Google seems to have a host of opinions when it comes to shorter more frequent training or longer less frequent efforts. I’m 3 weeks in to being a father for a 2nd AND a 3rd time (twins) and I’ve obviously got much less time available now than with one child.
Before their births I’d ride 1-1.5 hrs before work during the week then 2-4hrs on the weekend. Now I’m looking into taking more days off, or taking more days to focus on strength training and ramp up volume on ride days, but not necessarily overall volume for the week.
IE 4 x 2-3 hr days rather than 6/7 x 60-90 minute days.
I am using a different training app which hammers on the importance of frequency (frequency>duration>intensity) . Multiple shorter rides spread through the week > 1 single large ride even if that ride is longer than the total of the shorter rides. You can easily see that multiple shorter rides keep your CTL higher than 1 big infrequent ride but life…
All the nonriding time, e.g. preride time spent getting your gear together, or post-ride recovery and laundry, which isn’t insignificant, is roughly the same whether you’re riding 60 minutes or 200 minutes. So I’d rather do that 3X a week than 6X.
The caveat, however, is that you’re generally more spent after a longer ride and you want to remain useful, i.e. non comatose, to your family.
One ride per week is hyperbolic though. What does it say about 3 rides vs 6 rides?
It’s largely agreed upon that 2-3 days of intensity is ideal. So if you ride 6 days a week, at least 3 of them will be low intensity. If you ride 3 days a week, you may be riding intensity on all of them with low intensity tacked on.
So with that in mind, it’s hard to see how an extra 3 days of 60 minutes low intensity would be more beneficial than tacking on 60 minutes low intensity to each of your interval days.
Probably not the answer you’re liking for but my advice would be - Try a training schedule that let you maintain current fitness, see how things workout now that the family grew and start planning for the next adventure once you know things are working all right.
Congrats on the twins. Juggling family life with little ones can be hard work, as you already know. With more than one child it’s even more complicated for at least a couple of years. Whatever you find works, make sure to give yourself time and space to get it right for you. Go easy on yourself and don’t beat yourself up when you miss a day. There are plenty more.
Frequency does help a lot, but riding when you can is a lot better than not riding at all, or super irregularly.
That said, two things that were helpful for me when my kid was a baby were early morning rides (new baby anxiety woke me up crazy early, so I figured I might as well use the time) and two-a-days. 45 minutes early in the morning and another 45 minutes in the afternoon adds up real fast.
Also, at least for my kid, having an extra bassinet by the trainer worked wonderfully. The white noise from the fans knocked her out, and she was always an arms length away if she woke up and needed attention or a bottle. Great way to give the partner a break and get a workout in.
Yeah I’ve been doing this as well with a jumper. I can usually get in 75-90 minutes. The biggest worry at the moment is with the more frequent approach, I’m missing out on my big 3+ hour days.