Preparing for a baby

I like training in the evening, but am thinking once the baby is here (January) it might be more practical to train early. To that end, is it worth starting to train now in the morning to build the habit?

Of course, it may be that the baby wakes at 5am every day and the habit building is pointless…

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I know you have good intentions…we all did pre kids…honestly…don’t make plans and just see what happens. Remember it’s not just baby but also your partner who may not appreciate you “just popping out for quick training session” if they are knackered themselves.

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Thanks. Yeah, i hear you. I do hope to train but i get that planning is maybe pointless.

I had the greatest of plans… Every single one of them shot to hell!

Expect to lose 2-4 weeks where you just can’t cycle at all through tiredness… Especially if the birth is by section.

I lost about 3 weeks before starting into a LV plan. Little Miss is coming up on 8 weeks and now we have a good enough handle on the routine that I’m going to do my next block at MV and yes planning to do some workouts early morning as we’ve gotten a 6am feed into the routine. But until baby is sleeping solidly through the night plans are at best tricky.

We’ve got our first little one coming soon. Due date in exactly 1 month (holy cow!). I appreciate these posts since I, also, have the best of intentions but the lowest of expectations with regards to my current training regime.

Some have said that the whirring of a trainer puts babies to sleep. We can only hope…

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best intentions and lowest of expectations here too…good luck with it!

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I will echo what has been said above. It will take a couple of weeks for everything to settle in. The sleeping pattern can also change quite a few times.

Don’t plan, see how things develop and be ready to use the time whenever you have it. Be ready to not having a lot of time at first.

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Flexibility is key.

And flexibility is a parenting life skill that never totally ends - We’re spending Thanksgiving with my adult daughter out of state. I think i have been left enough room to get the bike in the car so i don’t have to take 5 days off but once I get there who know what the fam will cook up for me. All good though. I wouldn’t trade any of it for anything!

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What worked great for me was 30 minute workouts over lunch 2-4 days a week and then try to get a 90 minute workout over the weekend. Geiger -5, Bear Creek -5, Baird -3, and Basin -5 are all great 30 minute rides. I only did a couple sprint tri’s this past summer, so I didn’t need a ton of endurance. I actually had better power numbers this year than past years when I followed a low volume plan somewhat closely. I’ve never been good at just following a plan though!

Mine is 10 months old now and still not consistently sleeping all night, so getting up early can be a struggle. I hope to start SS low volume in the next week or two and I really want to follow it closely, so I’ll just have to suck it up and not shut that 5 am alarm off!

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I wouldn’t plan to train at all, and then when you get that magical 30 minutes in, you’ll feel tremendous. Leave the trainer set up so you can get it in when 35 minutes presents itself. After, say, two months when you settle in and baby establishes some semblance of a routine, maybe then start a low volume plan and be willing to do things like Geiger -5 instead of Geiger when needed.

Newborns are hard. Don’t fool yourself into thinking otherwise! And don’t worry about it if you’re off the bike entirely for several months. Some things are more important!

Signed,
Dude with one and another on the way in February.

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Everyone here is saying the right thing. One plug for maybe moving to mornings is that if you wake up, the conditions are right for training, you can bang it out. If the conditions are wrong (baby up and needing attention or mama needing support) you can always try again in the evening. If you wait till the evening to try, you don’t have a plan B. Just a though. And maybe listen to this weeks podcast about morning vs evening. Good luck man, you’re in for a trip!

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This post is the “best” plan you can come up with, in my opinion.

We had our first child ten months ago. It’s a learning process, where you’ll do much adapting. Train when you can, rest when you can’t— It’s out of your control.

I hate to add to your worries/fears, but sleep is not the only battle you’ll fight. I lost almost a month of training this year (leading into cx nats, down the street from my house this year) due to trading sicknesses with the little guy. It happens, you adapt, and you move on.

All in all, still well worth it. Children are the best.

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Father of three here. I can only second the “flexibility” aspect. This is key. Apart from this, you don’t know the sleeping habits of you little one yet. And when the rough nights start. All our kids were “fine” in the first year, got enough sleep, but tormented us later. And newborns sleep all the time anyway.

Here you really have to wait and see. Personally I found age 2-4 more “disruptive” to my training than 0-1. And we have twins, so sort of a special situation, especially at nights. 0-3 was just unstructured training, no racing for me. at 4 I tried but then came #3. Back to square one, though she was always a good sleeper. Pretty much had to pause racing for 4 years but back in full racing mode for 2 years now.

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https://www.trainerroad.com/forumt/training-as-a-parent/

Some of what you mention was discussed above.

From my own experience, I have just started back on SSB low volume 6 weeks after the birth of our 2nd child.

I train in the evenings mainly as early mornings after little sleep would be too much for me and would mean my wife has to be the sole carer at those times which is a little unfair. I think somewhere around 4-6 weeks a baby’s sleep can start to improve and by 2 months they should have developed a more regular pattern.

Advice: talk to your partner about their goals and give support for them to get back into a routine too.

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I would plan to be inconsistent - I know it’s supposed to be the enemy on training, but such is life.

We’ve had three kids now. The biggest surprise to me was that my wife often just wanted/wants me out of the house and out of her way so she could get on with things or be alone with baby. This can be training time if you want, but I wouldn’t underestimate the value of socialising in your free moments - you won’t realise the stress you’re under.

If baby sleeps well you can find yourself awake before the family, I prefer that time to use the turbo but in winter it could be time to prepare decent breakfast and get some tidying/washing done and find a slot in the afternoon or evening to train.

Of course if you’re still working, you always have commute time you could be on the road :wink:

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Good luck. My suggestion is to put all of your effort into practicing recovery.

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Don’t plan anything, there is nothing more frustrating than having something planned and not being able to do it.

Write off the first 2-4 weeks entirely, if time presents itself great, if not you haven’t missed anything.

Best wishes

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I would second the idea of commuting by bike if you can. Saves money (for baby!) and us basically protected cycling time. When my pair were very young commuting was 95% of my cycling and although didn’t build fitness much for me, it did keep things ticking over for a few years before returning to ‘proper training’

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In my experience you cannot predict the sleeping pattern of a baby, so just be prepared to be flexible. If you would like to train uninterrupted you probably should hop on the trainer as soon as the baby starts a nap - therefore mornings might be a little more risky.

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Congratulations, first of all.

In my experience getting the training done in the morning is the best way. I never thought I’d get up early voluntarily to do sports (tried that during uni a few times and hated it), but this way I get a bit of me time without sacrificing family time.

A few more pieces of advice:
(1) Prioritize sleep. Treat sleep like a squirrel treats nuts: when you have the chance, hide away and catch a few minutes of shut eye. This will make you a better dad, a better husband, and, frankly, a better human being.
(2) Be flexible and smart. Sometimes you will have to get up at night to console a crying baby, make a bottle, change diapers, etc. It is ok to skip exercise. If in doubt, obt for priority (1).
(3) Expect to get sick. This will derail your training. There is nothing you can do but wait until it passes. (Washing hands religiously helps, too, but sometimes you will come down with something.)
(4) Trade time with your partner. Give her some time off so that you can get some time off. Probably this will happen rather infrequently for as long as your baby is being breast fed, but do it as often as you can. This pays back double and triple.

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