Juggling baby + work

Training
22

Congratulations, first off! There’s a good thread about parenting and training here already, but I’ve gone through similar in 2019…

All last year and this year (baby is now 14mos old, and a 3.5yr old on top of that + full time work)… we have nanny coverage most days through bed time as my wife also works full time, so I have the option of working out after work, BUT, I much prefer to be up early and knock it out before anyone is awake. A big part of the reason I like to get it done in the morning is YES - when I was in the afternoons, I DEFINITELY felt like I was missing time with both girls, and I got very little of it on M, T, W, and F because of that. Hence, now with wife working from home (and perhaps for good again), I’ve gone back to my morning routine.

My routine is up at 5:30 (for 90min workout) or 6 (for 60min workout), on the bike within 15 minutes. I usually don’t take in calories unless it’s a hard one, and then just 100cal of gel. I like my coffee on the bike too. Normally 10 minutes in I’m raring to go. Workout, breakfast, shower, change and I’m at work by 8:15.

I have tried to honor Sundays as a day off where I get up and tend to the kid’s breakfast while wife sleeps in, so I do my MV workouts on M, T, W, F, Sa while everyone’s sleeping. Rarely does the 3yo wake my wife up before I’m done on the bike.

So that means I’m in bed by 10 every night. It’s hard right now because the 3yo is waking up at least once every night for some random problem, but wife and I split those duties.

Last year with the newborn, it was really hard I failed a lot of workouts in sustained power build LV due to lack of sleep. The key for me was to keep my head up, and keep perspective that any training I got done in that time was gravy. In the end, I lost probably 5W (2%) off my FTP over the course of 3 months while she figured out how to sleep through the night, but still had a good summer racing, and now I’m at an all-time high FTP and W/kg a year later.

Keep your focus long term and do what you can. I don’t think it’s selfish to want to train, but recognize that it’s not going to be the same… and that’s totally OK.

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23

Ah, thanks! I searched initially, but I guess I didn’t search the right key words to find it.

The type A person in me just needs to be more flexible with training at least for the next few months, before I can really nail down the routine and structure that I want.

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24

This is the one I was thinking of.

25

A much as I wanted to train regularly I found in the end that I just wasn’t selfish enough.

My wife and I tried to spread childcare as evenly as possible and as she was breastfeeding I took up a lot of other duties. We also have a 6 year old to think of too.

My riding basically ended up being commutes but not everyone will have that luxury.

Sleep was at a premium and early morning rides were out of the question. Both kids still wake early and me riding then means my wife has to get up with both of them.

Once school and nursery got into full swing (about 15 months for us) it got much easier for both of us. We’re now shielding/working from home and I’m managing 4-5 rides a week.

26

Train, work AND have a newborn? I could do 2 of the 3. I taught chemistry in my sleep for an entire semester after my son was born. Training did not exist. I would periodically get a ride in, but training? Nope. When i came home from work, I helped the wife as much as possible. still do 5 years later - hence the 5am workouts.

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