I just gave up triathlons after having a kid. Miss it every now and then as I couldn't seem to find time to squeeze in swimming. Also haven't run very much the last few years. Had a nasty ankle sprain prior to the kid being born and everytime I try to return to running have either another injury or some sort of life event that sets me back.

These days I just bike when I can and prioritize family time when I'm not fixing things around the house. But now that the kid is bit older and a bit more independent I have started to up my bike training more which I admit is helped because of work from home has afforded me more trainer time. Which is starting to end and got to go in the office a couple of times a week now so I've got to adjust my schedule again.

But that is my personal choice to prioritize family time with the kid. Grew up with a dad who worked the night shift for the extra money. Didn't get to see him much unless it was the weekends. By the time he didn't have to do that I was nearly grownnup and doing my own thing. So I just want to treasure the time when they are young because it'll eventually get to the point where they don't want to hang out with you so much.

Realistically, the move is either focus only on running (with an odd bike ride thrown in when you like) or just take it day to day and train what you want. 4 hours a week is tough to split 2-3 endurance sports into (as I'm sure you know)

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I think you should focus on running 5Ks at high intensity and 9.8mi Zwift Crit City races (my favorite) that take about 20min. So each workout is going to be roughly 20min.

That's 12 potential workouts each week. So a 2/days most of the week. You could spread apart the 20min workouts or do a brick session for 40min.

Since each session is so focused and intense, develop a routine for getting in the zone (preworkout, gels, coffee, fruit, etc.)

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With a new child, take a step back and consider that life needs to be flexible. You could try to do everything but then something will suffer. Start ramping up training only after the newborn is sleeping well and the other half is happy.

Thanks to everyone for the advice so for. I certainly have to be flexible in what I do. The baby stuff always comes first so that part of things are in good order, training now is just for the fun of the sports rather than racing. Ideally I just want to get the biggest bang for my buck when I am able to train

I think the suggestion around just focusing on one sport was interesting and probably realistic

....well, the single sport suggestion comes up in every single thread when someone asks what to do with little time to train. And to be fair there is some merit to this BUT, if you want to do "TRI-athlon" then spend time doing "TRI-athlon" by swimming, biking and running. You can finish an olympic tri well on 4h per week. Will you race to your potential? Of course not but you will have a good time during the race (given that your pacing is right - but that applies to all fitness levels).

On 4h per week, I would swim once per week or every two weeks and buy some stretch cords that you use for 5-10 min every second day. For the remaining time just cycle or run as you feel. Feel good: Hammer a 40-60 min workout. If you don't feel good, easy running or spinning for 40-60 min. Alternate bike and run so that you never run or cycle two days in a row (then you will be recovered better and can go harder). Also, put some time into core strength and flexibility training (maybe you can squeeze in 10 min 3x per week without counting this as training time)

I like the idea of "plant based" to have short but frequent hard sessions. It will depend on your life-logistics whether that is feasible or not, but it certainly is a good suggestion.

Ultimately, you have to decide what to do, but don't be scared off by folks who tell you it makes no sense to continue triathlon training on 4h per week.

I've a two year old and have rarely trained more than 4hrs a week in the 2 years since he was born - and it's almost entirely cycling. I decided to ditch swimming for two reasons: I enjoy cycling and running more, and swimming takes more planning and uses a bigger window of time for less time spent actually training. Cycling can be done at home on the trainer or from the front door, and running in particular can be moved around and slotted into gaps in your schedule fairly easily (providing you've got the energy!). Swimming involves a travelling to the pool at a time when it's open, and that alone can make it harder to fit in depending on your circumstances.

I think focusing on duathlon is great idea, and if you decide that's not working out you can always drop back to one sport later. I've started off intending to continue running and cycling but at modest volume. However I found I wasn't doing enough of either to find it satisfying and when my run volume is really low (like 1 run a week) it feels like it's doing more harm than good. So the running disappeared and now I usually manage 2 short rides on weekday evenings one longer outdoor ride at the weekend. My trainer rides tend to contain a lot of high intensity, via threshold/Vo2max intervals or Zwift racing and I while I've certainly lost endurance, I'm as fast as I've ever been for the first hour ;)
I've done a few sprint duathlons, but rather than maintaining my run I've just added back in some running in the few weeks before an event. It's far from ideal, but it'll do.

It's refreshing that the thread hasn't been full of posters telling you how you need to make time and it's possible to keep a full training schedule going alongside family life. I've read so many of those posts here over the past few years and I have no interest in making the sacrifices necessary, and wouldn't dream of asking my family to accept them either. Find a balance that works for you, but err on the side of family over triathlon - as I'm sure you already are. Triathlon is great, but being a Dad is incomparably more important and more enjoyable!

Yeah I agree to possibly drop the swim training. But, I think you can still do triathlons with zero swim training. Who cares if you're a few minutes off in the swim? Enjoy the race and have fun. Even with zero swim prep, most of us should be able to get by in a swim in a race of nearly any distance.

