I’m training for my first IM and my typical weekday training routine is a swim in the morning (around 730am) then 1-1.5 hours of bike, run or maybe weights in the evening.
Typically I will start my evening workout around 6 and be finished by 730 - that leaves the rest of the evening to have dinner and hang out with my wife.
Problem is that by 830 my eyelids are drooping and I just have to take a nap on the sofa. I can’t help falling asleep in front of the TV.
This is becoming a real issue. My wife legitimately complains that I need to be better company.
So I’m thinking of turning my evenings upside down. Eat dinner at 6pm, hang out for a couple hours then start my workout around 9pm (I have both treadmill and bike trainer at home so logistically this works)
But what will this do to my sleep quality and overall training?
Should I grab a snack after the workout or just crash?
I do late nights AND early mornings now. I’m not training for tri any longer but still work out 6x per week. Mon/wed/Fri, I’m at the gym at 530am-615am. Tues/Thurs, I swim masters at 830-945pm, then I run once on the weekend.
On the swimming nights, I eat before hand, around 7. Hang out with wife from 630-8. Come home from swimming, quickly walk dog, have a small snack (small yogurt cup or something) and force myself to bed. That’s the hardest part. Coming home from a hard swim that late, your heart is pumping and you’re alert. I could easily stay up until 1am watching tv. However, If I force myself to bed by 1015, and read, I’ll be passed out by 1030 and still get around 6.5 hrs sleep.
Wed night is date night. No activity, I grab a coffee on the way home from work so I’m a bit more alert, and the wife and I make a nice dinner and hang out after we put the baby to sleep. Date night is key and makes the other evenings I’m tired and boring more forgivable.
Friday nights I usually crash early and get a good, solid sleep in.
This is becoming a real issue. My wife legitimately complains that I need to be better company.
.
This is all you need to say.
I’m only half joking. You will be very tired a lot of the time. Don’t expect (or your wife shouldn’t expect you) to be your fun bouncy self.
Although you don’t need to be doing 2sessions + a day everyday, in fact that is only needed 2 or 3 times a week.
With a bit more experience the tired part only comes in the last few weeks before the race.
Major issue I have with late night workouts is getting tired. Like you said, around 8:30, you start to get droopy-eyed. That’s not just from the evening workout. It’s the culmination of all the workouts and long day at work (I’m up around 4 am due to work) About once a week, that tiredness along with the body just being tired from my other workouts makes it really hard to do anything. If I’d have knocked it out at 5 when I got home, it would be easier. I probably skip a weeknight workout out once every other week due to this.
But, I have a 3 year old who goes to bed at 8, so it’s spend some time with him and workout after, or miss the time with him.
This is becoming a real issue. My wife legitimately complains that I need to be better company.
During my IM training my wife used to complain that i had the sleep patterns of a toddler. I thought i was being clever getting up at 4:30 but being dead by 9pm. One good trick is to sleep in my car at lunchtime on days when i wasn’t lunch running. That and occasionally missing an evening set, just to hang out.
Keep your wife sweet - this is only a hobby after all. It’s not so much fun for them.
I’ve seen a couple IronHubbys / IronWifeys become IronExes because someone just couldn’t find the right balance
Good luck
One tip: If you DO skip a workout to spent time with your wife, do NOT reminder her “I’m skipping a workout to be with you” as that might reinforce any feelings that your workouts are more important than she is
What is ideal and what has to be done are two different things. While it’s not the best to work out late, sometimes there’s no other way. That’s but one problem with IM training. Balancing a family, career, and IM is a very difficult, if not impossible, thing to do. Some people are better able to make it work than others but at some point, something will suffer – be it training, family time, or work. You simply do the best you can; your best is better on some days than it is on others. I’ve done one IM – way back in 2005. I’ll never do another one. I felt like IM training took more than it gave. Try to follow your plan as best as you can but adjust when things don’t work out the way you want them to.
And for the record, one of the biggest battles I fight with my own training is getting tired late in the day. I don’t do any long races anymore so my workouts are short, 2 hours or less. If I need to run or ride later in the day, usually indoors for both, it’s very hard to get motivated to jump on the trainer or treadmill after about 8 p.m. I used to be wide awake until 11 or later but not anymore. If I can muster a workout after 9 p.m., I don’t find that I sleep any worse. I may go to bed a little later as a result of the workout but I don’t have any problems going to sleep once I get in the bed. But if you’re planning on getting up at 4:30 a.m. any delay can be a problem.
