Following on from the ‘how many hours’ thread, it got me thinking of how some are able to fit in 600-700hrs and some much less so. I really want to fit more in next year, having only done 5000km/170hrs so far this year.
What is your daily routine like; wake, feed, kids, train, sleep?
What is the ticket to life routine efficiency?
For me the BAU is
Mon-Fri: wake 7am, feed and look after baby until 9am, work from 9-6pm, fit in an hr or so training during lunch, prep dinner for me and wife and put baby to bed to sleep for 7pm, eat dinner at 7pm, sleep 11pm.
Saturday/Sunday: similar to the above (minus work + errands) although i normally get a longer outdoor ride in.
Wake 3:30-4am, make tea with collagen and putz around while my body shakes off the rust. Usually have an orange on easy days, that plus a banana on harder days.
4-6am is bike/run time.
6am get myself and the kids ready.
7:30ish-4:30ish work.
Family time until 7ish then adult time with the wife.
In bed by 9.
I’m naturally a morning person so getting up early just works for me. Since the kids are still asleep this is when I get the bulk of my workouts done, free of interruption. Weekends will be double days often and I’ll run/ride over lunch/nap time.
I typically manage 4-500 hours/year but really don’t have a daily training routine. My work hours are both flexible and quite changeable as I do a lot of project work that can involve people in timezones anywhere between West Coast USA and India. Childcare arrangements are complex and ever-evolving! In a typical week there will be 2 mornings where I’m not doing the school run and head out for a ~2 hour early ride at 6am. The days I’m doing the school run I either fit in a ride during the day if my work schedule permits, or in the evening if it doesn’t. Weekends I normally have one early long ride (3-4 hours) and one day where I just fit in a shorter ride around family stuff.
Really the only constant is that I do my best to get on some kind of bike for some kind of workout nearly every day, and I that I’m nearly always asleep before 11 and get 8 hours (I find having a sleep routine more important than a riding routine). I plan out the key sessions each week when I have a good idea what my schedule looks like, then just fit in mainly Z2 stuff on the other days. Not ideal but it works. Partly because the kids are old enough that when they’re home I can jump on the trainer for an hour or 2 and they can look after themselves. Partly because my job doesn’t have fixed hours and nobody cares if I go riding during “working hours” as long as the job gets done. Partly because my family knows that I’m a much better dad/husband/human being when I’ve done some exercise. And partly because I have a great network of riding friends and team-mates who train at all kinds of different times, so whatever my schedule is I can nearly always find a couple of group rides each week that complement my training.
By the way, the “BAU” schedule you describe would work out at ~8-10 hours/week by my reckoning which is 4-500 hours/year. An hour each day plus a longer weekend ride. So if you’re at 170 hours for the year, you’re missing more than half of your BAU workouts I would start by just trying to be more consistent. The people I know who are regularly getting 500 or more hours/year fall into 2 camps. They either don’t have a lot of family/work commitments in their life which means that even if they “only” ride 3-4 days/week, a few of those rides can be really long ones. Or if they have a busy work/life schedule then they are incredibly consistent at training nearly every day. Doesn’t sound like you can be the former, so you need to work on trying to be the latter!
I’m another 400-500 hours person. Having said that, if it wasn’t for the restrictions curtailing outdoor spins I probably would’ve been in the 600-700hrs - covid giveth with work from home, and taketh with the lack of group spins…
Remote Working… Mon - Friday:
Wake 6.15ish, ablutions and straight out to the pain cave
Finish workout 8.00 as my wife (not remote) and eldest head off to work and school
Shower, and breakfast with the youngest before she goes to school
Put dinner in the slow cooker, go upstairs to work
Knock off 5, have tea with the family
Argue about access to devices with the children, and then now they’re old enough myself and the wife are kinda free. We often walk together, or if it’s wet I join a social zwift spin and she does a virtual yoga.
Argue about bed time and then go to bed…
Sat or Sun
Weekend Road or Gravel Spin circa 4 hours ride time (not including Coffee Stop)
Old Normal Mon - Fri
Up at 5.45, Ablutions, some days dinner in the slow cooker (much more batch cooking though), in the car
Get to work 6.20ish, set up bike on hybrid rollers, do workout and get strange looks
Shower and work at my desk for 8ish.
Finish 4.30ish, collect children from childminder/ grandparents anywhere between 5.30 and 6.30
Serve dinner (same arguments)
Do nothing/ collapse in a heap
Sat or Sun
Weekend Road or Gravel Spin circa 4 hours ride time (not including Coffee Stop)
Alarm at 0600
Coffee, Breakfast, and getting the kiddo ready and to school.
Work from 0800-1630
Monday and Friday are Strength work days 1700-1800
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday are bike days 1700-1830
Dinner 1900
Kiddo to be at 2000
Relax and house chores from 2000-2200
Bed at 2200
Weekends usually consist of a shorter (2-3 hr ride) and a longer (5-6 hr ride) how ever I feel like fitting it into the day.
Get up 8-8:15 for WFH
At lunch time go for a 40mins walk or a 50 min TR outdoors session
Dinner around 5.30pm
Let dinner settle for at least an hour (preferably 1.5-2h) and do my TR session and shower.
If it’s a recovery session I may do it before dinner.
Bed around 11pm
Weekends are a bit loose, currently.
Get up at at 7.30 am for a 9am ride.
