Triathletes - how do you fit it all in?!

[OrangeSunset]

Severely lacking in motivation at the moment. I did a sprint tri last year, and loved it so have signed up for another.

But, in the gloom of January I'm finding it really hard to motivate myself. I've joined a new gym, which means better availability for swimming but a longer journey to get there (20min round trip).

On top of working 2-3 days a week, family life (DC 8 and 6) and a DH who is training for his own events, I'm struggling to see how I can fit it all in.

How do others manage? Coming to the realisation I'm going to have to double up some days to fit it all in. Want to improve on last years time so I'd better get on with it!

How are you getting to the gym? If driving, a 10 minute journey is easily ran or cycled so you could double up on the training. Don't need to hang around at the gym for showers etc so you'll probably be out of the house for the same time.

Well yes driving at present. I did think I could ride there then swim. Only reservation is that I'm not uber-confident on the bike and worry that a backpack with kit in with affect my centre of gravity and I'll be off!

Shouldn't need much kit for swiming - towel to dry down then back on with the cycling stuff, no need to shower etc as you do that at home.

I understand being concerned about cycling, but if you know the way you can practice doing in on a bike with Google Earth. Dont have to use the same driving route.

Why are you doing a tri- if you're not confident on a bike? It will make you better on bike to bike anyway.

You can yell at me if you think I'm a bossy cow.

I have discovered I can adequately dry off with a tea towel. Don't need to take a lot of swim kit at all.

What are the distances, when is your tri, what total time or splits are you aiming for? I'm preparing for a super sprint tri in July.

Ha precisely so I learn some bike skills!
Did a tri last year and improved heaps on the bike, but have had a break over winter. Ditto swimming - could barely do 2 lengths of crawl this time last year but got through the 400m with some training!

It's a sprint, in May. Would ideally like to get my swim time down to under 9 mins. The bike leg - not too worried about that assuming I get my confidence back! Need to do more bike-run training as really struggled with running off the bike last year.

Do you have a good bike, it makes the bike part funner if the bike is a good one. Realistically, for a supersprint you only need to find 1/2 hour to train (1/2 of actual activity) at each discipline, try 2x a week for each one, maybe?

I commute by bike 4-5 days/wk, swim 2x / wk & run 4x/wk right now.

In better weather I am going to practice some 10 mile cycle rides followed by 1 mile runs.

Yes, am very lucky to have a good bike. Although it's also a scary one - very light and whip thin wheels.

My commute is under 3 miles - so not really worth it bike-wise but I might commute and add on a bit in summer.

Sounds like you double up on at least 4 days/week? Not much time for anything else! Do you strength train?

I may have to give up watching TV

My commute is under 3 miles
There's no law that says you have to commute by the shortest distance.

3 miles each way? 3 miles each way is most of my commuting, adds up to 175 miles a month. With hills. I don't sneeze at it. Baseline endurance, innit? Swimming & running are things I schedule in, almost never on the same day.

(am sneezing at everything else today, funny enough).

I almost never watch TV, now that you mention it! I doss too much on MN. I have history of tendonitis everywhere so don't strength train feels too vain looks too boring.

Well yes, although I need to be able to do 1.5 hours non-stop on the bike for the event.

Strength train is incredibly boring, all that faffing about with weights. But a necessary evil, apparently