It is true that professional athletes find it easier to find the time to train for the triathlon.
Athletes with children have it easier than parents with full time jobs who try to tackle a training regime. All triathletes with kids have to find a way to balance.
If you don’t have time every single week for that
long ride or run, every other week will add huge benefits to your fitness and is more manageable. All you need is another parent who shares your situation. Perhaps every other Saturday your friend can watch your children and theirs. This creates a great play date for the children and gives you a day to get in plenty of time with your
bike or another sports activity.
Waking up before the sun might not be your favourite time to train; however, it can give you several hours to
train while your children are sleeping. To get the most out of your mornings, prepare everything you need the night before. Have your trainers,
treadmill and workout clothes all set to go. Also try to make the night before an early one, so that you still get that important sleep.
Try new method of cooking
Take the kids to school, work all day, fit in a run, pick up the children from a
sports activity and rest. Relaxing is likely not on the plan, but a hungry family is. Break out the slow cooker on your fully loaded days. While getting everyone organised in the morning, throw vegetables and meat in the slow cooker. Let it do the cooking while you get your rest.
Keep rest of your family active
If your children are not too young, get them active and fit by practicing with you. This is particularly great if your kid is not yet practicing in any other activity. This will provide you an opportunity to train together, but it will also teach them how to stay physically fit.
Fast waling with a pram can be a great way to train for the triathlon and stay with your child.
Work with your partner to create a routine where you both support each other’s activity and both get your fun in too. If you are a single parent, ask grandma for a night off. Then, hit the road
running.
Involve rest of your family in the triathlon training
Use out of the box thinking to involve the family in your triathlon training regime. Perhaps you live near a lake and can put your husband and child in the kayak to escort you on your
long swim. Maybe you can attach a bike seat to his bike and take daddy’s little girl on his 20-mile recovery ride or easy spin. Mile repeats at the track are a great way to help your older child work that stop watch and be part of your run. For little ones, set them in the middle of the field with a picnic or toys. You can keep an eye from every inch of the field while you
circle the track.
Cycle or Jog to Work
This is a perfect opportunity way to
fit in that run or ride, save fuel and time. If you’re going to cycle to work, get a small backpack to hold your change of clothes, or leave a change of clothes at the office. If it’s still too dark for you to ride or run to work, get a ride to work and run or ride home from the office. If all else fails, try to use the lunch break to squeeze in some training.
Walk the children to school
If you can walk your children to school, take your running clothes and then run back home.
Mix up your workouts
On most training plans there is that little extra. It means mixing up your workouts and is meant to be something different than swimming, cycling or running. These days, you can choose from many fantastic resources for all types of varied workouts:
- Yoga
- Core
- Kickboxing
- Booty busters
- Step aerobics.
The beauty of a training session at home is that you can do it anytime that fits your schedule, the children can be home playing, and you can have laundry going, dishes in the dishwasher, and something in the oven all while cross training.
Related article
https://www.kidstart.co.uk/blog/olympic-inspiration-how-to-get-into-a-sport/
