Some years ago I entered the Stockholm Marathon at 2:30am while \u2018refreshed\u2019 after a Christmas party <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
Vulnerablity to race organisers<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Christmas drinkypoos is another hazardous area for the unwary triathlete, and not just because we generally can\u2019t take much of it.<\/p>\n
Drink does strange things to triathletes, making us vulnerable to cunning marketing from race organisers who target us when our powers are weak.<\/p>\n
Long-time readers may remember that some years ago I entered the Stockholm Marathon at 2:30am while \u2018refreshed\u2019 after a Christmas party.<\/p>\n
And I forgot that it was on the same day as my wife\u2019s birthday, leading to me inviting her to a romantic weekend in Sweden without telling her I was disappearing off for four hours on her special day, which went down about as well as a health minister in a jungle.<\/p>\n
Proving that I\u2019m nothing if not consistent, last week I blearily awoke the morning after a club dinner to a series of emails sent to my inbox at 2:45am thanking me for entering Reykjavik Marathon 2023.<\/p>\n
Consider your gift requests\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
As if all that wasn\u2019t enough, there\u2019s also the minefield of presents to negotiate. Obviously you want something tri-related but you don\u2019t want to ask for something too shiny and lightweight because it will invariably come with an eye-watering price tag that will leave your present-buyers thinking you\u2019re a greedy ****.<\/p>\n
In my experience it\u2019s much safer to opt for low-value but useful accessories. For example, this year all I\u2019ve asked for from Mrs B is a new neck buff<\/strong><\/a> because I\u2019m tired of reacquainting my nose with whatever I last burped into my current one every time I pull it over my face.<\/p>\n
Give yourself a break<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Wherever you are and whatever you\u2019re up to, I hope you have a happy and peaceful holiday. And take a tip from a triathlete now into his third decade of racing \u2013 give yourselves a break this festive season, let your hair down and enjoy yourselves.<\/p>\n
Eat, drink and be merry, and don\u2019t fret if you don\u2019t set that 5km PB at your Christmas parkrun.<\/p>\n
The important thing is that you\u2019re fit, fresh and raring to go for the start of the year \u2013 because there\u2019ll be loads of inexperienced joggers and cyclists hitting the roads, which means a whole new audience of mere mortals for you to show off your superhero levels of triathlon fitness to!<\/p>\n
How to balance training and fun<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Illustration:<\/strong> Daniel Seex<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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By Martyn Brunt Published: Thursday, 15 December 2022 at 12:00 am Christmas is coming and Brunty\u2019s getting fat. Yes, it\u2019s that time of year that triathletes love and dread the most, with the potential for exciting, gift-wrapped carbon componentry appearing under your Christmas tree offset by the fact that you\u2019ll put on a stone and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":19990,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/12\/martyn-brunts-guide-to-the-festive-season-scaled.jpg",2560,2012,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/12\/martyn-brunts-guide-to-the-festive-season-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/12\/martyn-brunts-guide-to-the-festive-season-300x236.jpg",300,236,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/12\/martyn-brunts-guide-to-the-festive-season-768x603.jpg",768,603,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/12\/martyn-brunts-guide-to-the-festive-season-1024x805.jpg",800,629,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/12\/martyn-brunts-guide-to-the-festive-season-1536x1207.jpg",1536,1207,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/12\/martyn-brunts-guide-to-the-festive-season-2048x1609.jpg",2048,1609,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Martyn Brunt Published: Thursday, 15 December 2022 at 12:00 am Christmas is coming and Brunty\u2019s getting fat. Yes, it\u2019s that time of year that triathletes love and dread the most, with the potential for exciting, gift-wrapped carbon componentry appearing under your Christmas tree offset by the fact that you\u2019ll put on a stone and…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/19989"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}