There’s nothing like a local Ironman to bring the triathletes (and triathlete wanna-be’s) out of the woodwork. And so, with the return of Ironman 70.3 Boise, the phone calls & emails are starting to come in from folks looking for training help. It’s awesome! I love the energy & the desire of each person interested in doing this race! But after the excitement of registering for the race wears off, the reality of figuring out just how exactly to coordinate life AND training will set in. That’s the hard part – the blending of these two things such that one doesn’t overpower the other. Here’s my advice: Find a way to fit training into your life…not the other way around.
When you commit to a big goal like a 70.3, it’s tempting to think that the training should be #1 priority. I mean…the race only happens once per year! Here’s the deal though. In the bigger picture, the quality of your life is SO MUCH more important than any one race. So, here are a few ideas to successfully blend your training into life. Trust me…your family & friends will thank you!
1. Choose your goal carefully.
Achieving Training-Life Balance starts with the goal that you choose. Whether it’s a 10k or a Double Ironman (yes…that is a thing), it’s important to pick a goal that provides a reasonable challenge, but not an extreme challenge. Reasonable challenges are wonderful because they push us outside of our comfort zones & help us learn new things about ourselves. By contrast, extreme challenges can be quite problematic because they demand an overwhelming amount of focus & time & therefore completely disrupt our priorities. Extreme challenges encourage tunnel vision which renders us unable to see how the rest of our life is being impacted. Of course, “extreme” is all in the eye of the beholder…but it’s worth spending time trying to assess whether or not the goal you’ve chosen falls into that category.
2. Honestly assess your priorities.
This is a tough one because it requires us to categorize things in a hierarchical order. Take a hard, critical, objective look at your life & start asking what exactly is most important to you. Is it your work? Sleep? Family? Friends? Free time? Training time? Food prep? The list goes on & on…and obviously we can’t prioritize everything as #1. As you start listing things in priority order you’ll quickly see that you can’t simply add & add & add. There’s just not enough time in a 24hr day to give your attention to everything. So…what is training worth to you? What are you willing to downgrade in order to upgrade your training?
3. Training & stress levels
It’s easy to ignore that training & stress are connected. We often think of training as “fun” & a “stress reliever”…and it absolutely should be both! But remember that training increases physical stress…which means that, to offset that, we’ll need more recovery time. Prioritizing sleep, nutrition & rest days all help to keep your body & mind on a positive trajectory. When these critical pieces are minimized, you risk spiraling down into overtraining syndrome. Not a good place to be!
4. Quality…not quantity.
Endurance sports are defined by volume. How much? How far? How long? But these sorts of questions often encourage athletes to fall into the “more is better” trap. If 10hrs a week of training is good, then 15hrs must be better. It’s a slippery slope & one that all of us have slid down at some point. But why not change the question of “how much” to “how little”? It seems so obvious that if I can get great results from 10hrs of training, why would I want to do more? And if I could get the same results from 8hrs of training…then I don’t need to do 10. Remember…it’s only our egos that want to brag about how many hours we’ve trained this week! To maximize results in the minimum amount of time…
- Eliminate junk volume & mileage
- Focus on high quality training
- Train like you plan to race (click here for my blog post)
- Remember that “training” includes rest & recovery
- Follow YOUR training plan…not your friend’s
Successfully blending training into life is not an easy task. It requires a critical look at how you spend your time followed by an honest prioritization of that time. If done well, you’ll reap the benefits in life as well as training!
Happy Training!
Coach Michelle
If you need help fitting training into your life, click here for info on Coaching.