On one of my last rides, I was suffering pretty hard and my son held up the gel flask offering it to me.
Though my little one does not understand (nor anyone else in the family, for that matter) that I am most likely not going to hear you talk with me, let alone carry a conversation, when I am at waiting on the eyeballs to bleed. Why is it that is the moment everyone wants to ask you a question?
I’ve got 2. It’s about finding ways to balance everything. Rub wifey’s back (figuratively speaking…or literally for some) and make sure her needs are met as you take your share of duties and i’m sure that an hour here or there can be arranged. Heck i even got her into riding her bike on the trainer. So we each get our turns.
I’ll add some trailer rides with the kiddos in tow. And the oldest one is starting to bike as well (without training wheels) so i’m trying to train her to go to her favorite park by bike…or even to school. Since she sees ME use it all the time (some cyclocommuting, some trailering, etc) she sees it as normal so it sets an example.
Tons of good information here. I was excited to see this thread, as it is something I struggle with on an almost daily basis. I’m a single mom of 4 and 7 year old girls. One of the the problems is mom guilt for spending time training when I should be doing something with them, but I’ve learned that I have to take care of me as well. One of my best tricks is to save TV time for when I’m on the trainer on weekends. They get excited to see a movie and I get 2 hours (mostly) uninterrupted. On weeknights I try to get it done after they’ve settled into bed for the evening. It’s difficult no matter how you slice it and I’ve learned for myself one key is knowing when life stress has added up to the point that training stress will be deleterious. It is a careful balancing act. Thanks to everyone for all the good input. It’s nice to know other parents are out there figuring it out.
Single mother of 2 and training ! Respect.
That’s a very important point and not specific for moms 
But as you say - it’s really important to take care of yourself. In this case, you’re also giving them a great example, so it’s a win-win !
The way i see it, if we don’t take care of ourselves, we’re decreasing the amount of time they’ll get to spend with us on the long run.
Diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems are rampant in my family, so if i don’t train now and sacrifice that maybe 1-hr per week with them (usually i train when they’re asleep too) then maybe i won’t be able to add those extra years of life with them, when they’re older and need me for running after say, my grand children and stuff.
Puts it in perspective
Also as mentioned just above, seeing you stay active shows a great example and might inspire them to be active like you. Did i hear z1-z2 riding with the kids? I think i did lol
Great info here, thanks all. We are having twins that are due in 8 weeks.
if you have 5-8h that you can utilize, you can still get faster; you just need to make sure you aren’t wasting any time and have a realistic plan that you can follow. The trainer may become more of a reality but that’s no problem these days with Zwift, TR, and other ways to stay engaged.
congrats on the family and let us know if you come up with any time hack tips!!
Very true. I often experience the same guilt when I train. And when I am exhausted at the end of the day after I have been up since 4:30. But I am a better person (and subsequently parent) w the exercise.
Get the pain cave setup now!!! And don’t stress about a plan after they arrive!!!
Things do get better. My daughters are 17 and 9 now.
In fact you get periodically get disowned by your children, giving you time to concentrate on the important stuff in life like TrainerRoad.
One loss equals another gain.
The nursery took my original pain cave, so I downgraded our older car to the driveway and made that side of the garage my pain cave haha
My pain cave is in the garage. Works.
I really like the horsestall mats on the floor. No outgasding issues for me. Though I need to secure them to the concrete.
Same here. It’s been 3mo and I’m still 
I own a gym, so it makes it a little easier. I take my 4 year old daughter. She loves to do her little workouts - from day care, and what she sees me do with clients, or in my own workouts. The cycling portion is obviously more challenging. I think I’m going to get another bike and one of those little carts, she can ride behind in, to do low zone and recovery stuff. She’s old enough that I can trust her to not grab at the wheel, during a trainer effort.
Congrats on the twins! Be prepared to take a break from training. Our twins came first of January and it has been completely different than the first child( a single). In our house, when they’re up, we’re both up. With a single, we would take turns sleeping and it wasn’t so bad. With twins, we wanted to keep them on the same schedule for our sake and that has meant up every 3-4hrs. It took about 2 1/2 months to settle in per se and we have both started working out again. It’s only about 30 minutes at a time but it’s something. I found that I could not stick with a plan because 1-2hr rides can’t happen consistently and if I did find the time, sleep, rest or basic house chores took priority.
I can say that it isn’t harder than raising one but it takes two to do it most of the time. Plus the older one still requires attention so that pulls more of your time as well. Not saying I hope the next three years go by fast but…
@cmorgan92 Congrats!
Time Management! The initial couple of months will be tough. Everyone will be tired. Go w/the flow. Eventually, they will sleep longer meaning you will also get to sleep 
Ours go down together and typically get up together. They started sleeping through the night at 10-11wks.
My twins arrived on Jan 4. Prior to the twins, I was typically awake by 4am. TR, shower, breakfast and out the door between 7-7:30am. After the twins, morning workouts are a no go for so many reasons. I’m sure once they’re older, I’ll go back to morning sessions. Although, I’m not sure how much older.
I tried after work, but it’s too chaotic w/me often having to stop/start and/or quit the workout. Even now at 4mo, it’s a no go. Thankfully, I live close to the office and have some flexibility which allows me to go home for a quick session and lunch.
Check out the Time Crunch 30 and/or Time Crunch 45 plans. These are great! If on a given day, you only have 30min, then do the 30. If you can squeeze in 45min, then do the 45. You will be surprised by these workouts. Also, they go a long way to preserving fitness and especially your sanity.
Thanks for info. I am definitely nervous as to how this will impact my training. I also have a job that requires me to get 8 hours of uninterrupted rest before I go to work, so that is also going to be interesting…
I’ve been away from home for a month, leaving my 2.5 yo and almost 5 mo old behind. Home now for a week. 5 month old isn’t sleeping well right now, and three days in I am amazed at how well I was doing with TR before I left. I’m exhausted… it’s easy to forget how hard little ones are. I’m going to stop being even the slightest bit hard on myself for this season… FTP has stagnated since the second came along, but in my first year strictly racing bikes, I’ve got seven starts in, a win, another podium and another top 5. This is all gravy even if I never gain another watt until 2020.
I hope she figures out her sleep by October! 
But even so I love this little nugget to pieces. Practicing her podium pose:
We’re 9 months into our 2nd little adventure with similar sleep issues.
Childcare commitments, moving home, poor sleep and travel with work have put paid to any consistency in my training.
My wife and I are now figuring out our respective patterns and supporting each other to train. Just started a SSB low volume with some hope that things have now settled. Similarly I’m looking at the long game, any time to train/ride is a bonus right now.
Also, before I forget: getting an indoor trainer (which I did a year after becoming a parent) was a game changer. I was able to cut workout times in half — and I got faster thanks to TrainerRoad’s training programs 
I AM a parent of twins, now 3yrs old, coming from when could train during the day on the road and had my own schedule. Now its their schedule. I found the first 6 months very difficult from a selfish perspective. When I realised they really do come first, it made training a bit easier (less stressful) also means maybe a bit less getting hot headed when Im interrupted.
Now they let me train in the afternoon for an hour, I use the morning 530-7 as interval time, the afternoon for base.
Oh I used to HATE the trainer, but now I really love it and coming back from two injuries and surgery has got me back to fitness.
If you ever want to talk, parenting, training etc, hit me up on Facebook, I understand the stress of it all.
