Pause, Rest, Reset: A Holiday Guide for Everyday Athletes

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Athletes Compass podcast where we help everyday athletes navigate training, fitness and health with a little science, a little wisdom and occasionally some Nordic truth bombs. Today we're stepping into a different kind of holiday episode. No gear lists, no frantic countdowns.

and definitely no pressure to squeeze in extra miles before the year turns over. Instead, we're taking inspiration from Nordic winter, that quiet season where the world slows down, the candles glow, and athletes reconnect with what really matters, recovery, nature, and the people around us. And honestly, it's a perfect frame for training smarter this time of year. So in this episode, we'll explore how slowing down

can actually build you up whether you're a runner, cyclist, triathlete, rower or Hyrox athlete. We're talking about intentional rest, low stress movement and why the holidays might be the best training block you never planned. Marjaana brings us her Finnish wisdom, Paul brings the science and together we'll help you reset for the season ahead. Let's dive into the Nordic holiday reset slow down to train smarter MJ.

You grew up in North Finland, not just Finland, but North Finland. Can you describe what the holidays feel like in the Nordics and how that shapes your approach to training this time of year?

Well, unfortunately, I don't live there anymore, but ⁓ I get to go and visit sometimes. So, yeah, so it is very dark. ⁓ There's only a few hours of somewhat daylight, which is kind of like this beautiful blue light. ⁓ The sun never comes up.

Yeah.

the horizon, it is mostly dark, which makes people tired, right? ⁓ And I think when I lived there, it was kind of like beautiful because you're tired, so you sleep really good. And actually, I have to back the track up about four years because

Four years ago, we used to live in Dubai and I was just about to travel to Finland with kids to celebrate ⁓ Christmas. And I had just hired Paul, our prof, to be my coach. And I'm like, I was stressing, ⁓ is this like, when should I start? I'm going to Finland for like three weeks. I'm probably not going to train too much. And prof said,

Well, today is the best day to start. So that kind of brought me back like, okay, well, I'm going to stress about training. like, no, don't stress about training. He said like, just sleep when you're, you're tired. And my God, I remember the sleeps I had there because it's dark and cold and you know, no stress. Beautiful. So long story short, in praise.

the darkness if you happen to be somewhere in the Nordics or Canada where there's a little less daylight and kind of embrace the now embrace the weather because the seasons are there for a reason and my 25 plus Celsius humid run

Yeah.

just couple of days ago reminds me of that every single day that forever summer is freaking boring.

Thank

You

Yeah. It's

yeah. Yeah. I mean, you said a mouthful there, but I'm, reflecting my own family's experience. So I brought, I was down in Australia doing my, doing my Aussie science stuff there over in Perth. And I brought my now wife over to, to there to, get out of Canada and come, come live the summer environment. And, she lasted a year and it was just, really missed her.

Her mountains and her cold and her seasons ultimately. so to MJ's point, there is something about the seasons that, again, if you've grown up in them, you really, you miss them if you all of a sudden don't have them anymore. So, careful what you wish for sometimes. yeah, they're there. I don't know if they're there for a reason or not, but they certainly can be very restorative. And I think that's the...

Mm-hmm.

So Paul, from your perspective as a scientist, what happens to an athlete's physiology when life slows down during the holidays? there real benefits to leaning into that seasonal rhythm?

Yeah, I think there is and we can potentially see this actually in our Athletica data if you're one of the ones that is taking regular looks at your heart rate variability. If you're in a stressed phase, you may see that return a little bit to normal. Of course, you might not have the same endurance training background. And if you don't, sorry, like zone two kind of work. Zone two work is the key thing that raises that parasympathetic activity.

Don't forget also that if you're in a massive ⁓ state of stress, work and all those sorts of things, it could be quite low. And then this period of time can be quite restorative for that. And you may see a little bump in that. Certainly, because we know that sleep is one of the key ⁓ influencers of that HRV and just feeling good, right? So again, MJ's story when she went from Dubai over to Finland, she slept and slept and slept and slept.

⁓ I'll just say I was doing the same thing this weekend. My wife took a puzzle out and we had a puzzle out on the kitchen table and the whole family just sat down around that puzzle and it's just like this slow, quiet, ⁓ meditative time where you're getting in there and you're not doing much of anything but you're, just, the music's on in the background.

it's very hukli, we say in Denmark and the Norwegian countries, and it's it's very cozy. The word hukli means cozy. And it's just like the candles are lit and the fire is on and the snow's falling outside and it's dark, but it's still cozy. And ⁓ there's something that's restorative about this moment. So wherever you are or wherever you're listening to this, ⁓ this is the time when

And you can give yourself permission to ⁓ take on some of that restorative recovery.

