4 Tips that will make your skiing holiday carefree
I went with my friends on a skiing holiday in Austria last week, the country of beautiful alpine, snowy slopes, Tyrolean music and … yes: beer, bratwurst and apfelstrudel … Anyone who has ever been skiing knows that the sportive part of such a holiday is sometimes overrated. The calories burnt on the slopes is usually amply compensated by the Austrian delicacies during the lunch or the “third half” of the skiing, the après ski.
And because I’m absolutely not a saint, after a wonderful day of snowboarding I have regularly drenched myself in the apres ski life in one of the bars along the steaming slopes. And after a couple of Jager Bombs found myself, red cheeked, among my fellow Dutchmen dancing on apres ski hits like “Sex with the Bald one” and “Nur noch Schuhe an”.
While I have a pretty strict eating and training schedule at home in the Netherlands, I usually let go when I’m on holiday. Vacation means relaxation to me, no counting calories, meal preps or worrying about a workout I missed. So I make sure I return home rested and motivated to go back to my busy life again. To prevent you from retuning home exhausted, dehydrated and fat, I’ll give you a few tips to carefree enjoy your “guilty pleasures” during the skiing holiday.
1. Take breakfast like an emperor, lunch like a king and dine like a pauper
You consume a lot of energy on the slopes, due to the skiing and the cold, thin air that contains less oxygen. The lack of nutrients that you incur by skipping breakfast, you can hardly catch up on during the rest of the day and as a result, your energy level drops. If you want to be on your feet all day in the snow, a hearty breakfast is essential. The calories of the Bratwurst or Kaiserschmarrn you have for lunch will be burnt easily. Avoid the snack in the evening after the apres ski and the following morning you’ll get out of bed a lot easier!
2. Drink plenty of water
If you’re going non stop on the slopes all day, its not just calories you’ll burn. Your body temperature will rise enormously, you’ll perspire more than usual and therefore lose a lot of moisture. The beers in the apres ski bar will cause further dehydration, and will come back to you the next day disguised as a bad headache and stiff muscles. So take a big bottle of water, and drink at least 2 liters of water a day to prevent dehydration!
3. Don’t stay up too late
Physical activity requires recovery and the best way to recover is to take a good sleep. So enjoy your apres ski moment, but don’t be tempted to stay up all night partying: make sure you’ll leave in time so that you can get a good night’s sleep (it also avoids embarrassing moments that can be used against you afterwards). If you wake up early in the morning after a long sleep, and you take the first ski lift up, you will thank yourself for having taken the right decision.
4.Take that vitamin D
Sunlight is one of the best ways to get rid of your winter depression. Winter sunshine provides you with lots of vitamin D, which gives you a boost of energy and a better mood because it helps raising your serotonin levels. Besides, vitamin D helps to keep your blood glucose level at a more constant level and stimulates the absorption of calcium for stronger bones. Put on plenty of sunscreen because the UV power of the sun up in the mountains is a lot higher due to thin air.
I hope that with these tips you can unscrupulously enjoy you skiing holiday to the max, and when you’re back home again feel rested and recharged to face life!