Welcome to the new reality! Hopefully you’re somewhere safe and comfy with plenty of toilet paper. But chances are you’re also adjusting to working from home, home schooling, grocery lines, enforced social distancing, crowded (or closed) trails, home workouts, and the generalized anxiety that comes with living through a global pandemic.

The bad news is that quarantine can really take a toll on your mental and physical health (even if you never catch the coronavirus).

The good news is that quarantine can also be a time of rest, reflection, and finding out what you’re made of. That’s exactly what I want for you. So in this post, we’ll cover some “indoor” survival skills for hikers.

Health is training

Back in the long-long-ago (erm, like a month ago), you were probably super focused on fitness and training. You were probably less focused on things like sleep, nutrition, stress management, and healthy behaviors.

Here’s the thing though. If you really want to push yourself to new levels, your health came needs to be 100% on fleek.

If you sometimes toe the line when it comes to health, I’m there with you. Back in February, when I was really ramping up my ultra training, I was playing it fast and loose with my health. I wanted to stay out late and go to shows. I wanted to date a lot — which in my neighborhood involves lots of beer and street tacos.

I found out the hard way that you can’t run 50 miles a week without plenty of sleep and a nutritious diet! I ended up getting a cold that lasted for a month. And to finally kick it, I had to cut my miles in half for a few weeks.

It was not fun, and I don’t want it to happen to you.

So please take advantage of this forced pause we’re all experiencing to nurture yourself and deepen your good health habits. If you can make them an every day thing, they will pay massive dividends for your active and adventurous lifestyle.

Some things to focus on :

1. Be a Teflon athlete

Endurance training is a long game. We always expect our build up to progress in a linear and mathematical way.

But the truth is, training interruptions are inevitable. (Think about it. Have you ever gone four months without some life stressor coming up? Training won’t be any different.)

When shit happens, you can make a lot of drama about it. Or you can adapt, adjust, and keep moving forward as best you can. I like to call people who are all in no matter what “Teflon athletes.”

But here’s a secret. No one is born Teflon. You get that way by living through interruptions, feeling all the frustration and confusion, and somehow getting through it.

And if you’re not quite there yet, guess what? You’re greatest teacher is here! If you can train through this pandemic, nothing for the rest of your life will seem hard. So dig down, find your grit, and keep going.

2. Eat a nutrient-rich diet

I don’t know about you, but during times of stress, I run straight to the refined carbs and cheese. But unfortunately, that’s probably not going to do a lot for my immunity if I catch the virus.

Quarantine is a great time to focus on eating a nutrient-rich diet. How do you do it? It’s pretty easy.

• Get plenty of fruits and vegetables (at least five servings a day).
• Replace sugars and refined flour with whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, oats, bulgar, and whole-wheat bread.
• Eat plenty of heart-healthy fats like the ones found in avocados, nuts, seeds, and olive oil.
• Choose protein sources that are low in saturated fat like poultry, eggs, soy, or plant-based whole-protein combos (beans and rice, peanut butter and whole-grain toast, etc.)

If you don’t normally meal-prep, quarantine is a great time to get in the habit! Try cooking a nutritious dish for the week and divide it into containers. Freeze a couple of the meals so you’ll have fresh food if you’re not able to make it to the grocery store due to illness, food shortages, or what have you.

If your grocery store is anything like ours, we’re experiencing shortages of certain ingredients. So when meal planning, choose easy recipes with fewer ingredients and don’t be afraid to substitute! For inspiration, check out my favorite cookbook, Run Fast, Cook Fast, Eat Slow.

3. Feed your brain healthy information

Your brain is just like your body. Feed it a bunch of garbage, and you will likely see a rise in your levels of stress, anxiety, and hopelessness.

As someone who feeds my brain way too many serial killer documentaries, trashy reality shows, cable news programs, and alarmist political podcasts, I can attest!

Back in the long-long-ago, these didn’t have much impact on my emotions. But not that the world feels so dark and uncertain, they send me into a doom-and-gloom spiral.

So instead, I’m trying to limit TV news to a few minutes a day — or even just to online reading. The rest of the time, I’m trying to watch comedies (Tiger King counts) and listen to personal development podcasts.

Your brain’s healthy diet might look different, and that’s OK. Just shift toward consuming media that lights you up and makes you feel more alive.