How many piece puzzle? Nice. I am ⁓ a big into Christmas puzzles as well. It's like, where do we put it? Do we put it on the coffee table and then sit on the ground? And I'm like, no, not this year. Like my hip flexors are too tight. I can't sit on the ground. But yeah, there's something with like stopping and not worrying, like stressing about.

Oh, a thousand. Yeah.

You

Yeah, yeah,

we are as well.

Yeah.

phones or work or anything. And that's what the Nordics do. They usually take a week off around Christmas and just spend time with family and go skiing and alpine skiing. Or if you're not a skier, then just walking outside in the darkness and looking at the beautiful stars. And if you're lucky, also some Northern Lights.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, and maybe the lights too, right? So at least in my neighborhood in Canada, Christmas lights are everywhere, right? So it's like, know, that's, and that's old. Yeah. yeah, Texas too? that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Showed me some.

But MJ, isn't it? Yeah.

Yeah, even in Texas. yeah. We

Mm-hmm.

go big. We go big on Christmas lights outside. But yeah, like one of the Nordic traditions is ⁓ lighting candles on the windowsills that shine the light outside and also inside. ⁓ And in Finland, we have specifically one tradition that has been

going on for over 700 years and it's a declaration of Christmas peace 24th of December, 12 o'clock. There's a traditional like a declaration and then that means like everybody comes down. Shops are still open but for the husbands who are late on their Christmas shopping but everybody else is like calm down and

Hahaha

So that's celebrating Christmas.

in Dutch that feeling of coziness, it's called gezellig. And it's the same idea as just enjoying that peace that comes. But you've got to choose that peace

Is that?

Yes. Yeah.

You

do. You do. So yeah, and give yourself permission to choose that Peace too, right? So it's like, yeah, yeah.

You know...

Yes.

Because it's hard to get outside when it's cold and dark. It was zero degrees up here this weekend, and it was hard to get outside. How do you see MJ athletes embracing that darkness and that cold instead of fighting it?

Preparation. I think we read the same sub stack prof this weekend. ⁓ Jörgen Mellow, he's part of the Norseman crew and does some research. ⁓ He wrote an article about how to prepare for winter and it is preparation because you can't just, you know, like my kids wearing

shorts and hoodie when it's cold here in Texas. I think they've missed the note to dress up and they don't listen to me anymore. So you got to know how to prepare for the cold weather, I think.

There's no, yeah, what's the saying you told to me, MJ? There's no bad weather, there's just bad clothing choices.

Yes, exactly. Yeah,

exactly. know, like, ⁓ cotton material is the worst thing you can wear when it's cold and you need to block the wind and have some wool under and you know, like the clothing technology has improved so much ⁓ that like even wool material feels amazing.

Yeah.

Yeah. So.

on your skin. It's not like itchy anymore.

Totally. And remember, so if you are not used to going out in the cold, and ⁓ again, this was from the article, but the key thing, like the key principle you really need to kind of consider is the whole principle around layering. So if you layer, ⁓ you probably, can't go wrong, because if you've got multiple layers and it's super cold, and then all of a sudden you're out there and you're getting a little bit warm, well, you can, you if you've got a backpack with you, can easily.

shed layers as you heat up and whatnot and then you put that back on and ⁓ backcountry skiing is one of the things that I love to do in the winter here in Revelstoke and that is that's just one of the key things it's as a group because we're you know we're talking usually minus 10 or less in Celsius ⁓ when we're kind of out there and inevitably you'll start out with multiple

clothing and layers, including a down layer. And then you just get too hot and you've got to take that off. So the whole group stops, shed a layer, goes in the backpack, continue on again kind of thing. Then you get to the top and you need to ski down. Well, then the layers kind of go back on, right? Because you're going to cool down again. So it all just sort of becomes part of what you do to be comfortable in these cool environments. But it's totally manageable if you have the right gear.

One thing I would say though is like we're talking to lot of triathletes and runners is that be careful when you're running out there. Especially if you're running somewhere like on the road where there might be black ice or ice underneath a layer of snow. It's always better to find like a trail that has a nice snowpack to run. And don't look at your watch because you will be running slower.

Mm.

