There are 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week. That makes 168 hours. Last week I looked at my schedule, what I did and how I spent those 168 hours. What I found was incredible.
How many hours a week do you just sit still…and rest?
I don’t know what you are talking about.
BTW - take a look at my post in yesterday’s how many bikes do you have thread - I recommended something to you.
Mark me down for 6hrs of nothing today. The Tour show started at 8:30 am, then the live covage started at 11:30am and ended at 1:30pm. At least the rest of the day is ahaed of me…
GO LANCE!!
Nowadays - not enough.
Recently I’ve been canvassing friends about this, and it seems that in general women don’t understand this concept - they think sleep is the only kind of rest necessary, and can’t believe that they’re partners might need to sit and do nothing (which I’ve been told anthropologists call “sitting on a rock”, something they’ve observed tribesmen doing, watching the water flow by or the waves roll in).
This week my wife and baby daughter have been away, and I’ve had lots of time to sit and rest, and my energy has started returning - which is just as well since I’ve got a damn hard race coming up tomorrow morning…
That is more than I do in 7 weeks. Seriously.
To much.
I get an hour a day on the train…reading/napping/just staring out the windown.
Probably another 3/4 hours during the week. Call it 8 hrs. They say doing nothing is the way to really get your creative juices flowing - good for inventors, writers, that sort of thing.
Do you classify time spent reading and posting on Slowtwtich as doing absolutely nothing?
If your answer is yes, then I can estimate your stats. But, then I don’t know if it relaxes you. I visit this site for relaxation - it helps me to escape the real world – for example I may spend 45 minutes a day reading if a color scheme that some expensive TT bike has is disliked by an e-bay obsessed teenager with no sex life called Ze Gopa. Or why that TT bike is actually rubbish as the seatpost is 2 degrees less than the specification that Demerley likes (despite the fact that a top pro spent ages in the wind tunnel to tune it for max performance).
Time spent posting on Slowtwitch is part of my job as a triathlon bike store owner. It is promotion, customer service and information/intelligence gathering and dissemination.
Also, you might want to check my stats for the previous 5 days.
Doing nothing but relaxing, probably 1 to 2 hours and that’s normally just before I get to bed. I get off work at 2pm so I can get my training done earlier than most.
I take my rest time very seriously, especially sleep, I’m not 20 something anymore.
jaretj
I don’t believe I physically can sit still. I always say, “I’m going to do nothing today, tomorrow, etc.” It never happens. The only way I can relax is when I go away, get away from my every day surroundings.
I tend to have a tough time doing this. Actually, I’m doing it right now. Funny how it seems that the only relaxation time I have is when I’m alone on a weekend evening on a non-race week. My days off of work are usually spent racing. If not that, there are always long training days to take their place. Or errands to run. Or maybe it’s something like bike maintenance (this week I’ll be spending half my day off building wheels for my new bike). In order to keep some sanity, I only work 35 hours per week. When you add 15 hours of training to that, that’s 50 hours. I’m lucky that I only have to work 12-7 at the shop (the normal full work day is 10-7). I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the line, the average workweek has snaked its way up from 40 hours to 50+. Where is the time for yourself? Or your family? I could probably work more and make more money, but I’d rather have an hour or so in the morning to just take it easy if possible. I have no time in the evenings- I get home from work at 7:30, eat dinner until 8:00 and I’m in bed by 9:00. I’m up at 5:00 a.m. to train, so my only real time for myself is in the morning. I can really see how the multisport lifestyle can end up being lonely for people who really want to be at the top of the game.
And this is slightly off topic, but- Tom, when do you perform maintenance to your bikes? I’m anal about my bikes- it sometimes is a pain in the ass to be at work all day with bikes and then go home and have to wash or lube my own bikes. Do you simply have your employees clean them or run them through the gears? I’ve noticed that your stuff is always clean and well maintained. With your schedule and trying to fit in some training time, I’m curious as to how it’s all possible.
I have done pretty much nothing very important my whole life, why start now? Work a little , ride the bike, eat, sleep repete for about 53 years so far. I guess we all occupy space on the planet. Some just hog more space.
I am reading Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 now, it has a strong message about a world in which society not only bans free thinking, but the “free time” needed to free think. Every moment of the characters’ lives is filled with some sort of diversion.
