap and set your alarm to wake you up so that you don't sleep later than about 1 pm. This way you should be able to get through the rest of the day okay. The second day for me always seems the hardest.
I definitely would not do a race within 3 days of flying to or from the US. A gentle training run okay. Even a longer run is okay if you are up for it, but not a race, if you don't want to feel disappointed by your performance and time. Plus there are plenty of half marathons going on in the South in March, so way don't you chose one of them on the next weekend (or the weekend before you leave)?
Thanks for the advice...must admit my thinking was going that way.Probably just run a quite few miles and see how it goes. I'm just a bit worried about mileage for FLM but suppose i've got plenty of time between now and then to reduce mileage for couple of weeks.
Will try to do long run morning of holiday and run every other day whilst away.
Probably worrying to soon and to early!!
JB
Andy
When I did NY took a midday flight on Friday,got there about midday, felt fine.
Similarly I try to do this coming east,not quite so easy but if you get a flight mid afternoon and try to sleep (UK time around midnight) then when you arrive early morning you don't feel too bad. (Bit tired,but not what I'd call jet lag).
Enjoy the run!
I find getting a breakfast flight,arriving early evening is best outward (stay up as long as you can on arrival)
And an afternoon flight arriving at dawn homewards is great.You stay awake until the stopover in Asia, then get 10-12 hours sleep into London.
I'm one of those who walks around a lot and drinks a lot of water (so needing the loo) so I always get an aisle seat so DVT isn't an issue.
I usually pull on the trainers immediately after a 9 hour flight to the USA on landing and find it a great pick me up. But experiences this year of racing 13 miles two days after landing, and running a 19 miler long training run the day after flying to Alaska were both very uncomfortable.