Paul, we hear lot about consistency being the magic ingredient in endurance training, and that's something we've addressed in this podcast. Why might the holidays and kind of lowering the overall stress and intensity actually support long-term consistency?

Yeah, you know, think Paul, it's, I don't really know the whole exact premise to it, but it's, I guess it's just, there's these cycles that we go through as human beings where we stress and then we get recovered from it. And to always be chronically have this, I mean, remember that exercise itself actually is a stress too, right? And it's super healthy what we do when we get that exercise stress in us because we adapt to it.

but to always, we can't always be at peak level throughout our entire year. And we need to kind of get, we need to appreciate that and understand that, that we have to, you know, yeah, accept this cyclical process and then, and know that we're going to detrain in the off season, ⁓ at least a little bit, and that that's part and parcel and natural in whole process. I guess it's just, it's important to know that.

in your off season, which is in the peak off season tends to be that from the majority of us that Christmas period, there's no better time than to kind of have that as the time when you're not doing too much and not worrying about too much because it allows you to focus on your support network, your friends and family that are gonna be there for you hopefully later on when you've made those connections.

So that's the time to reengage and reconnect with your family and friends ⁓ as best you can. And it's a great time to just do a little bit less. And it will all come back in the weeks following, whenever you start back up again, whenever that feels right for you. yeah, it's a good practice, And this is throughout.

Mm-hmm.

many successful athletes, world beaters, world champions, they will take that time to themselves ⁓ and it will come back later on when they're building up again.

And by Nordic winter, we're talking about this time of kind of slowing down that any runner, cyclist, triathlete, rower, or Hyrox athlete could apply right now. What do you think for both of you?

Slowing down is a... I don't know. guess it has a similar to what Paul said. It will come back manyfold instead of trying to cram in in between, you know, going visit family or...

You know, all the other social arrangements that you're doing during the Christmas, allowing yourself to just slow down and don't worry about training and just enjoy the social company. I think that's well worth the time off training.

Mm-hmm. Paul?

And

I reflect on at this time, some pro athletes that I've had the privilege of rubbing elbows with. One is Andy Busher who's, you know, he's on lots of the pictures in Athletica, et cetera. And then also Jan van Berkel. So these guys are both top 10 finishers in the Ironman World Champs Kona. And both of them do at around this time of year have in the past switched to cross country skiing.

So snowy outside where they're at and they enjoy ⁓ just the different exercise mode that they can kind of do during that time. So, you know, and again, like intuitively you might sort of think, my gosh, I'm not getting my run training in ⁓ or I'm not able to do my, you know, my five hour bike ride, et cetera, right? So don't be afraid of ⁓ mixing things up.

and doing these alternate winter activities. I mean, there's so many benefits that we know from cross-country skiing. MJ will tell you all the time, right? Because now you're getting the arm action kind of in there. You're mixing up classic versus skating. And so even though there's all that white stuff on the ground, potentially where you're living, it's a great time to mix things up. And back to the central premise of the

of the podcast around the break, the mental break that we're getting here, just switching up that exercise mode as well is additionally a mental break, all right? Because you're no longer just swimming, biking, running if you're the triathlete or whatever the exercise mode is that you're focusing on. Now you're able to kind of like get ⁓ a different sort of cross training in there as well in that winter environment.

I was also thinking about skating. know, lot of places they now make these routes around like, I think I saw it, maybe it was Montreal or somewhere. Ottawa, make these beautiful skating pathways through the woods. That sounds like so much fun.

Yeah, Ottawa.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, just embrace it. Embrace it. And yeah.

Yeah.

I think there's a big thing too about, Paul, you kind of brought this up earlier about giving yourself permission, giving yourself some grace for when you're feeling like you've got to balance your training out, but there's a, you know, you've got family and it's, it's okay to miss some days. It's okay to, to not focus on your training for a few days. Cause you're, you're not going to lose anything.

to give yourself that grace. I've got a, one of my athletes is, is going home to visit her parents and she just got a new fat bike and all she's thinking about is riding the fat bike in the snow in Northern Wisconsin. And, and it's like, yeah, do that, but spend the time with your folks too. And, and you know, it's, it's okay to ride and have some fun, but there's no, there's no training schedule this week. Go ride when you can.

Probably.

you don't

write your athlete's program for the week.

I do, well, Athletica does, ⁓ but I tell them to take it for what it's worth and not stress about it this week. Yeah. But everyday athletes do stress about losing fitness in December. So MJ, what do you say to them?

awesome.

