FITTING YOUR TRIATHLON TRAINING INTO YOUR LIFE
Life throws us many challenges – sometimes we can work them into our daily timetable, sometimes we have to drop everything so the issue can be urgently dealt with. Work often messes with our lives while children do get sick so it’s understandable that your training scheduled is quickly forgotten all together. Here are some suggestions that should help keep your training on track especially when life throws an unforeseen challenge at you.
PREPARE PREPARE PREPARE
Start Early
Starting your training earlier in the season will alleviate some of the pressure to train when things do get tough. Having an early start gives you a bigger base so if you have to take a couple of days off due to an unexpected issue then it won’t harm your overall build up and may help you feel more relaxed. Remember, you can’t cram for a triathlon like you can for exams; you body likes to have time to adapt and recover.
Plan you week
There are plenty of steps you can take to help solve the time pressure issues we all face 
but here are a couple that you may like to consider:
- Cook all your meals for the week at the weekend
- Cook twice the amount of dinner and freeze the remaining for later in the week
- Plan all your meals in advance so you don’t waste time staring into an empty fridge then having to race out to the shops for those last minute items
- Plan you training week and get all your kit washed and ready to go on Sunday night
- Plan your working wardrobe for the week so you don’t have to think too much about what to wear when you have to make a quick dash from your training session and get yourself ready for work
- Have your training plan in full view for all to see so they know how your time is committed – no surprises and, hopefully, no last minute requests
- If possible off load those routine chores that eat into your time – employing a cleaner or taking your shirts to the local dry cleaners for ironing for the 3-4 months when your training/racing is the busiest could help alleviate the pressure. Also having a month off ironing and cleaning could be your reward for completing a full month of training.
Set your goals
Our lives are complex and getting more so. As women we’re expected to cope with whatever life throws at us and fit so many things into too few hours. Prioritise what’s important in your life and list down what you really want to achieve. If your training is on top of the list then you need to allocate time to your training. Our lives have many aspects and it’s important to prioritise what’s important to you. Triathlon training may be 4th or 5th on the list and, if this is the case, you shouldn’t feel guilty when you neglect that run for something higher on your list.
We can’t do everything but we can do some things extremely well so choose which things are important to you and focus your time and effort on them. By focusing on these important things it will help you achieving your goals and will make you the person you really want to be.
