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Tips for the busy triathlete

These tips were taken from a recent discussion on Gordo Byrn's Tri Forum. Used with permissin from Gordo Byrn

This seems to be coming up a fair amount. It's normal for highly motivated athletes with busy lives to feel like they aren't doing "enough" or to wish that they could constantly do a little more.

1. Have a written plan in advance of your sessions; make your training time effective.
2. Ensure that you get adequate sleep/recovery -- if you get run down then consistency suffers. On a lower volume program, consistency is even more important.
3. Set your training targets a little below what you think is feasible; you'll feel better consistantly hitting modest targets that slightly missing your targets. As coaches, Scott and I (Gordo) are constantly giving people reassurance that it's OK to cut things back.
4. Train at the appropriate intensity for your session goals; it's tempting to seek to increase benefits by increasing intensity -- however, your physiology is not impacted by the number of weekly hours you have to train. We wary of simply making yourself more tired, rather than more fit.
5. Discover and trim unnecessary time activities -- Scott gave a few time saving techniques that he uses (ranging from time managment with Erin to buying pre-washed salad). In each of our lives, we'll have areas of dead time that we might be willing to give up to get an "extra" 30 minutes into our day.
6. Match your performance goals to your ability to commit.
7. Spend some time thinking about your true motivation for training (process oriented or results oriented). Then keep an eye on where training fits in your overall life -- keep that in perspective and remember that for nearly all of us -- it's about being healthy and having fun.

Among the replies to Gordo's initial post were the following..

Use commuting. IMHO this is the number 1 timesaver for working athletes. When the way to work is too long, drive & run (pick up the car on the way home with run & drive). Eat & drink in the car, whenever possible ... Get (on weekend trips with family) out of the car 10km before home and run home.

I always have a bag in my car with an old trainer and old running shoes, a swimsuit and goggles. Have a list of gyms and pools (opening times) in your car. I don't buy yearly memberships but always lift and swim "on the way"

Not for everyone, but train big when you can and relax and take it easy when you can't. It's built in hard/easy. Not perfect, but you work with what you have.

As a counter to your "you must have a fixed pre-set plan", that's a great idea for those whose lives are absolutly fixed and the routine the same every day/week/month. My work was not like that, so, what I would do was sit down at the start of each month and develop a plan/goal for that month( see benchmarks below). Then at the end of the month review and move on. This way I was not locked into having to do this workout on this day or else. The plan revolved around getting in the key benchmark workouts or races, somewhere in that month. Less pressure.

Use B and C level races as benchmarks or big workout days, to know where your training is at every month of the year. In winter/off-season do running races to get a sense of where you are at. Gives you a little mini-goal every month.

Don't worry about what others are doing. Don't pay attention to their numbers. Focus on your own fitness and your own goals.

Don't waste time finding things for the days workout. Put together your workout gear the night before and assign a "home" for the gear when your workout ends.

Be very supportive of your partner. This has worked wonders for me. I used to think that to get more training time in, I would have to be more selfish; but instead, when I began giving more to my wife, she in turn was more supportive of my pursuits and we have been able to work together to free up more time for training.

Stay organized! This is by far THE MOST important one in my book. I cannot remember the actual stats, but I have read that even the best CEO's waste something in the neighbourhood of 5 hours a week due to lack of organization. I think I read that most people waste on average of 8-10 hours a week.

Cut out the tv . I stopped watching tv a few years ago when reality crap became the rage. I could not stand it and turned the tv off as a result. It really is an idiot box with little value in my opinion. Not only does it free up time, but the mind operates a lot more effectively without it. The beauty of a newspaper is that you don't have the news dictated to you to the same degree. You can turn the page if the story does not interest you rather than having to sit, watch and listen to unapplicable news. Another interesting observation...do without tv for a couple of months (I mean absolutely NO tv) and then flick on a sitcom and you will likely be dumbfounded with how stupid laugh tracks are. A lot of the shit on tv would not appear funny without the laugh track - that's how pathetic things have become.

Run at lunch. Not only is this very time efficient, but it makes you more productive in the afternoon and your boss and co-workers gain respect for you and your discipline to achieving goals.

Be realistic. Maybe IM is not in the cards this year. I believe a person can only truly pursue IM if there is a balance in their life or if they do not have a family with young children. If you do not have time to take care of the basics (for which I include spending quality time with your family) then perhaps it is best to review your goals.

Another big key is to get my workouts done in the morning. Yes, that means I go to bed around 9pm now, and up around 4:30-5:00, but I get my workouts done first, and no matter what happens at work that day, I've gotten the training in. Packing the night before is a big key to pulling off the morning workouts. Not fun trying to find your goggles while still in that morning fog.

Another idea, which may or may not be feasible, depending on your work situation, is that I talked to my boss, and arranged to come in a bit later than regular one day a week, usually wednesday's or thursday's. Instead of 8, I'm in at ~9:30. This lets me get a long workout in mid-week, and another one on the weekend, so I get spacing between my long run and long bike.

Early to bed, early to rise - I train 4-5 weekday mornings at 4:30 - 5:30. It's good going into the day knowing that has been taken care of.

Organization - Clothes laid out, etc. etc. I also to the laundry related to my training.

Shopping - I'm the more 'organic' of the marriage so I do a lot of the shopping so I can by my specialty stuff.

Dinner time - I try to get the kids started on dinner. The goal there is to take the overall load off my wife, therefore she won't transfer any frustration onto my training schedule.

The key is to not have the training schedule provide any wear and tear on the marriage. All my sessions are before the kids wake up or after the kids go to bed.

Be Considerate - If I want to get a long run in on a Saturday, I always offer the block of time to my wife.

I can't do the run/ride to work, but I would love to. Time is too tight in the morning....