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

bigskymacadam

my buddy's in the same boat. he can only workout in the morning. he gets to the gym at 4:30 am. it's definitely a challenge.

Doggus

Don't count out the birdie bath. We have no shower facilities where I'm at. I ride at lunch and then wait long enough to cool down, then I wash up in the men's bathroom. I prefer to use the sink as opposed to the toilet.

roadbuzz

It's all about compromise, but you've probably already figured that out.

Using commuting is a great plan, but 28 miles each way riding at speed on an open road (i.e. no stoplights, etc.) would probably take 3 hrs out of your day, ignoring the overhead of changing, showers, etc. So, drive partway and commute both ways the remaining, say, 7 to 15 miles. Even if you do it at a moderate, "base training" pace (which can avert the need for a shower... use a washcloth or paper towels in the restroom), it'll contribute more than you guess to your conditioning.

Do you have a trainer? If not, you can pick up a decent fluid trainer for ~$150 (less than a good headlight), and steal an hour of quality workout time when you can fit it in, without even leaving the house. And, you'll be on your own bike (setup, fit, etc.) You need to be able to train consistantly as much as getting in the long rides, especially this time of year. Good Luck!

Bobby Lex

Less time on the keyboard, more time on the saddle.

Bob

botto 

+1 - or - forget about cycling regularly for now, and worry about it when your kids are old enough that they DON'T want to spend time with you.

derath

That is my initial plan. There is a park and ride lot on my way to work that cuts my ride down to 15 miles each way. I want to work up to the full distance eventually. Plus the remaining 10 miles currently have several miles of construction that have a Jersey barrier on the white line instead of a shoulder. (50mph speed limit road).

Not even a 10 mile ride will keep me from needing a shower however. But that is ok, the commute goes right past my gym.


Not yet. But I have an old Nordictrack in the basement which I use. It isn't cycling, but it is a decent workout. I have been looking for an end of season deal on a trainer.

My job keeps me on a computer. So it doesn't really impact my riding time.

Luckily my wife is supportive, she wants me to stay in shape. My daughter loves the trailer too, so when spring rolls around I can drag her around (even better workout pulling her up an 8% grade).

Thanks for all the supportive comments.
-D

merlinextraligh

I think the ideas you've listed (other than lying to your wife) are all good. A few others: focus on quality over quantity; make the time you do have count. Sounds like time is tighter than money, so I'd get a coach to help with a program that meets your goals within your constraints. Another thought, buy a tandem and a burley trailer. That way some of your endurance miles can also be family outings. also, Ride to places and meet the family there. For example wife and kids drive to local park, you ride, and then put the bike on the car to go home after playtime and a picnic. Take the kids to the ice cream store in the trailer.
As for your 28 mile commute, that may be a little long some days, particularly when you have a long workday. But you can do one way on 2 consecutive days if you don't have time for both ways. (drive in with bike, ride home, and ride back the next morning, this way also gives you the car to get to and from the YMCA, and to store stuff.) It's really about being flexible, and creative, and pitch in at home so you don't get a lot of flack.

timmhaan

if you're doing a tri event, you need to do some running and swimming too. what do you do for that? personally, if i were you, i'd use the YMCA for more than a shower. i'm sure they have a weight room and stationary bikes, right? what about a pool?

as for food - don't skip it. make a few sandwiches, grab a banana, and throw them into a backpack when you leave in the morning. i can make 2 pb&j or loosemeat sandwiches in about 45 seconds when i'm really rushing. consider buying a few cans of v8 juice to have around as well.

bkbroil

OMG -- we are living the same life! I too am an IT consultant and travel quite a bit...have a wife and two small children (6 and 7)....I've been struggling with trying to "make time"... Up until about Thanksgiving, I was commuting (20 miles each way) to work about 2 - 3 days a week....Then it got really cold and the only time I could get out was at 6:00am on Sat and Sun... I joined the gym next to work and used a fluid trainer but it's not the same... Now, the days are getting longer and (fingers crossed) it will start to get a bit warmer.....

