Marathon Abroad Jet Lag Recovery

ekevosu

Hi All,

Just looking for boardsies experiences and advice.

I am entering the Seoul marathon this year in november. I'd prefer the marathon is at the start-ish of the trip so that I can enjoy the rest of the holiday without worrying about preparing for it etc.

For those that have run marathons abroad where the time difference is significant, what are your strategies to get over jet lag and be prepared for the marathon. Is arriving two or three days beforehand sufficient, say for a 13 hour flight, 10 hour time difference?

I've read advice such as - get up, walk around, take plenty of water, possibly try and get used to the time difference by staying up later each day coming up to the flight.

Any tips / advice?

dna_leri

I have not run a marathon abroad but visited Korea a few times in the last while, its a long trip and it took me two full days to get over the jet lag.

My advise:
Take as direct a flight as you can e.g. from London, Paris or Amsterdam.
If possible eat a big meal before going on board so you can sleep and not care about waiting for the meals on board.
Get a window seat so you won't be disturbed.
As soon as you get on the last flight, change your watch to destination time.
If it's night time in your destination, try to sleep, even if you can't, close your eyes.
When you arrive, if its day-time, go for a run - the best cure for jet lag that I know.
Go to bed as close to normal time as you can and stay there until morning, then go for a run.

good luck.

spaceylou

Make sure you stay hydrated - constantly sip water throughout the flight would be my two cents for what it is worth. Having travelled from Ireland to oz, back to Cyprus and then back to oz in the past month (do not even want to think about my carbon footprint), I would definately say give yourself at least two days to recover and drink lots of water.......lots of water!! Aside from the dehydrating effect of the flight, your destination will be hotter than ireland so you'll have to drink a bit more than normal anyway....

Stupid_Private

Another option - travel pants... also double as recovery leggings.

Peckham

May be an off the wall suggestion....but any way your budget can stretch to business class flights? Flew business class long haul for the first time back in May (to Hong Kong), and makes a huge difference in terms of quality of sleep (that's if you can resist the endless supply of free booze and rich food!).

Some good business class deals out there at the moment....especially if there are two of you travelling together.

goofygirl

interesting. I have the inverse problem, taking a 9 hour flight across a 7 hour time difference to come home for DCM. I'm leaving on the Wednesay evening, taking an overnight flight and getting home on the Thursday morning.

ekevosu

Peckham wrote: »

May be an off the wall suggestion....but any way your budget can stretch to business class flights? Flew business class long haul for the first time back in May (to Hong Kong), and makes a huge difference in terms of quality of sleep (that's if you can resist the endless supply of free booze and rich food!).

Some good business class deals out there at the moment....especially if there are two of you travelling together.

flights are fairly cheap at the moment and you can go direct from Dublin so I must check business class to see what its like price wise and how the other half lives .

flight pants look interesting. Thanks for advice everyone, much appreciated.

best of luck going the other way goofygirl