I don’t think we are quite there yet, but I do think I need to take more time to relax.
I think people are trying too to pack an entire life into each day. I think too many people spend more time accomplishing less overall, yet never taking true time out for themselves. As for the activityies most folks are calling “relaxing” time here(TV watching, internet surfing, etc.), those activities are FAR from PRODUCTIVE “time out”. I think the main thing people are missing in their lives is spending time WITH THEMSELVES. We spend an entire day doing other things that avoid having to really shut down and be alone with ourselves, our thoughts, our breathing, etc. Some of you out there are thinking, RIGHT NOW, as you read this…“Well, Mr. Tribriguy, I spend all the time I need with “myself, my thoughts, and my breathing” when I’m out training…that’s all I need” or something to that effect. I say, probably not. Unless you are already practiced at meditative relaxation…and can conciously achieve the same state while actively engaged in training (which would be a GOOD thing…I think Mark Allen would agree)…No, for most, training time counts no more for true relaxation time than TV watching, or any other distraction from our inner self.
“So, then, Mr. Smarty-pants Tribriguy, how do you propose we do this?..”
Meditation. Plain and simple. Spend a period of time each day in meditative silent composure.
“But I can’t meditate. I’ve tried.”
Hogwash. You can do anything you set your mind to. Just start out with a short 5 minutes. Most folks will be surprised how hard it is to be quiet, still, and with themselves for 5 minutes. In the beginning the inevitable happens: thoughts drift to what you’re going to do when you get up from this short repose, what bills you need to pay, why that Tribriguy is such a jackass on ST, anything…but ALL distractions from the inner self. Stay at 5 minutes until you can sit, still, alone, without thought or concern with the outside world, and noticing nothing except perhaps the rhythm of your own breathing. Its hard at first, but becomes easier with practice, just like anything we do.
I’ve been spending 20-30 minutes per day for a couple of years now. Sometimes I miss a day…I miss meditation more than I miss training if I have to miss a day. I consider it the most productive time of my week.
“What? Now you’re claiming that sitting still, doing nothing, is the most productive way to spend time? You’ve lost me…CRACKPOT!”…trust me, you’ll know what I mean if/when you get there…
Too many people are making 12-16 hour workdays their normal routine. Then they spend the remainder of their waking hours in some sort of distractive mode, before grabbing a too-short night of fitful rest. People fool themselves by thinking they are being truly as productive as they can be, by being at their job 60-80 hours a week, packing in 10-20 more hours of training, and still trying to have a normal life, get enough rest, etc. etc…somewhere in there they lost themselves… Yes, Tom, I’m thinking of you while writing that statement. You are too, otherwise you wouldn’t have been as shocked by the “truth” of your schedule. You pack a lot of highly commendable shit into your life. But I wonder where in there you are really taking time out for yourself? I’m picking on you because you posed the initial question…but this applies to a heck of a lot of folks here. I’d say we’re some of the worst. We are type A personalities. we push ourselves beyond our limits on a routine basis. We understand that we are capable of so much more than many people realize. The problem is that we then spend our lives CONTINUOUSLY PUSHING to find our outer limits, NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO THE INNER self.
Just a few thoughts…take them or leave them…
This is a toughie, with the young’un, it’s pretty much go go go all day. Once she’s in bed, then it’s prep for the next day, clean up the kitchen, and then relax with hubby for maybe an hour, an hour and a half. I get most of my rest sleeping, or after my Sunday bricks, when hubby knows I physically need to lay on the couch or some such non-activity. So probably about 7-10hrs/week. Not very much I’m afraid. 
Tom D,
I just spent seven days and six nights taking this in. I am as rested as I have been in years. Plus I got to meet some local pro cyclists training for a local race. I was reminded of your editorial about “spreading the word.” I gave him my finisher t-shirt from a local tri and enjoyed watching someone ride off on a 5 year old rusted Trek moving faster than I ever could on my nice, new Soloist. It isn’t about the bike.
http://img277.imageshack.us/img277/7883/capjuluca11uy.jpg
Local race:
For the last 33 years i have usually spent a half-hour each night drinking two (sometimes 3) beers with my feet up watching the tv news (unless for some reason my wife has wrested the remote from me). That’s enough daily resting for me.