I don't have a simple answer...but know that there are other people on the East coast going through the exact same situation!

Why couldn't I win that Powerball so I could devote my life to riding!!!!!

derath

[QUOTE=merlinextraligh]I think the ideas you've listed (other than lying to your wife) are all good. A few others: focus on quality over quantity; make the time you do have count. Sounds like time is tighter than money, so I'd get a coach to help with a program that meets your goals within your constraints. Another thought, buy a tandem and a burley trailer. That way some of your endurance miles can also be family outings. also, Ride to places and meet the family there. For example wife and kids drive to local park, you ride, and then put the bike on the car to go home after playtime and a picnic. Take the kids to the ice cream store in the trailer.[/QUOTE

Got both. We LOVE the tandem and trailer combo. Unfortunately my wife is not in riding form right now as she has 11 weeks left on her pregnancy. I do plan on working from home a couple times a week after our boy is born, and dragging her out for rides. I hope to get her back into shape in time to do the Seagull Century with her on our tandem (metric). Otherwise, for now riding with my daughter is out until the weather gets better. Not dragging her out in 40deg temps.

We aren't cash poor, but are on a stringent budget. The reason I work the way I do and our lifestyle is setup so that my wife doesn't have to work if she decides she doesn't want to.

Yea thought about that too, except I rarely am in 2 days in a row. But I have alot of other options there. And yea, I pitch in a ton at home. My wife does freelance work, which is good because she can do it at home. but she gets the majority of her work done in the evenings once I am home. So my evenings are watching our girl (soon to be kids), cooking dinner, cleaning up the kitchen, laundry, any other house cleaning etc.

I swim some too. And for now use the treadmills to run. And the stationary bike. Oh and the weights.

I don't skip my lunch anymore. I pack a lunch. I generally get my gym bag and lunch ready before bed, and then slap together the sandwich on my way out. (bread gets soggy overnight).

Overall, I guess I am doing pretty good all things considered. I just have been frustrated lately. I had some wife/pregnancy issues come up in January that knocked me off my schedule so I hadn't gotten any workouts done in almost 6 weeks. I am still getting my schedule back in order so I can get up early enough to workout. Which got me started on thinking up ways to integrate workouts into other tasks (like commuting) so I can basically get some exercise without having to necessarily get up as early. With everything that is going on I probably only average a solid 5-6 hours of sleep a night.

-D

Phantoj

I'm in a similar position as you.

Ideas:

1. Your training time is limited, so make it count. Don't just go out to rack up some miles as a brisk pace. Instead, devise an intelligent training plan that you can live with. Make your hard days really hard, and your easy days easy.

2. Or, decide which you're more likely to regret: never knowing if you could have hit it big in the local cycling scene, or missing a few hours a week of time with your family...

SlowJim

I would go with an indoor trainer (ex. Kurt Kinetic) and try consistently putting in a 1 hour session 5 days per week. If you can slip in a long ride now and then that would be great but the consistent training should be sufficient.

Good luck!!

Jim

FatguyRacer

This is my route for now. Once morning temps get back into the high 30's low 40's i'll start commuting again. For now, I bring my bike and alot of kit to work on Monday and take it home on Friday. I manage 2-3 rides a week, where as in the past i did none and used a trainer. I've grown to hate them. Sometime i get out at lunch, but mostly i leave for a twilight ride from the office to maximise the daylight time i have. I come in extra early so i still get in 10 hrs of work a day. Leaving for a ride at 5pm, I'm good for a two hour ride during the weekdays. An hour of sunlight + an hour with a 15w Nightrider Pro. My battery is 9 years old and only holds an hours charge. I gotta be careful how far out from work i go. I cant believe i never did this before. Riding at night is not so bad. Its warmer at sunset hours than it is at sunrise.