There are a ton of triathlon training schedules. Some are good, some are
bad, and some are nice to look at when you need to fall asleep quickly
and don't have any sleeping pills nearby.But regardless of which
triathlon training schedule you use, there are 10 crucial time-saving
elements you need to be looking for, if you don't want to waste time
training when you could be kissing up to your boss, wasting time on
YouTube, or teaching your kids how to make offensive sounds with their
armpits.So in no particular order of importance (except that the first
one is about food, which I find myself thinking about a lot as a self-
admitted food junkie), here are your 10 triathlon training schedule time
savers:10. Eat Lunch Fast. Taking 5 minutes to eat your lunch will leave,
in most cases, 55 extra minutes in your triathlon training schedule. So
what takes a long time to eat? Salads, casseroles, dinner leftovers - and
pretty much anything that requires cutlery. Choose these instead: wraps,
sandwiches, smoothies and shakes. And yes, I am that guy riding my
bicycle down the road as I finish up a turkey-avocado wrap that I've
wrapped in aluminum foil and stuffed down my bike jersey.9. Quality Over
Quantity. Most triathletes, especially the Ironman ones, swim 140% too
much, bike 200% too much and run 170% too much - mostly because there is
too little hard fast training and too much long slow training. I
personally use a ton of high intensity interval training workouts (HIIT),
and that means I get to watch movies with my kids at night. So what's an
example of HIIT? Rather than going on a 45 minute run, I'll do 10
treadmill 30-60 second sprints on the highest incline I can possibly
manage, and then do my core workout between each sprint.8. Commute. Ride
your bike to work. Put your clothes in a backpack, and pack baby wipes or
Actionwipes to wipe yourself down. If you're like me, you can even go so
far as to wash your hair in the sink. If this doesn't work for your
triathlon training schedule you can also: A) run to the grocery store for
small items (I run hard there, and then easy back while I'm carrying
stuff like bananas); B) do errands on your bike (not recommended for
anything that involves your hair looking nice); or C) ride or run to
social events, like parties, and then drive home with your friends or
family.7. Family Training Tools. As soon as my wife and I found out we
were pregnant with twins (actually she was, I just helped, which was the
fun part), we equipped our garage with a double bike trailer and a double
jogger. The bike trailer always has two little bike helmets and a bunch
of books and toys inside (you'd be surprised at how long a Batman action
figure will keep a little boy entertained on a long bike ride). My wife
uses the jogger to take the kids on little nature field-trips, or to
soccer, swimming, and even the gym (speaking of the gym, try to join one
that has free kid care, like the YMCA, so you and your spouse can
exercise together). Some triathlon training schedule advice is to do
"Invisible Training", which is done early in the morning or late at night
when your training is "invisible" to your family, but I encourage you, at
least once a week, to set a good example and make family a part of your
training.6. Indoor Training. It sounds a bit blah, but if you want to
free up time in your triathlon training schedule, you can save many, many
minutes by hopping on an indoor trainer or treadmill rather than getting
dressed for weather conditions, going outside, and fighting stop signs,
stop lights, traffic and Grandma's on rollerblades with their 8
grandchildren and 2 schnozzle dogs. You'll even find me sometimes
skipping my swim to do an indoor workout.5. Eat Right. If you're eating
calories that don't have high nutritional value, a good part of your
triathlon training schedule is going to be spent simply A) trying not to
get fat and/or B) fighting against the recovery and fitness reducing
effect that "empty calories" have on your body. Anything process, refined
or packaged should comprise only a very small part of your diet, and
everything else should come from whole, raw, real food. And yes, the
local coffeeshop bakery case falls into the latter category, even the
cookies with the pink frosting that say "Fat-Free". I also recommend that
just about everybody take the bare minimum supplementation protocol:
Vitamin D, Magnesium, Fish Oil and Greens.4. Communication. You, your
spouse, your family, your friends, your co-workers and your boss should
be aware of your triathlon training schedule when you have a 5 hour bike
ride planned for the weekend, or you decide to disappear to the gym for
an extra hour on Wednesday morning. We keep a big calendar by our front
door where we write down workouts, family events, races, and sometimes
the ever-present reminder for me to "mow the lawn already". If you and
your spouse are geeks, you could certainly use something like Google
calendar or the "Remember The Milk" phone app - but we go old-school
paper calendar at the Greenfield house. I'm also very open to friends and
co-workers when I can't hang out. Don't be embarrassed to wear your
triathlon training schedule on your sleeve - most people will respect you
for being committed to fitness.3. Friday Night Fuddy-Duddy. Speaking of
friends, I don't recommend you engage in heavy drinking or late night
social activities on Friday night - primarily because Saturday is such
valuable time for getting in your triathlon training scheduled workouts.
Save the tom-foolery for Saturday nights or Sunday afternoons, when
you've gotten your high quality training out of the way. My wife and I
will often stay in on Friday night, grab a movie (the last good one was
"Due Date", but I digress), have a date night, hit the sack by 10pm, and
be fresh and ready to get started into workouts or training on
Saturday.2. Cross-Train. Lately, many of my social relationships are now
formed from playing tennis with a group of guys. For me, that's my social
outlet that keeps me from being an isolated triathlon geek who has lost
the skill to communicate with the general population and mostly just
stares off into space and utters phrases like "Oily Cassette Blurby Blah-
Blah". You're not "wasting time" when you cross-train in your triathlon
training schedule - instead, there is often a very good training effect
upon your triathlon fitness. While the social sports of golf, softball
and baseball may not be the best cardiovascular cross-training
activities, look into group activities like soccer, basketball, tennis,
or if you are an international reader, cricket (I know nothing about
cricket, but I threw that in there to make this a globally relevant
article and to appease any Eastern hemisphere readers).1. Non-Triathlon
Post-Race Festivities. If you've got a family, the last thing you want is
your family to regret you taking them to the big race in your triathlon
training schedule. By all means, do not arrive at your race 5-7 days
before the race with your family for a "vacation", spend the entire
vacation fretting about racing and tweaking your bicycle, and then fly
home the night of the race or the morning after. Instead, go to the race
later in the week, like 3 or 4 days early (you're not a professional
athlete, for crying out loud, so why skip out on life just to acclimate?)
and then stay 2-3 days after the race to engage in non-triathlon post-
race festivities with your family, like theme parks, scenic attractions,
wine tasting, or if you'll really up for an adventure, wine tasting at
theme parks. I take no responsibility for injuries incurred during that
last activity.If you're trying to prepare for a triathlon without
neglecting your friends, family or career, then these time-saving tips
should be good additions to your triathlon training schedule. If you want
more advice just like this, then you'll want to visit
http://www.triathlondominator.com, where I've got more techniques for
Half-Ironman and Ironman triathletes to get maximum results with minimum
training time. See you there!
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