Go for a walk with your family or do something else and keep yourself occupied with some physical activity with your friends or family or kids.

Yeah. And Paul, what do you recommend when people want to keep something going without digging an early season fatigue hole? What do you recommend?

Well, I'm stealing one of MJ's favorites, it's ⁓ sauna and I'm doing a lot these days. And sauna, like as they say, sort of the poor man's altitude training, but that's what I'm doing a lot of these days as well. We've got a bunch of snow out there and I love like last night, was last night, Sunday before bed and you know, I was an hour in the sauna, but it was interspersed with a five minute. ⁓

snow plunge as well, right? So like five minutes on my back in the snow. And it's like, you I get to the point after that five minutes where I'm shivering. And then it's back into the sauna. It's a wood fire sauna. It's been absolutely cooking. So it's so hot in there. And then I throw water over the sauna rocks. And it's like so super hot, but it's like you're in this like super hyper cold sort of moment. it's like, so you got this super cold body.

wow.

Solid.

but it's like ⁓ intense heat. And MJ will know, because she'll do these in Finland. And they're just, it feels so incredible. And you're so awake and so alert. ⁓ so yeah, if you have the opportunity to embrace a sauna, if it's even if your local pool, they might have a sauna, this is a great time to get that sort of heat training in you as well is around these winter months. And that maintains

Yeah.

the cardiovascular training, right? Because again, last night my heart rate's hovering around zone two almost, like 110, towards the end of this really hot, hot stim. if you look at, know, Peter Atia as Outlive, he's recommending lots of these saunas. There's loads of benefits. And that's gonna hold my fitness by just getting that. And it's just a total different stimulus and it's super fun. It feels amazing.

You took the snow plunge to another level though. I remember me and kids, I introduced the snow plunge for the kids last time we were in Finland. ⁓ Sat in a sauna for a while and then jump in the snow and roll. We just do a snow roll and then we get back in. But you took it to another level, five minutes of laying there. That's solid. ⁓

No angels.

Yeah.

But can also use a hot tub if you have access to that. So sit in a hot tub and then do a snow roll

Yeah.

Yeah, I remember you and Cindy doing that last year.

Or, yeah.

But yeah, it's fun. Kids loved it too. Like they were in it.

So holiday diet culture is such a thing. ⁓ How can athletes approach eating and fueling without falling into that quote, earn your food trap?

Ooh, it's a tough one. Tricky one. ⁓ As we know, nutrition's always like a delicate one to navigate. for me, Paul, at Christmas, I tend to let my hair down a little bit and just, again, relax a little bit. ⁓ You know, I think I know. I don't respond personally very well to sugar. And I've got these sore hips that just act like, ⁓ you know...

Yeah.

Yeah.

my little alarm bells and if I consume too much sugar around it, they just, they get inflamed real quick and it kind of puts me away. So I, it's easy for me to kind of step aside and gravitate more towards the healthier foods. But I don't, I don't tend to worry too much about the stuff. just limit, I limit the treats that I know I don't need too, too many of it, but I'll have a couple here and there and.

Certainly going to embrace my Rieselamang, my rice pudding, and the ⁓ fun that goes around with that in the Danish and ⁓ Finnish culture. Right, MJ?

Yep. That's fun. That's a tradition. ⁓ For me, I don't worry too much about the nutrition either. I'll have a treat or two, but it's just not in my wheelhouse to stuff myself with a lot of food. then you go for a walk. If you do, a walk after a big meal always feels much better.

⁓ So yeah, what about you, Paul?

It's, it's, it's moderation. It's just, you know, eating in moderation. It's like, when mom bakes me my gluten free cookies, I can't eat them all in one day. It's gotta be, I've got to take them, you know, have a couple as opposed to just focusing on eating them all. ⁓ so it's, it's moderation and just, you know, not, binge eating and not stuffing yourself, but enjoying the food and enjoying the company.

Yeah, that's good advice.

What's an intention you want your athletes to or athletes in general listeners to this podcast to bring into the new year? What's something that you'd like to see them do change be?

Kind of a heavy question.

Mmm.

