Eat, Drink, Train: The athlete’s guide to surviving the festive chaos

I think it’s fair to say that for the vast majority of us, December always starts with good intentions. You tell yourself you’ll stay consistent, keep things ticking over, maybe even use the festive break to sharpen things up. Then suddenly it’s three weeks later, your sleep has gone sideways, your training schedule looks like abstract art, and you’re wondering how one chocolate turned into six. Honestly, I’ve been there more times than I’d like to admit.

But what I’ve learned is this: Christmas doesn’t ruin fitness, the chaos does. And chaos is only a problem when you don’t have systems in place. Over the years between winter base phases, race build-ups, and more “one-more-drink” evenings than I care to count, I’ve figured out that you don’t survive December by being perfect. You survive it by being prepared. Does the above sound familiar? Yep? Then please read on.

This is a real-world survival guide for athletes who still want to train, perform, and feel good when life goes full festive, and not a moral lecture about willpower. Leave that to Nan on Christmas Day.

People talk about December like it’s some kind of off-season. But for your nervous system, your digestion, your recovery and your immune system, Christmas can feel like a heavy block. Late nights, disrupted sleep, packed diaries, alcohol, travel, different food, missed meals, and if your house is like mine, the constant refresh of the Amazon and Evri apps for the delivery you’re waiting for, are all layered on top of your usual training stress.

That means Christmas has the potential to tax your legs, your hydration, your gut, your hormones, and your recovery capacity.

You can feel it when the legs feel flat before the session even starts. You can feel it when your heart rate drifts higher than normal. You can feel it when you wake up dehydrated, even though it’s winter. Heads up guys, it’s physiology.

And this is where most athletes make the mistake: they try to “push through” December using the same rules as the rest of the year. But it’s a different environment with different stress levels and different rules. Especially if you have little ones too.

Alcohol, sleep & dehydration are the silent performance thieves… Let’s not pretend alcohol doesn’t show up in December. It does. And whether it’s one drink or five, the effect on hydration is immediate. Alcohol suppresses antidiuretic hormone, increasing fluid loss and pulls water and electrolytes straight out of your system.

That’s why the morning-after session always feels heavier than it should because you’re starting in a deficit.

This is exactly why Hydro has become a non-negotiable for me during the festive period. One bottle before bed after a social night, one first thing in the morning before training. Electrolytes replace what water alone can’t. We discussed this in more detail in the previous article if you want to go and have a look at that one too.

The added glutamine helps with fluid uptake and gut stress too, which matters more than people think when your digestion is already under pressure.

Proper hydration takes into account thirst, nerve signals, muscle contraction, joint lubrication, and brain function. In December, it’s one of the easiest wins you can stack quietly in your favour.

One of the strangest things about Christmas in our home is how eating becomes constant… and yet somehow poorly timed for training, with long gaps between meals and huge portions late at night. Plus there’s the random sugar spikes and missed breakfasts after late evenings.

Trying to train on that feels like rolling dice…

This is where Fuel-5 quietly carries a lot of weight. I’ve used it all year, but in December it becomes a bridge. If I haven’t timed food well, I’ll use it pre-session to stabilise energy and avoid the rollercoaster. The slow-release carbs keep the engine steady, not spiky. Think about it as protecting your session.

And after training, when dinner time still feels hours away, Protein + Omega+D3 becomes my anchor where protein switches the recovery on, and omegas are there for inflammation and joints. Vitamin D is also necessary here in the north east of England because winter sun simply doesn’t cut it, and your immune system knows it.

People chase motivation in December when what they really need is routine.

Here’s the truth most athletes don’t want to admit: you probably won’t train as much in December. But you can still train well.

Sessions get shorter and warm-ups generally need to be longer. Another way to think about this as we start getting deeper into December is consistency beats volume. That means when you do train, it needs to be supported properly by hydration, fueling and recovery.

This is exactly where Lactic Acid Buffer earns its place in my bag. Have you ever noticed the intensity often goes up when sessions get squeezed into tight windows? That means faster acid build-up and quicker fatigue. Buffer helps delay that tipping point so you can actually hit the session you planned and not the watered-down version your legs were slipping toward.

And for the days when your brain is foggy from late nights and packed diaries, Focus becomes about clarity and not so much stimulation. Training in December is as much mental as it is physical.

Here’s something no one talks about enough: December is where recovery either saves your momentum or sneakily steals it.

Think about your average build up to Christmas, where your sleep is fragmented and often stress is high. Plus the training stress still exists, and all of that hits your connective tissue and immune system harder than in summer.

This is why Protein, Omega+D3 and Collagen all pull more weight at this time of year. Protein turns repair on, and Omegas calm inflammation and support joint health. Vitamin D supports mood, immune function and hormone balance, and Collagen keeps connective tissue resilient when you’re tired, cold and less mobile.

You don’t feel recovery immediately, you feel it when aches don’t linger. When small niggles don’t become full injuries and when you can still train in January instead of “starting again.”

After years of doing this badly and slowly learning to do it better, here’s the only rule I genuinely follow in December:

Don’t disappear.

Miss a session? Fine.

Eat something indulgent? Enjoy it.

Sleep badly once in a while? Meh, you’re human.

But don’t vanish from your habits completely. Keep the thread unbroken even if it’s thinner than usual.

Remember to hydrate well, and to fuel when timing is messy. Recover on purpose and train when you can. That’s how I survive the festive chaos without undoing the year I’ve just built.

And then, when January rolls in and everyone is starting again…
You’re already moving.