4. Let the humans be humans

Nextdoor, our neighborhood social network, tends to be a contentious place. Usually people are fighting about dogs and dog poop. But lately that’s been replaced by demanding that people quarantine “right” — and whining endlessly about how they don’t.

On one hand I get it. Every time someone passes me too close on a run, I resist the urge to shout, “six-feet, douchebag!”

But here’s the truth. You can’t control other people. The sooner you accept this, the easier life will be.

So take charge of your own decisions and let go of the rest. You can’t make people move over on the sidewalk (a common cause of angst on Nextdoor Denver). But you can go in the grass, go in the street, or stop and wait for them.

5. Calendar your time

When you’re stuck at home, time can feel like an enemy. Either you have way too much of it, which makes life empty and boring. Or you’re overwhelmed with new demands like homeschooling.

One of the best ways to take back your life is to create some structure for yourself. Set aside an hour each week to make your to-do list. Then add each item to your Google or Apple calendar. Make sure you schedule time for:

• Sleep
• Fun
• Connection (Facetime with friends, etc.)
• Grocery shopping and meal prep
• Fitness

6. Talk to someone

Connection is a basic human need. Yes, even if you’re an introvert. So fire up the Facetime, Zoom, cell phone or whatever you use and connect with friends and loved ones a few times a week.

If you’re quarantined with other people, they may fulfill some of your need for connection. But be sure to give them a break! During stressful times, we tend to treat our “safest” relationships as lightning rods for all of our worry, anger, frustration, and so on. So if you notice that tendency, find a neutral listener who can hold some of those feelings for you.

Also, consider counseling, life coaching, or therapy. As a former counselor who’s been to a lot of counseling, I can assure you that it’s not just for “crazy” people. It’s actually fun. Some people do it has a hobby! Lots of practitioners offer video sessions right now. Or check out a service like Better Help.

7. Get eight hours of sleep every night

Sleep is probably the most abused and neglected part of a healthy life. So often we push aside in order to socialize or get shit done.

But the truth is, chronic sleep deprivation is linked to all kinds of things we don’t want. Just a few examples:

• Weight gain
• Mood disturbances (depression, anxiety)
• Lost productivity
• Injuries
• Shorter athletic careers
• Premature death

Now imagine if you prioritized sleep above all else. What would your life be like? It might be crazy good in a way you can’t imagine. And quarantine is the time to find out and establish better habits.

So shoot for 8–10 hours of sleep every night and watch the difference it makes in your body and mind.

8. Wake up naturally

Your body does most of its healing and rebuilding during the last few sleep cycles of the night. This is when your glands release human growth hormone, testosterone, and other substances that stimulate cell growth and repair.

This restructuring process is crucial to successful training. The more recovery you can make in your sleep, the better you’ll train the next day, and the faster you’ll be able to progress.

The older you are, the more you need your early morning sleep. This is because your body produces lower levels of hormones. So soak up everything you can get!

The trick is to sleep for your full cycle and wake up naturally (without an alarm). This may require you to go to bed earlier. Again, this is a great skill to practice in quarantine.

9. Avoid zombie drinking (and eating)

During times of great stress, we humans tend to soothe ourselves with substances. Your drug of choice may be alcohol, sugar, caffeine, or anything that gives your brain a temporary dopamine hit.

For most of us, this is going to be a temporary phase that eases as we adjust to quarantine life. And of course, quarantine won’t last forever.

But if you feel like your substance of choice is controlling you instead of the other way around, here are some things to try.

• Take action early. The sooner you move to break the cycle, the sooner it will be.
• Make a plan for your drinking (eating, etc.) 24 hours ahead of time.
• If you feel the urge to break your plan, don’t push the urge away. Allow it to be there. Feel into it. Chances are, it will dissipate within a few minutes.
• When you do drink (or eat sugar, etc.), do so consciously. Shut off the TV, stop what you’re doing, and really enjoy the substance. Avoid drinking on “autopilot” when you are occupied with other things.

Interested in learning more about overdrinking? I strongly recommend this podcast episode by Brooke Castillo at The Life Coach School. It’s the first of a three-part series, and they’re all solid gold.

You can also check out my post about my journey to drinking less alcohol, where I put these principles into action.

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There you have ’em. My top hiking survival skills for quarantine.

Remember, someday quarantine will be over, and we’ll have to get back to our daily grind. So even if this isn’t a happy time for you, don’t wish it away. There’s always a way you can improve and grow.

Originally published April 17, 2020.