Should I grab a snack after the workout or just crash?
Everyone is different, but I can’t just crash after a workout. Sometimes I’ll ride with a group of guys at night, start at 8pm end at 10-11pm. Issue is I can’t just crash. I’m wide awake till midnight or 1 am.
Personally, I don’t think training after dinner is a good idea. You’ll feel pretty tired right after dinner, especially after a long day already, training will be the last thing you want to do. Plus you can’t even chill in peace because your mind will still be on the 1-1.5 hr session you still have to get done before bed. Afterwards, you may not even sleep well. This is a recipe for burnout.
What’s your weekly schedule like?
If you’re swimming every weekday, so thats 5x, assuming 1hr each time 5hr/week
1-1.5 hrs in the afternoon 5-7hrs/week
then long ride and long run ~6-7hrs/week.
Total becomes ~16-18 hrs of training a week during season?
My suggestion is to wake up earlier. Your first swim is at 7:30 right? You can get a easy run on the treadmill at the gym before heading to the swim. It’ll also help you warm up for the swim, and you’ll most likely swim better after the run.
You can still workout in the evening, but if you only do it 2-3x a week it may be easier mentally because now you are doing the runs in the mornings instead.
Example of a hard week.
M: Swim AM +/- easy run in the AM
Tues: Swim AM, sleep in car during lunch break( I love this, i’ve done it myself in the past, it can be a game changer), hard bike evening.
Wed: Run am Swim AM
Thurs: swim am, sleep in car, bike Pm.
Friday: Swim am +/- run am
Sat: Long ride, +/- brick run
Sunday: Long run +/- swim
Really the question isn’t about when to work out, it’s about time management. So, that being said, I have a couple of questions:
How long have you been consistently training and tri-ing? Because if you have a nice broad base, then while IM training will always entail an increase in overall volume, this notion that you must do 15-20 hours per week is absurd, not to mention the injury risks with this sudden uptick in volume, provided…
What are your goals for the race? If your goal is simply to finish, then see #1. If you have a time goal for your first, I would wonder what that is and how you came to it, simply because doing a full is a different kind of beast than even a half, and I think setting a time goal for your first is perhaps putting the cart before the horse. Usually the time goal comes near the end of training, based on how your long workouts have gone, and being as realistic as possible with your actual capabilities. Yet provided this time goal seems rational, then your training may need to be more significant. How you accomplish it needs to fit into your life in a way that is sustainable for the length of the training, and that decision includes if your marriage would be sustainable during the length of the training.
My advice? Ditch (or shorten) some of the evening workouts and focus on the AM, and save long workouts for the weekend mornings.
This is all about balance, but you need to make sure you get enough sleep. Wake up earlier to do bricks or see if you can sneak a workout during lunch. I avoid evening workouts because I’m already tired from AM workout and working all day. I have 3 kids, so family time is a priority after work.
So here’s a wild idea… if you want quality time with the wife, don’t sit in front of the tv. Hear me out.
Turn it off. Do something. Move around (doing something outside the house… or inside ). Stay awake. It’s not going to happen when you’re sitting on the coach watching tv. I learned that the hard way.
As a coach I HATE the idea of anyone working out after 8pm. It throws off your sleep rhythm when your body should be shutting down and getting ready for sleep, which is why you are sleepy on the coach to begin with.
I advise to keep the AM workout, maybe try and get workouts in over lunch, or keep the PM workout right after work and then find something for you and your wife to do that involves mentally engaging each other.
I’m in bed ready to be out by 9:30pm for early morning workouts and to have enough sleep and rest to get through another packed day (we IM athletes do this to ourselves). This has been established with my wife after years of being annoyed with each other about schedules. I work out in the AM and over lunch during the week. Head straight home for family time/ activities for our 3 kids/dinner/homework/etc. Kids down by 8 and from 8 to 9:30 I attempt (doesn’t always work out for the best) to devote that time to anything my wife wants to do, or not do. That’s her time.
One size doesn’t fit all, but that’s my take after doing fulls for 5 years now.
). Stay awake. It’s not going to happen when you’re sitting on the coach watching tv. I learned that the hard way.