Does traveling for work count as a rest week?

I just completed a week long trip for work where I was standing on my feet and walking .5-1miles stints a few times/day in work shoes.  Not to mention the 3 hour time difference.  So, I have to ask the question, does traveling in these conditions constitute a rest week?  My body is saying “nope, you didn’t do it” as I woke at 6:15am this morning to get ready for a 5k race today.  Granted, I am only doing a 5k and will be fine, but I have to do the swim and bike of a 1/2 iron tomorrow getting up at 4:45am.  BTW, as a coach, my answer to the question is “NOPE!”

I did go to bed VERY early last night (8:15pm) because I only got 3.5hrs of sleep on Thurs night so I was exhausted.  It is one fast way to get off of west coast time and onto east coast time!  My week was like this:

Sun night: Fly from Boston to Vegas.  Get plane delayed 1.5 hours. Arrive at hotel 11pm Vegas time.

Mon am:  wake at 5am Vegas time and do work, eat my package of oatmeal, 1/4 cup nuts and banana (I brought for each morning) and conf calls until late morning. Walk to convention center (1mile) and look for booth stuff. Set up booth for 2.5 hours.  Walk back to hotel. Wait for co-worker.  Rest 45min.  Walk back to convention center to begin 3 hours of smoozing with potential customers until 8:30pm.  Go to dinner with co-workers.  In bed at 11pm

Tues am:  wake at 5am eat, do email, conf calls until 7:30am.  Run 30min outside in 90 degrees (OK, not a great idea- I didn’t feel I could go anymore!).  Shower, dress, walk to convention center.  Work the booth ON MY FEET IN WORK SHOES from 9am-5pm.  No wonder my feet hurt so badly I had to buy new shoes by Wed night!  Got picked up at 5:45pm and had a great dinner with Mike and his wife.  Got dropped back off at hotel at 8:30pm.  Did email and went to sleep around 10pm.  I was SO TIRED!

Wed am:  wake at 5am and get ready for swim workout with Mike.  Ate full breakfast before we went.  Swam 3850 yds got dressed and ready to work the booth.  Got dropped off at hotel, ran upstairs, quick blow dry of hair, walked to convention center to start work at 10am.  Worked 10am- 5pm on show floor.  Walked to co-workers car and drove to Mandalay Bay for a nice dinner with co-workers.  One co-worker needed to shop for a few things (he is from Israel) so I went with him to the mall. I also HAD to get new shoes or my feet would fall off.  I bought new shoes, he bought his stuff. We then walked over to another mall near our hotel.  This is where I left him to do more shopping.  I felt like I was going to drop dead of exhaustion!  I went back to the hotel around 8:30 and was asleep by 9:30pm.

Thurs am: had extra people to cover booth this day so I was scheduled only a 3 hour shift from 2-5pm.  So, did email, made a few calls, went to the gym for a 1/2 bike, 1/2 hour eliptical workout.  Showered, then headed to lunch with co-worker at 12pm.  Ate, walked the show floor, had a partner meeting, and booth duty here I come.  Worked until 4:30pm, then we had to disassemble the booth and pack everything.  Did that until 6pm.  Walked back to hotel quickly, I was meeting client at 7pm at Mirage for dinner and theater.

Walked over to Mirage, had a fantastic dinner with two fabulous working women from two different IT companies.  Walked to 10pm show of “Love” the Beatles review.  One of the clients fell asleep during the performance (it was everything I could do to stay awake!).  I guess it isn’t just me who had one heck of a week.  After the show, walked over to my hotel and went to sleep around 1:00am!  For those of you who know me, I DO NOT go to bed at 1am very often!  Let alone on the morning I have to get up at 4:45 to catch a 7:20am flight.  But, I did.

Woke Fri am at 4:45.  Got on the plane around 6:45am and was happy to be able to sit for 6 hours!  I stayed awake so I could go to bed early Fri night.  So this plan worked well.  I couldn’t wait to see my bed!  It was all I could do to make it to 8pm LOL.

So, that is my week in a nutshell. The funny thing is, I brought my computer to bed with me to do a few work emails and answer aol emails before I went to sleep.  Poor Jason, my IM coach sent me an email that said “how are you feeling? are you rested for the weekend’s workouts”.   I had to reply “not so much”.  Of course, I didn’t go into this much detail, but I will come clean right now and send him this link to read.  I think he might kill me…..

till we meet again….