Whether you are training for a 10K, metric century or sprint triathlon finding time to train while working, enjoying time with your family and getting life’s essentials done is challenging. Things get even more complicated when you decide to go long and train for marathon distance or beyond, longer bicycle races or long course triathlon. So I reached out to six outstanding athletes and coaches to get their perspective on how to successfully balance endurance sports, training and life.
What does it take to go the distance and come away with races you can be proud of? In short, planning, prioritizing, passion, clarity, discipline and execution. You also have to train smart, valuing quality over quantity. Let’s take a look at each of item to see how these busy people make it happen and go over some practical tips.
Lana Burl, triathlete and owner of LB Endurance Coaching, suggests that you start out by making a ranked list of your priorities starting with health, family and work. She uses multiple color-coded Google calendars for different priorities including family, work, and volunteering.
Planning & Priorities
“Family activities go in first, my sleep and recovery time is blocked out next, then work-related appointments and tasks,” Burl said. “Training fits in around all of that. TrainingPeaks exports my future 14 days of planned workouts to Google calendar, so I don’t forget anything. I can see family members’ calendars too, so I don’t plan a three-hour bike ride when we are otherwise committed.”
She notes that when a conflict occurs like a work meeting getting rescheduled, her training will likely move too. Also if she doesn’t sleep well, she will sometimes move or skip a workout because recovery and rest are more important in her view than the training time.
“It’s not perfect; I aim for mostly completed and do what I can,” Burl continued. “Setting priorities and taking control of my schedule are my keys to training consistency.”
Roger Godsey, triathlete, also uses TrainingPeaks to populate his calendar. He strives to stay flexible and plans his training around work commitments and the weather. For example if he has to work on Saturday, and has a 6 hour ride planned, he switches his long run from Sunday to Saturday then rides Sunday. If work runs late on a Wednesday, and he has a long open water swim (OWS) planned, he switches it to either Tuesday or Thursday, depending on which day has the best weather.
Enjoy The Process: Don’t Stress
“New folks training for an Ironman seem to be stressing over missing workouts or not completing the distance for the workout,” Godsey said. “I find rest days are just as important or more important as training days. Folks worry if they only complete 2,000 yards of a 2,500 yard pool training session. Those 500 yards are not going to break you.”
“Enjoy the process. Don’t make the training any more stressful than it is. We all have a lot of responsibilities that are more important than an Ironman. Have a plan, put the work in, show up, dress up, go race, do your best and have fun!”
Jay Baker, recreational athlete and ultra runner, points out that training is a choice and that if you chose to make sacrifices to be out there it’s probably because you have a passion for your sport. His suggestion: embrace it.
“If others recognize you as an athlete and you like to do it then you need to put the time in,” Baker said. “It’s a commitment. It’s a sacrifice. Not everybody gets to feel the joy of running from state to state, town to town, or riding through different counties. If you feel it, you need to do it. Otherwise you are doing yourself an injustice.”
Value Clarity
Cliff Pittman, online endurance coach, notes that we each start every day with the exact same amount of time in our day. He suggests managing productivity based on priorities, planning, when possible the automation of tasks, and discipline to execute.”
“I’m a firm believer that we first must understand our priorities and what activities generate the biggest return in our time invested,” Pittman said. “This process can be summed up in one word: clarity. Without clarity, our schedules get loaded with nonproductive tasks that usually benefit others’ priorities instead of our own. Clarity ensures our time is purposeful and proactive.”
Larry Bennett, ultra endurance athlete, (concentrating mostly on remote bikepacking, MTB and Ultra road events from 250 miles to 5,500 miles) stresses training with a purpose and is a man at war with junk miles.
No Junk Miles
“You need to make the most of each and every moment of the day leading up to an event, Bennett said. “I find most athletes do a lot of junk training, spending time in comfort zones versus training effectively.”
He emphasizes that junk miles serve no real purpose no matter how much fun they are and encourages athletes to have the discipline to keep to the plan. A coach’s job is to help you evaluate the goals and then prepare a path to get you right to the edge of peaking without tipping you over into over training. This takes communication and most of all discipline to do the workouts, and only the workouts specified, and take the prescribed rest days. The other primary training element that he feels is lost on most athletes are rest days and true recovery rides.
“While I wouldn’t recommend only doing three bike workouts in a week, three solid, planned workouts on a bike with a build to a peak are more effective than five days of riding and thinking you are going hard,” Bennett said.
He recommends a realistic planned goal, a training plan in place to meet the time frame for the goal, discipline to follow the plan and says the final ingredient is the mental training to accomplish the goal.
“Mental training and toughness are almost more important than the ability to ride fast,” Bennett noted. “This can be applied a variety of sports. A lot of times, the athlete that has done the work and can mentally and physically rely on that fact, will finish ahead of the younger, stronger and faster folks, simply because they planned and did the work”
Practical Tips
Nicole Ramsbey, triathlete, shared some practical tips on getting the workouts done including getting a coach, planning your week on Sunday, getting workouts done in the morning, cutting travel time and embracing the bike trainer. Nicole’s Website
“Getting a coach is the best money you can spend,” Ramsbey said. “A coach not only helps with time management, they also help with injury prevention (as long as there is open communication), and making sure you’re doing the best workout for you.”
She mentions that many people prep meals for the week and encourages you to think about your training the same way. Look at your work and training schedule on Sunday, and plan when you are going to do each workout each day, and then input it into your calendar.
Rise And Shine
Whether you are a morning person or not she encourages you to get workouts done in the morning.
“Once you’re done, you have a sense of accomplishment and you will approach work with a better attitude as well,” Ramsbey said. “Plus, you won’t stress about getting in your training if your day starts to get away from you, or you start feeling tired, or just don’t have the motivation to workout.”
If you can run and ride from your home she recommends you do it to save the travel time going somewhere for a group ride or run and use it for work, family or sleep. Even more important if you have to pay for childcare or for a sitter.
Her final suggestion for cyclists and triathletes is embrace the bike trainer.
“Since my seven-year-old was born, I’ve spent more time on the trainer than I have spent outside on a bike,” Ramsbey said. “It’s made me a faster cyclist, and it’s also enabled me to do my workouts at any hour and spend more time with my family. My hubby calls it the worst piece of furniture in the house, I say most expensive, but he does like that we can still watch a movie while I get my workout in.”
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Have a topic you want to see covered in a future post? e-mail me I’m alfred@swimbikestumble.com.
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