Well, for me, I just want everyone listening and especially, know, Athletica users to have the best season of their life and to really continue to embrace the platform for what it's becoming because there's just some, you know, really exciting releases that are coming in the new year. And we've mentioned them before, but, know, the the Athletica U, I'm really

proud of the course that we put on there for all Athletica users. And so we really feel that we learn, we, you know, if you understand why you're doing what you're doing, it just goes a lot more to getting out, you know, getting something out of that session. So that's there for you to learn in terms of the why behind your program. And the other big one that comes with this new user interface, which I find is just so incredible, so sleek.

but it's the AI coach and it's the backend team, Andrea's staff and the work that they've done to bring this AI coach to life. You can ask it any questions about your data, about your wearable data that's sitting there in the background. There's just nothing out there that's like that. And ⁓ I'm just so excited for people to embrace that technology, for them to teach us.

about the capabilities of that technology. We don't even know all of the capabilities of it yet. And we're finding more and more of them every day and getting more and more feedback on it. But we need you, the user, to continue to tinker and experiment with it as well and tell us what you're getting out of it so that we can help others. So it's just a super exciting time here in Athletica. Paul and MJ.

MJ, what about you? What's an intention you would like to see your athletes bring?

I just had a nice conversation with an athlete today and we were talking about how we as seasoned athletes, we understand a lot. We've learned a lot about why we're doing a certain session and we are over the initial, well, I just want to get consistent.

We are more of a, we struggle altering the sessions in case we start feeling a niggle, for example. And we struggle with allowing ourselves to stop if you're running, stop and start walking because we think that the walking is less than running. And we had a nice conversation today and I was just like.

I just love talking to athletes because we are so similar. We have the same thoughts and nobody says anything. So I just want everybody to embrace that knowledge and wisdom that you have inside you and allow yourself to listen to what your body is saying. If you have a niggle you just don't, you feel off. Just, it's okay. Walking is not less than running. You're listening to yourself and

you know, ⁓ respecting yourself ultimately. So listen to that little voice inside your head, because it knows there's wisdom there.

And to follow up on that or to continue that thought, think my intention would be ⁓ helping people or hoping that they would allow themselves to do what they can. So if the training plan, if Athletica calls for a three hour ride and you can't get out on the cross country skis for three hours and the thought of riding the trainer for three hours is, you know, not something that you can handle, that's okay.

you know, get an hour and a half in, get two hours in, do what you can because that consistency of training matters. And I think that if you have that intention of being good to yourself and having an intention of doing what you can, you're going to be lot happier with the training process.

holidays are a chance to reset your training mindset. ⁓ Do you, is there something about the holidays that you want to say or something that you want to communicate to people about the holidays?

⁓ Maybe enjoy sitting still for a minute and light up a candle if you're lucky that it's dark and just be and listen like what's coming, what are the thoughts that are coming up and just like sit still and you know calm down.

That's what I'm hoping for myself.

Paul.

Yeah.

That's my Christmas wish!

That's funny.

Actually, I really can't go too far away from that as well. It sounds so basic, but it's so important and it's so hard to do. And you'll know too, and again, sitting at the puzzle on the weekend, I felt it. there was a part of me that wanted to get back to my work that's still got a very, very long list that never seems to ever end, like many of us do. ⁓ And especially when we live these online worlds, right?

the list just kind of keeps going. People to get back to, tasks to accomplish, sometimes it's really impossible. ⁓ But if you don't sit back and find a quiet space, light a candle like MJ is saying, and allow yourself the permission to reset, do nothing, ⁓ kind of meditate, like that's what I was doing, ⁓ then you're not gonna be any good to anyone kind of.

Sounds like a challenge.

Yeah, and I want to make sure that we all ⁓ spend time with the people that we love. I'm going to make sure that I spend some time with my 88-year-old mom, because who knows how much time I have left with her. And I really just want to be with her. She's a powerful, wonderful woman. And I just want to just learn from her and hear from her. ⁓ And I want to,

encourage people to spend that time, use these holiday times, not as like, my God, I have to see my family, but I get to see my family. I get to see these people who I don't see that often and appreciate who they are as people. think that would be a good intention for people.

I like that one, Paul. Nice.

really lovely. Happy holidays! Hyvää joulua! Kuu jyly!

Well, happy holidays all.

Happy holidays! Merry Christmas!

for listening today to the Athletes Compass podcast. Take a moment now, subscribe, share, and let's keep navigating this endurance adventure together. Improve your training with the science-based training platform, Athletica, and join the conversation at the Athletica Forum. For Marjaana Rakai and Dr. Paul Laursen I'm Paul Warloski and this has been the Athletes Compass podcast. Thanks for listening.