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Do you count chores into your workout schedule?
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I'm going from being a 'go out and run/bike' type of person to actually following a plan (80/20 endurance) for my next IM (Cali).

However it's spring and I'm finding that 'chores' are wiping me out, for example I did 3 hours of work clearing some land or 2 weeks before that I had to rebuild 120' of fence (multiple days).

I'm finding life like that (even mowing the grass which takes 1.5 hours) is taking away from what I would think is 'rest'.

So I find that I'm skipping a 1+ hour ride and moving on to the next day. What are other people doing when you have to do non-training stuff and have tasks on the calendar?

I've gotten to the point where I've added a 2nd rest day (Wends and Sat) since Saturday, my scheduled rest day, turns out to be digging holes for trees or other family commitments (how people make Monday a rest day I'll never know).

For what it's worth I'm on the maintenance plan for 3 more weeks and then I start the official IM training plan but I want to be ready.
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Re: Do you count chores into your workout schedule? [slower] [ In reply to ]
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Nope not at all. Not gardening. Not house or yard chores. Not even heavy stuff like digging ditches for drainage or filling garden beds with soil.

I don't even count the 30-40 minutes of strength training, balance exercises, rubber band, step down block, that I do nearly every day.

Only S B R counts. Now sometimes I commute by running or biking. That counts.
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Re: Do you count chores into your workout schedule? [Dilbert] [ In reply to ]
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I guess the question is do you drop a workout if you are feeling out of it from non-workout activities. My schedule is mostly 2 a day workout and I'm trying to balance life.
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Re: Do you count chores into your workout schedule? [slower] [ In reply to ]
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Nope. But I'm at the age where I will use chores as a valid excuse to not workout. The Wife seems to be happier with the progress around the house than my training log. And, I remember- this is a ridiculously fun hobby, but a hobby nonetheless. I've given up being grumpy about missed workouts, especially for positive reasons.






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Re: Do you count chores into your workout schedule? [slower] [ In reply to ]
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slower wrote:
I guess the question is do you drop a workout if you are feeling out of it from non-workout activities. My schedule is mostly 2 a day workout and I'm trying to balance life.
I train first and then do the chores. The other way around I know I will just want a shower and relax after being covered in dirt, and will not want to train.
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Re: Do you count chores into your workout schedule? [slower] [ In reply to ]
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Those aren't "chores", they're "projects".

The body largely doesn't recognize the difference in types of stress. Anything we do to it to throw it out of its inertia is stress, and adds to your total stress score. So building a fence or clearing brush or re-laying a 100ft brick walkway, brick by brick, by hand (ask me know I know that one) is counting just as much as a run or a swim or however else you choose to put stress on your body.

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Re: Do you count chores into your workout schedule? [Dr_Cupcake] [ In reply to ]
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Dr_Cupcake wrote:
Those aren't "chores", they're "projects".

The body largely doesn't recognize the difference in types of stress. Anything we do to it to throw it out of its inertia is stress, and adds to your total stress score. So building a fence or clearing brush or re-laying a 100ft brick walkway, brick by brick, by hand (ask me know I know that one) is counting just as much as a run or a swim or however else you choose to put stress on your body.

I second this. It depends on the project or chore, but I definitely take them into consideration. Not to say I I change my training around them, but I'm mindful of how my body feels during periods of training and also having to take care of home projects or big chores. I just want to make sure I'm not digging myself into a hole literally and figuratively.

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Re: Do you count chores into your workout schedule? [Dilbert] [ In reply to ]
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Dilbert wrote:
Nope not at all. Not gardening. Not house or yard chores. Not even heavy stuff like digging ditches for drainage or filling garden beds with soil.

I don't even count the 30-40 minutes of strength training, balance exercises, rubber band, step down block, that I do nearly every day.

Only S B R counts. Now sometimes I commute by running or biking. That counts.

Just curious why you don’t think the physiologic stress of lifting a post hole digger hundreds of times or carrying timber or shoveling gravel or carrying sacks of concrete shouldn’t be accounted for? I built a fence last summer and I definitely did not feel like SBR very much. Training stress is training stress, whether I’m filthy and caked in concrete after lifting 50lb sacks or after squatting a nice tidy barbell in the gym
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Re: Do you count chores into your workout schedule? [Dr_Cupcake] [ In reply to ]
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Stress is stress is stress... but not all of it will be expressed through your performance of an Ironman (even one with a down river swim and a pancake flat bike and run).
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Re: Do you count chores into your workout schedule? [slower] [ In reply to ]
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If it’s physically demanding work, I typically count it as strength training in TrainingPeaks with a TSS commensurate with a gym workout of a similar intensity (/how tired I’ll be tomorrow). That said, my athletic priority is now alpine climbing, with S/B/R being secondary. Alpine climbing is basically doing heavy yard work at 18,000 ft — so I figured digging ditches and shoveling dirt is good training (and my wife is happy). If I were training for Kona I’d probably pay someone to do my yard work.
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Re: Do you count chores into your workout schedule? [slower] [ In reply to ]
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slower wrote:
I'm going from being a 'go out and run/bike' type of person to actually following a plan (80/20 endurance) for my next IM (Cali).

However it's spring and I'm finding that 'chores' are wiping me out, for example I did 3 hours of work clearing some land or 2 weeks before that I had to rebuild 120' of fence (multiple days).

I'm finding life like that (even mowing the grass which takes 1.5 hours) is taking away from what I would think is 'rest'.

So I find that I'm skipping a 1+ hour ride and moving on to the next day. What are other people doing when you have to do non-training stuff and have tasks on the calendar?

I've gotten to the point where I've added a 2nd rest day (Wends and Sat) since Saturday, my scheduled rest day, turns out to be digging holes for trees or other family commitments (how people make Monday a rest day I'll never know).

For what it's worth I'm on the maintenance plan for 3 more weeks and then I start the official IM training plan but I want to be ready.

If you mean do I “count” it as a workout, the answer is “no”. But, do I sometimes need to “account” for what that work may do to my body and adjust rest/workouts that do “count”accordingly, the answer is “yes”.
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Re: Do you count chores into your workout schedule? [DFW_Tri] [ In reply to ]
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DFW_Tri wrote:
If you mean do I “count” it as a workout, the answer is “no”. But, do I sometimes need to “account” for what that work may do to my body and adjust rest/workouts that do “count”accordingly, the answer is “yes”.

exactly - it generally won't make you better at SBR so is not training but all sources of stress drain your body's capacity. that includes mental stress too - its horrifying how much a stressful day of work can drain me - occaisionally a workout can help reverse this but normally i can hardly put in any effort and trying destroys me. i really wish i could control or at least predict mental stress to be able to train properly
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