How to fit Triathlon into your life

I wrote this article that hopefully will be published, but you’re the first to see it.  Enjoy.  Let me know if you have any questions.

How to fit triathlon into your life

By Diane Stokes

January 09

Most everyone has a very busy and demanding life. The obligations across family, work, and everyday chores can seem overwhelming at times. You ask yourself, how can I possibly fit a triathlon training program in to my life?

First of all, if you already exercise or go to the gym a few times/week, it helps to think about training for a triathlon as putting structure to your existing exercise schedule. Triathlon training won’t necessarily add more hours to your training, it will just focus your exercises to make them most beneficial for your fitness, in the least amount of time.

Secondly, most people when they hear of triathlon training think about the Ironman triathlon; and even more specifically, the Hawaii Ironman. Very few people who race in triathlons actually race Iron distance triathlons because the time commitment to finish an Iron distance race, is substantial. Most people train for sprint distance or Olympic/international distance triathlons. For people with children and a job, these distances are much more realistic to fit into one’s existing life and routine without much disruption. I know many people who have fulltime and parttime jobs, families with young children, and a house to take care of that compete in triathlons. It just takes a little discipline.

If you eventually want to go for the full Ironman distance, it is possible. I completed my first Iron distance race while working a fulltime job, coaching other triathletes part time and still being there for my husband and children. As stated earlier, an iron distance race is a substantial commitment and does require the acceptance of your family that you will be conducting long training sessions at least one day on the weekend. However, this is only for the final 12 weeks of the program. One can fit most of the training, even at this distance, into their existing life, if they schedule and plan the training over the course of the year.

Below are my top 10 hints on how to fit triathlon into your every day life with minimal disruption.

1. Think about training smarter, instead of longer by incorporating different types of training into your plan. Make every workout have a purpose to either building your strength or endurance.
2. Focus all exercise on triathlon specific activities. While playing tennis is a great cross training activity, if you are limited in time, your time would be better spent doing a bike hill workout that would add to your bike fitness and strength.
3. Do your triathlon workout first, then if you have time, add your daily walk or tennis game. You want your triathlon specific workout to be first so you can give it your all and not be tired from a tennis match you just played.
4. Schedule and plan as much as you can, but don’t be so rigid about the schedule that you cause yourself undo stress. Life happens and the best laid plans often get altered. This is OK. It is fine to move your workouts around in a given week when these unexpected events happen in your life.
5. Plan some down time in your life. Every 3 or 4 weeks you should plan a reduced volume training schedule. Your body and mind need a rest from training every so often. Stress, both emotional and physical, is very unhealthy, if you do not relieve it every so often.
6. Involve your family with your plans, goals and aspirations. They’ll be excited for you and may even want to join in on the fun workouts you will be doing.
7. Be realistic about the time you do have available to train. You might have to be more disciplined about getting up earlier in the morning for your workout, or delaying dinner by ½ hour to get in your workout, but if Wednesdays are a bad day because of early morning and late evening appointments, make Wednesdays your day off, or try to get in a ½ hour focused workout at lunch. Or, if you know you only have 1 hour/day to train each week, adjust your goals appropriately and planning to race a ½ iron or iron distance race is probably not a realistic goal for you.

1. Know why you are training for a triathlon. It doesn’t matter what the reason, just know why you are doing it. This will help you get out of bed in the morning and explain to your child when he/she wants to know why you HAVE to go for a bike ride first thing Saturday morning. It will keep you motivated during those days when you just don’t feel like doing your workout. Trust me, once you’re out there, 9 times out of 10 you’ll feel better for doing it.
2. If you have hired a coach to help you fit triathlon into your life, trust their plan and opinions about your training. Too many times, we want to add that extra workout in, or, we want to add one more mile to our run, or we don’t want to take 2 days off during our rest week because we’re afraid of losing fitness. Presumably, you hired them because they have the knowledge, expertise and experience to know how to get you to your goals. So listen to him/her. Your coach spends lots of time reading articles and attending seminars to sift through all of the information on the web and other marketing mediums that you hear about so that you don’t have to. Discuss with your coach any questions that you have about why you are, or are not, doing a particular workout, but once you get your answer, go with it. You’ll be amazed what develops.
3. Most likely, you are not a professional athlete. You are doing this either to stay fit, add a challenge to your inner-athlete, or for some other personal reason. So, HAVE FUN! Don’t loose sight of the fact that this is supposed to be fun.

Remember, a healthier you is a happier you, is a happier family.

Diane Stokes is a certified triathlon and personal training coach through USATriathlon, USACycling and HeartZones associations. She has competed in all distance triathlons including her Ironman Florida finish in 2008. She can be reached at dstokes@fitbricks.com . You can also visit her website at www.fitbricks.com.