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I've done IM with close to zero swim training (not in the last 2 years). It's possible but I wouldn't advise it!
You'll get through the swim, but you may not enjoy the cycle or run as much as you would otherwise. When I'm not swimming well, I lose as much time on the bike as the swim!

Depends on your expectations for what you want to get out of it. Can you still train absolutely, will you see improvements? Unlikely but training on such low volume, you shouldn't be looking for improvement.

Three routes:
1) Go single sport focus to simplify
2) 2 bikes 2 runs a week and keep the quality
3) remove all structure and goals for the next couple months and enjoy your life.

It all depends on how you operate as a person, if you're cool with letting go that might be best for your mental health. If you need concrete goals, you can easily set up short term goals for this period and focus on things you can improve upon. Someone mentioned it, but going towards a running focus and aiming at the mile-5k distance while working on stride mechanics...

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That advice seems very reasonable but the 4h/wk of exercise may also be a valuable stress outlet!

To the OP, I'd say go with a less-structured approach if you can, and choose what activities you feel like. How soon can you start doing stroller runs ;) ?

I think I'll take a less structured low pressure approach. Try to put in as much high intensity as I can muster and just enjoy it.

Stroller runs at 6 to 8 months so I'm looking forward to that. Although with a new stroller it looks like kids are proving nearly as expensive as cycling...

Congratulations, new babies are awesome and time consuming. My first slept, but did not like to go to sleep. Kid number 2 was the devil incarnate, never ever slept and was a ball of energy.

I did my best ever ironman when they were 1 and 3. Now if you are limited to 4 hours, it really depends where you started from and what your goal is. 2 years later when they were older I didn't race for performance just fun and ran maybe 30 k a week, rode 2 * 1 hour in the week and snuck out for a 2 hour ride on a Saturday, with a swim here or there.

Did OD and sprints in around 2:20 and 1:05. Once they got into school it was easier as long as you do things in the morning before they get up.

On 4, 5 hours a week I'd either run only or just do what I did and roll around for fun.

When I'm time crunched I usually just run. You only need shoes/shorts/socks, you can wear your shorts under your work clothes for even quicker transitions etc. With 4h/week, here's how I would train:

Session 1 - 60min run - 15 up, 15x60sec hard/60sec easy, 15 down
Session 2 - 60min run - 15-20 up, 20-30min tempo, CD to 60min
Session 3 - 90min run - Steady effort, not faster than MP at the fastest if you opt to do a progression
Session 4 - 30min run - Easy with 6-8x30sec strides

Take 1 day off between days 1/2/3, day 4 is ideally the day after the long run. So this could be T/TH/Sat/Sun, or M/W/F/Sat etc. Do 5-10min of core work whenever you get the chance (I will often do 25 pushups once per waking hour when home, which adds up quickly). If you need shorter sessions, or less structure (likely, with a newborn), just do 30-50min runs as often as possible and try to get in one run per week that pushes past the 70min mark. Negative split every run where you feel good, push down towards MP when you feel good, just jog when you feel like crap.

If you're home a lot, just do a lot of 30-50min trainer rides and hammer at tempo after a short warmup. 10min ez + 30min @ 88-92% + 5' CD would make you pretty fit if you did it 3-4x/week!

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I agree with this, if I only had 4hrs a week to train, it would probably be 100% high intensity efforts.

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My Strava

There was a time when ~4hrs was standard for me, but mostly because I was young (16-17) and spent a lot of time lifting and working instead of training. If you can do stretching, SMR, and stability work outside those 4 hours, it might be worth trying
3x20 min swim sessions (transition to/from pool possible issue timewise)
3x15 min runs (add warmup/core/cooldown = 45 min workout, x3 = 2.25 hrs)
1x30 min bike (add warmup/cooldown = 35 min workout)
2 swims focused on technique, 1 swim on intensity
2 runs race pace, 1 run intense
Intense bike ride
Should be enough for being able to complete a sprint triathlon happy and healthy!

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Agree on the single sport focus, you can be a really good runner doing 4-5 hrs per week. In my last semester of college between a full load and internships my schedule would be very unpredictable so squeezing a 30-40min run when possible worked best and adding intensity only when feeling like it. The biggest lesson was to balance and treat somewhat equal work, life and sports stress.

everything at high intensity..

when we had small kids, I was on 3-5hrs a week. One session of each sport at lunchtime, 45min of time-trial effort on bike, interval sets on swim with no warmup/down, every run tempo or intervals or hills. Most weeks there would be a second lunch run, typically taken a bit easier. In builds to races, add a long bike leaving at first light on some Saturdays, gets you home by 9am about, to go on with the family day.
Can't expect to improve performances on this, but it will maintain the fitness you came in with. It was enough for me to entertain myself at the races..

in those good old days I was lucky to have a pool across the road from my office, could get out and back in just over an hour.
Now don't have a pool or an office.. ha.

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Hi there, been the kid route and Im trying to figure out why you only have 4 hours a week available. Are you a single parent?
I know myself that Im an early riser so I can get in 1 to 2 hours training in the morning before work and before anyone else is even awake.
Sometimes we have to sacrifice a bit of sleep in order to do what we do.
Not being critical just wondering.