derath

Ok so here's my dilemna. I love cycling, always have. Up until this past year it was very recreational. Rides here and there with my wife. Now it am going more hardcore and trying to really get myself in shape. I have several centuries and an olympic tri lined up for 2006. So I have a good bit of work to do.

Problem is, not that it is really a problem per se :-) but makes finding time to workout difficult, I have

1. Pretty busy job. I have an IT consulting company. Things have gotten better as we have grown and I bring on new employees. I am working myself out of the "trenches" but I am still on the road a good bit going to clients, sales calls etc. I am usually only in the office maybe 2 days a week.

2. Wife, 3yr old, second child due in May. Home life is busy. My wife has alot of extra needs that need more assistance from me. It is close to impossible right now for me to regularily say "seeya honey, I'm off for my saturday 4 hour bike ride".

I have been getting up around 5am in the mornings to head off to the gym. Pretty much the wee hours are the only times that are truly mine. This time of year it is hard to ride that early. Really dark and really cold. Maybe with a good lighting system, but I don't have it yet.

My work schedule is all over the place. Sometimes I get stuck at a client all day. Sometimes I eat lunch at noon, sometimes 3pm, sometimes not at all.

So my plan, once I get all the pieces in order (hopefully the next week or two) is to try and integrate riding into my daily life as much as possible.

1. Commute to work on days I am going to the office. Once I work up to it I will have a 28mile each way commute. Nice workout for those days. I belong to the YMCA and there is one 4 miles away from the office. Good place to shower.

2. I am literally thinking of just taking my bike with me every day. Often times I have an opportunity between appointments to simply "disappear" for an hour or 2. Only trick here is being close enough to a YMCA for shower afterwards (I sweat profusely at the thought of exercise).

3. Lie to my wife? Tell her I am going to be late from work every so often. Not really, I don't lie to my wife. But the thought has crossed my mind.

Any other tips/tricks for you busy people? I know the addage you have to "make time" to exercise. But it is still a challenge.

What are your tips to meeting the time challenge?

-D