If its icy or the ride isn’t intense I may do my TR session.
Previously my rides would be circa 7.30am starts on the weekend.
My routine will change via the season, in the winter I prefer to ride indoors and in the am before work, by summer I’m usually more apt to save my rides for after work. The weekends vary a bit but I usually only fit in one longish ride in due to family priorities.
I’m quite happy with 300 annual hours on the bike. I can hit my goals with that amount of training, if I stay consistent to a plan.
I feel like i had a difficult 2020, baby in January which meant nil hrs for 3 months and then the covid situation scuppered a bunch of plans.
Pre-baby i was working out more or less daily with strength training and cycling. I hope to get some form back in 2021 now the baby sleep pattern is more settled and she goes to nursery…
Training days. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
5:45am - awoken by 7 year old
6:00am - 6:30am - breakfast, tidy up, practice spellings etc
6:30am - Start work (wfh)
12:00 - 12:45pm - lunch
3:30pm - finish work (sometimes fetch boy from school). Quick chat with the boy about his day etc.
Train around 4 until 5:30, or 7 until 8:30pm in the week.
90 minutes on a Saturday wherever I can get time, head out around 7am for 3 hours on a Sunday, although this not always possible every week.
All subject to change depending on what life throws up. Just to add, Sunday is my only outdoor session.
All the above has been typical of the last 10-12 weeks as I’m being coached.
450 hours this year. Considering cutting back to a mid-volume plan after this block due to a move and (much) longer commute.
I’m basically up at 0400 every weekday and on the bike by 0500. 30 minutes to stretch, shave, shower, and get out the door for the day. 1 hour commute with COVID traffic, and no rain, and no accidents, longer otherwise. Breakfast and lunch at the office. Work until done, usually no earlier than 1700, often later, depending on the day and kids activities. Will try to lift or get in a short jog in the afternoon, work depending. 1+ hour commute. Dinner (late), then family time and bedtime routine. I try to be in bed by 2100, but often it is later, but asleep by 2200. (Yes, I know this is too little sleep, and that lack of recovery is probably limiting my ability to get faster.)
On the weekends, I try to sleep in to 0530, but only if there aren’t activities / church early in the morning. I still like to be done by the time the kids get up.
I’ll be a bit over 600 this year. I teach 8th grade so I have summers off (thankfully due to being married to an awesome woman) a winter break, and spring break. No kids. Here’s what my schedule looks like most of the year.
Wake up 640-7
Eat quickly if during school year, take time if I’m not
Commute/work/piss away my day if no school.
Ride in the evening 60-120 min depending on the day. Summer I ride 2+ hours each weekday.
Dinner/relax/tv/grading
Bed 1030-11.
My typical Mon-Fri routine is:
wake up 5.30 and 6.00-7.00 TR session
7.00-8.30 younger kid prep+school ride/drive
Work (from home) until ~18.30. During this period I (usually) manage to fit in a second run or swim session and (always ) the ride/drive to pick my kid
18.30-20.30 is time for dinner and kids
Sleep by 21.30/22.00
Weekends varies a lot
On Saturdays I do my brick session either early morning (~6.30) or afternoon
(~16.00)
On Sundays I do a long run whenever I’m free and, when I manage it, a second session at the swimming pool
I strongly agree with @cartsman that a solid sleep routine is key for an effective training regime
They are already old enough not to wake up during night. When they were smaller it was indeed harder and I struggled much more. I tried to stick to my training schedule and too often sacrificed on sleep hours. That was until I realized (the hard way ) that all the hours of training I put in were useless without proper rest for my body.
So now, whenever my sleep hours are cut short for whatever reason (e.g., I stay up and watch a movie), I adjust my schedule for a later wake up or even skip a session entirely.
I don’t know my annual hours this year, but I’ve trained 12-15 hours per, so somewhere between 650-750.
Here’s my schedule:
Somewhere between 4:30 - 6am - wake up
Somewhere between 5 - 6:30am - ~7-8:30am - training ride
…rest of the day doesn’t matter because my training is done. Pay yourself first.
My work schedule dictates my trianing schedule as much or more than anyone. Unfortunately, during the best riding seasonI normally work 50-65 hour weeks and while my start time is set I never know when I’ll get home.
During race season my only option is to wake at 3:50 and get on the trainer by 4:00 with no breakfast. I often use a bottle of Tailwind to compensate for the lack of breakfast. After the ride I have to be at work by 6:00.
Weekends I normally ride mtb or a gravel endurance ride.
During winter and lower hours at work I’m able to ride in the evenings after work.
Just over 415hrs on the bike this year. Here’s my long standing routine:
Sun - Fri
0400 >Wake up, drink coffee, eat oats, read/study
0530 > begin ride
0800- until finish >Work
Dinner, relax, drink tea
2030 > Bedtime
On Saturday, I have a minimal routine that includes mostly fun/relaxing things and drinking coffee.
I would start by just trying to be more consistent. The people I know who are regularly getting 500 or more hours/year fall into 2 camps. They either don’t have a lot of family/work commitments in their life which means that even if they “only” ride 3-4 days/week, a few of those rides can be really long ones. Or if they have a busy work/life schedule then they are incredibly consistent at training nearly every day. Doesn’t sound like you can be the former, so you need to work on trying to be the latter!
) the ride/drive to pick my kid
) that all the hours of training I put in were useless without proper rest for my body.