Jose, I’m a bit late to this thread and it seems like there’s already been some mostly good advice here. However I thought I’d share what I personally do. Even though everyone’s live varies to much, maybe this will help on top of what’s already been sadi. I work full-time as a software engineer (though 40hrs not 50), am a 3rd year University student, and have 2 kids under 4 yrs old. My wife is also a 3rd year university student but she doesn’t work, which absolutely helps with kids. We both have church responsibilities as well. Note, we are both fortunate enough to do university online since 2020 and wi.be until done with our 4yr degree. This is a big help.
I average 10-14 hours on the bike per week during the year. This is, for the most part what I do:
- Have a weekly spouse meeting
- Every Sunday for 15-20 minutes my wife and I talk about our goals, finances, plans, school, work, etc. after the kids have gone to bed. Part of this includes exactly what time I will be riding or at the gym. (not only is this good for your marriage but for your riding too. It also may help you prioritize what matters most in your life and balance everything.) The Art Of Manliness has a good article about a weekly meeting, but over time our meeting has become a little bit more simple (I’ll attach a pic at the bottom of this post). Make sure it’s not only about you and the bike, find what your wife wants to do and make sure all her things are on the schedule too. My wife likes the gym and going to the park as a family, so before I even decide cycling time, I make sure she has her time on the schedule. Together we add events to our shared Google calendar.
- Have 1 day per week where I ride in the evenings, if possible
- I realize this isn’t always possibly. But for me, this is Wednesdays as there is a group ride during the summer on Wednesday evenings I enjoy riding with. During the summer, I’ll go with the group maybe every other week, and the other weeks are me just getting in some good miles. I normally do two-a-days on Wednesdays with intervals in the morning, then a long endurance ride (or hard group ride) depending on the training phase I’m in. Every week we talk about this on Sunday in our meeting. I’m ready to go the moment I am done working, normally between 4-5pm, so I don’t waste any time getting ready. On this subject…
- Have everything ready to go for the ride
- I used to have an alarm that went off every day at 8:45 pm where I would plan on getting things set out for the next day, but I find it much more efficient and less-likely to interfere with my family life if I get ready for the next day’s ride the moment I finish today’s. Once I get home from my ride, I look at my next day’s workout, and weather in the morning, then I quickly make a route plan in my head. This gives me everything I need to know: what gear I’ll need, what nutrition I need, and when I need to be out the door (if I have a 1hr 30min ride, and I need to be back at 8am, I’ll be out the door/on the bike by 6:15am, giving myself 15mins of lee-way. Best case, I’m home early, worst case, I’m on time (extra worse case, I’m a few minutes late). This may be more or less depending on where you’re riding and how often you have stoplights, technical issues, etc). I rinse out or wash my bottles, fill them back up, and put them in the fridge, lay out the next day’s kit and gear right by my bike – and put bike on trainer if I’ll be indoors.
- Skip recovery rides most of the time (always, if school/work/family has any lingering tasks)
- Sunday is completely off the bike for me, and because Wednesday I ride in the evenings, Thursday is my typical recovery-ride day. Recovery rides are normally 30, but by the time you kit up, get your bike, think about a route (or connect up everything to the trainer), ride, then look at the ride, the time can easily get to 60 minutes. I find it more valuable to just make Thursday a catch-up and strong focus day where I normally sneak in an extra 1-2 hours of work/school and add in 30 minutes to the other rides. It makes the rides more quality, and adds more time to my life outside of cycling.
- Talk to your boss about cycling
- I realize this depends a lot on what you do for work and who your boss is, but I’ve found that even my boss who could care less about cycling, is a lot more open to me taking slightly longer lunch breaks, getting off early, coming in later, etc. every once in a while now that he knows I really cycling is something I really appreciate doing. It’s given me some “9-5” flexibility where I might leave early one day and come in early the next, or take a longer lunch to get a missed ride in, or come in slightly later when things at work are going smooth.
That’s what has been most helpful to me. As always, be SUPER open with your spouse and understand it’s okay to not get every ride in. You might find success in occasionally getting out for a big week when work or life eases up for a little bit. This could be some “catch up” time if you feel you aren’t getting enough riding under normal circumstances (maybe your life won’t allow more than 8-9 hours, but twice a year, you could get a 15+ hour week in.)
I try to be as “programmed” as I can with my eating and schedules. Every Sunday, normally during or just after the spouse meeting, I make a spreadsheet where I know pretty-much exactly what I’ll be eating on weekdays and at what time. After a few attempts, it only takes a few minutes comparing meals to my workout plan, and while filling out the meal plan, I’ll make a list of grocery shopping items and add to a shared spousal calendar, which my wife appreciates.
I would also recommend reading Cal Newport’s book, “Deep Work”, or even watching some YouTube summaries of the book. This made a big change in my life, by kicking out distractions and making sure I have the most quality in everything I do to have the life I want. I won’t get into it too much, but basically, if Work Accomplished = Time Spent x Intensity, then increase the intensity and drop the distractions, so you get more done in less time.
As far as schedule, this is what my week normally looks like:
- Most weekdays
- 5:15am - awake, study for 1 hour
- 6:30am - bike ride
- 8:00-8:15am home, breakfast, take kid to preschool, shower
- 8:45am-5pm Work. Normally I’ll have a lunch break in here where I can get in 30-60mins of studying
- 5pm onwards, whatever
- 9:45pm - bed time
- Thursday
- skip bike ride and study more or start work early
- maybe go out with son around the block and call it my recovery if i’m itching to get out
- Wednesday
- Saturday
- No studying, no work
- Find what time makes sense for me to be home and make sure I leave on time, normally at 6-7am to bank on some weekend sleep. Typically 3-5 hours, with one really long weekend ride twice per-quarter.
- Sunday
So that’s… 1-1.5 hours M, T, W, F. extra 2-3 hours on W, and 3-5 hours on S. Minimum: 9hrs, max 14hrs if things go smoothly.
My church responsibilities take up maybe 3 hours during the week (not including actual church). I try and schedule most events in the evenings on 1 day per week, or get them all in on Sunday. My chuch has a big focus on Family > Work > Church. I hope yours is the same.
Good luck, hope this helps even in the slightest.
