Yeah, that is the real limiter for a lot of us. Plus, when you have children, moments you can spend with your partner are rare and valuable. Having a date night (= just the two of us) is a big deal. But it’s a choice, I have my priorities and then it isn’t hard to act in accordance with them.
@Dubadai
During the week I get up early and train in the morning to maximize family time. But during the weekend the schedule is a bit more variable. Usually my wife leaves for the gym on Saturday mornings. But more often than not there is something else going on, e. g. one of us needs to take our daughter to the doctor or one of us has another appointment (dentist, doctor, whatnot).
I totally understand your comment, and I agree with it, your partner must understand what is really important to you and give you some space. I was lucky enough that my wife let me travel for weeks at a time (so I could spend a month in Chile or whatnot for work). Likewise, my wife spent three months in Tokyo doing some job training, and we are cool with that. Once children are in the picture, you have hard boundaries. Our goals is to allow each other to continue our hobbies — within the constraints.
So enjoy it while you can (in case you plan to have kids).
Just to touch upon the ability to ride 4+hrs, I just did a block where I did back to back z2 rides on weekends of 2.5, 3, and this weekend 3.5 hrs. I would have loved to have gotten to doing back to back 4-5hr rides. But really, anything over 3hrs for me becomes hard to really sustain on a consistent basis.
As an example, yesterday I got up at 7 because of daylight savings, so I lost an hour there. And then I can get roped into something family oriented, so by the time I started yesterday was past 9 and didn’t finish until 12:45. That’s really a large chunk of day, especially if there are family things going on. I enjoy the HV sweet spot plans because I can reasonably work in 2hrs regularly without it being burdensome to others and I get a lot of benefit from the sweet spot work that I don’t think I would by limiting to 2hrs max of z2.
(1) Get up by 4:30 am
(2) Get ready and get to work by 6:30 am
(3) Work 10-12 hours and get home 4:30 to 6:30 pm
As I normally got to bed around 10 this leaves me with about 3:30 to 5:30 hours to do my share of chores, to spend time with the kids, to get the kids ready for bed, to spend time with the misses, to prepare and have dinner, to train, to meet friends, and to also have some me time. That’s all for during the week.
Weekends aren’t any different. Getting up by 6 and going to bed by 10 leaves me with about 16 hours. During the time I have to get all the above in plus work around the house and garden. Not to forget the weekly shopping and activities. So yes, getting 2-3 hours in is already superb. 3-5 hours is like a lottery win. Never happens to me but only others.
On a side note, all this wouldn’t be possible if the misses would also be an athlete or not that supportive of my sport. She certainly sacrifices a lot for it.
Above discussion just shows why there needs to be a range of plan options. Many have the time and inclination to do those long outdoor rides with some intensity on the trainer. Others don’t, at least not at their current stage in life. So there’s more a focus on rides on their turbo. It’s all good and each should be able to pick and work with a plan according to their situation.
BlockquoteYes, that’s me! I’ll do a 6 hour mtb ride in a different area, drive home do the horses, and that’s me cooked. Been great this winter with all the cx races on GCN race pass!
I know I’m uber late responding to the Polarized Training Deep Dive Podcast(PDDP). But here goes.
It all started when Amber said grab your snorkels we are now going to take a deep dive into Polarized Training. Well I think she was misleading with regard to depth of the discussion. As she recommended a snorkel. For that discussion one would have been better served with full on scuba gear
First, Amber @ambermalika started the presention following classic presentation and training techniques used by old African King " Tell them what your are going to tell them. Tell them. Then tell them what you told them." She did this brilliantly. She then proceed with a Crawl Walk Run presention of a complex subject.
Both she and Nate proceeded to get everyone on the same sheet of music. What is Polarized Training let’s all watch the same movie and not get lost in translation, very good.
They then broke everything down in basic blocks before connecting them. Of note is Ambers explanation how how to read and understand a scientific study. She provided us with 4 basic tenants of how to read and understand scientific studies so that we can eventually ask the critical fact finding questions regarding the study, priceless. It was so good that I noticed that the TR wizards but that part out in sepearate stand alone Youtube clip.
After each block she and Nate stopped and summarized what hey just told us. Before moving on. At the end they told us what they told us and closed the presentation.
A1 persentation and worth watching over again and again and taking notes. But don’t come with a snorkel as you will be surfacing for air multiple times. Come with full up scuba gear as you will be submerged for a while.
Well done Amber and Nate. Probably the best overall TR presentation I have seen in my 38 months of watching the podcast and you guys have had good ones but this was the “whole enchilada”.
Bravo
But obviously if your partner takes the kids for a few hours while you ride, you obviously need to do the same thing for her when she wants to go and do something with her friends or whatnot.
It’s all about balance. I got friends with kids who’s girlfriends wants their boyfriends our of the house for a few hours so she can spend quality time alone with the kids.
I also live in Sweden so might be a bit easier here with balancing life and kids since we pretty much have free kindergarten, people work sensible hours, lots of free time, etc.
1 day only… he describes it in his YT video. Weeks 2-4 are 1 interval and loads of endurance. It’s the entire point of ‘block’ periodisation - same amount of intensity as a typical 4 week period, but front loaded with most of it squeezed into the first week and just a light dusting over the final weeks.
My wife often gets on my case about riding because I’m always trying to figure out our weekend plans so I can still get my rides in without interfering with our life, but she feels like we have to plan everything around my riding when I’m actually trying to do the opposite. I’m sure if I stayed home more she’d want me out of the house for a bit though . We don’t have kids yet though so it’s a bit easier I suppose.
It’s more like people have different priorities and budgets and can choose how to spend their money how they see best. TR works great if it works for you and your goals and availability line up with the plans that they provide. But if you have more or less time, the plans burn you out, or you don’t have a consistent schedule then a coach can do a lot to alleviate the stress around adapting the TR plans to your schedule. They can also provide advice around racing, nutrition, skills, weightlifting, motivation, etc etc.
TR is great and at a price that works for a ton of people, especially if they are relatively time crunched. But I don’t think anyone would argue that TR is better than a good coach.
Oh I am really familiar with that and the study it is based on. Just pasting this as a huge contrast to typical polarized approach - expecially as the first week is not hard it is extremely demanding.
For that discussion one would have been better served with full on scuba gear 
. We don’t have kids yet though so it’s a bit easier I suppose.