Ive been about the impacts of having one’s training frequently interrupted. This falls into the category of things I can’t change right now, but still curious.
Before our second little one, I was able to get in 10+ hours of training per week, and most of it was concentrated in longer sessions. These days I can manage ~8, but it’s piecemeal. Almost every morning I wake up and get on the trainer at 6, watching the baby monitor. When my littlest (19 months) wakes up, usually between 6:15 and 6:45, I stop my trainer ride, grab her, bundle us both up, and head outside with her in the trailer. I live right next to a park with very safe riding, and I can mostly keep it in zone 2. I keep a Bluetooth speaker in the trailer and have some good playlists for her to groove to. We both love it, but she hits her limit at about 45 min. I should mention I’m doing the polarized plan, not because I think it is superior, but because my current life cannot accommodate three structures interval sessions per week.
Wednesdays are my one day a week that my wife does morning duty with both girls, and I do my hard TR threshold or vo2 session.
On Saturdays, instead of one long ride, I do my normal morning trainer warmup followed by baby ride, then another hour or so on the trainer during her afternoon nap (will be increasingly outside as spring springs) . I’m far too needed at home to go off on multi-hour rides right now, as much as I love those.
Sundays are similar, but instead of the trainer I commute to a gig 45 min each way, once again separated by a few hours between legs.
When there is snow or ice, I run with the baby instead of riding. I squeeze in strength twice a week as well, often at pretty random opportunistic times (I’m the weird guy doing pull-ups and push-ups at the playground near my daughter’s preschool before picking her up).
Before folks suggest getting up earlier, that’s not an option for me. The only time my wife and I get to be alone together is from 9-10pm or so, and that time is important to us. I don’t function well on much less than 8 hours, so 6a is the earliest I can do on a daily basis.
This is what it is for me right now. Do others have similarly complex ride schedules, and have you had success improving under these kinds or constraints? It is exhausting and frustrating at times, but I am incredibly grateful to get the riding I do, and I cherish the time with the kiddos.