Training 18-20 hours per Week, Working Normal Job

Triathlon Forum
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Hey all! I wanted to share a section from a recent blog post that I put up that is getting pretty good reception from a lot of my friends; both triathletes and non. For whatever reason, over the past few months I have been asked more-than-ever the question “How do you fit training in” so I thought I would give a pretty straight forward answer. In the spirit of full disclosure; yes, it has been a tumultuous time for me with getting engaged, moving across the country, and starting a new job. At the same time, I am just 26-years-old, and have no kids…so take the following with that as context.

**Training 18-20 Hours/Week, Working: ****Lots of people ask. Basically, training/triathlon has to be a lifestyle. You’ve got to a eat a certain way and sleep a certain way, and with that means forfeiting late nights and partying. In addition, and far more important, it takes a supportive partner (not going to lie, helps if he/she embraces the same active “push yourself” lifestyle) and a motivated mind; for amateurs like myself, the drive is intrinsic, and if you don’t enjoy the “whole” thing (not every workout is enjoyable, but the entire process ought to be), then you won’t do it. Day-to-day what this looks like: 5AM: Wake-up. 6-8AM: Key training session of the day. 8-9AM: Hygiene, commute to work. 9-6PM: Work, and work hard and efficiently (e.g., sad to say, but this means time on Slowtwitch is a generally a no-go) to make sure everything gets done. 6:40-7:45PM: Training session/chores (depends on day, I generally have doubles 3 days during the week) 7:45-9:15PM: Dinner, feet-up, relax. 9:15-5AM: Sleep. Long training is reserved for the weekends, and I still make an effort to start these sessions early so I can have them done by 2PM allowing the rest of the day to be enjoyed doing non-triathlon activities. If I need to sneak in a late afternoon swim on the weekends that is fine, but I really prefer to string together my weekend workouts so I can “check-out” of triathlon come the afternoon, and surely the evening. Like I said in opening, if you don’t enjoy this, you won’t (and shouldn’t) do it. **

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Hey all! I wanted to share a section from a recent blog post that I put up that is getting pretty good reception from a lot of my friends; both triathletes and non. For whatever reason, over the past few months I have been asked more-than-ever the question “How do you fit training in” so I thought I would give a pretty straight forward answer. In the spirit of full disclosure; yes, it has been a tumultuous time for me with getting engaged, moving across the country, and starting a new job. At the same time, I am just 26-years-old, and have no kids…so take the following with that as context.

Training 18-20 Hours/Week, Working: Lots of people ask. Basically, training/triathlon has to be a lifestyle. You’ve got to a eat a certain way and sleep a certain way, and with that means forfeiting late nights and partying. In addition, and far more important, it takes a supportive partner (not going to lie, helps if he/she embraces the same active “push yourself” lifestyle) and a motivated mind; for amateurs like myself, the drive is intrinsic, and if you don’t enjoy the “whole” thing (not every workout is enjoyable, but the entire process ought to be), then you won’t do it. Day-to-day what this looks like: 5AM: Wake-up. 6-8AM: Key training session of the day. 8-9AM: Hygiene, commute to work. 9-6PM: Work, and work hard and efficiently (e.g., sad to say, but this means time on Slowtwitch is a generally a no-go) to make sure everything gets done. 6:40-7:45PM: Training session/chores (depends on day, I generally have doubles 3 days during the week) 7:45-9:15PM: Dinner, feet-up, relax. 9:15-5AM: Sleep. Long training is reserved for the weekends, and I still make an effort to start these sessions early so I can have them done by 2PM allowing the rest of the day to be enjoyed doing non-triathlon activities. If I need to sneak in a late afternoon swim on the weekends that is fine, but I really prefer to string together my weekend workouts so I can “check-out” of triathlon come the afternoon, and surely the evening. Like I said in opening, if you don’t enjoy this, you won’t (and shouldn’t) do it.

Must be nice to get to work around 9am…

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I find it’s the commuting time that is the real killer, for the training.

I did my best training when I was working from home - ie zero commuting time. That “frees up” 1 - 2 hours each day. The next best thing, is being able to commute via bike or run to/from work. Typically this is not quality training, but it does help with the volume.

Finally, you touched briefly on this and my feeling is this is absolutely key. It’s strange then that, it’s rarely ever talked about, and few coaches ever get into this - you have to want to be out there doing this!! My take on that - http://stevefleck.blogspot.ca/2012/04/being-out-there.html

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x2.

I’m more in the 15 hour range kind of person, but I have people telling me that that’s a lot of work. Or ask what I do for fun. Well, I don’t consider that work. I consider that fun. You have to love doing it at some level. It’s a hobby for many of us.

Finally, you touched briefly on this and my feeling is this is absolutely key. It’s strange then that, it’s rarely ever talked about, and few coaches ever get into this - you have to want to be out there doing this!! My take on that - http://stevefleck.blogspot.ca/...being-out-there.html

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9-6PM: Work, and work hard and efficiently (e.g., sad to say, but this means time on Slowtwitch is a generally a no-go) to make sure everything gets done.

I was right there with you until this… /pink

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20 hours a week, No AG should have to train that many hours.

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no kidding… if i get to work at 7:30, i’m sneaking in the back…

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20 hours a week, No AG should have to train that many hours.

That’s a whole other discussion, but you are right. There are Pros winning IM’s, AG’ers winning AGs and qualifying for IMH, all on less than 20 hrs/week.

I know that to many that sounds preposterous, but it’s true.

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When would you recover…NEVER. recovery makes to fast. Beating down a beat’n body only makes you slow.

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20 hours a week, No AG should have to train that many hours.

I’d train 20 hours per week if I could. That stated, I prefer to train about 10-12 hours per week and still have a job, a wife and a kid. 20 hours of training per week and my life would be out of balance in the wrong direction. Am I at my top potential training 10-12 hours per week for an Ironman? Nope. But that’s all I’m willing to sacrifice for a hobby.

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"Finally, you touched briefly on this and my feeling is this is absolutely key. It’s strange then that, it’s rarely ever talked about, and few coaches ever get into this - you have to want to be out there doing this!! "

My HS sophomore son started his x-country season a few weeks ago and this is the message I am attempting to send him. It’s hard to get a teenage boy to commit to much of anything but if he can buy into it, it’s a victory no matter how he does. True for all of us.

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Man, what a life. You should be like a pro or something…

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20 hours a week, No AG should have to train that many hours.

I’d train 20 hours per week if I could. That stated, I prefer to train about 10-12 hours per week and still have a job, a wife and a kid. 20 hours of training per week and my life would be out of balance in the wrong direction. Am I at my top potential training 10-12 hours per week for an Ironman? Nope. But that’s all I’m willing to sacrifice for a hobby.

Wanted to quickly respond to a few things:

**Training 20 hours/week: **This is a peak week for me, but yes, most weeks are north of 18 hours. I didn’t mean for this post to start a debate about the right amount of training time, only to show how it is possible. But since you asked, I am new to swimming so I spend significantly more time in the pool than most doing drill-work that does not cause much (if any) additional stress on the system. Also, I have a mid-term goal of a KQ (e.g., within the next 3-years) and am willing to be patient and take the long road to get there; understanding and believing that pure durability and muscular endurance is key to accomplishing that objective, and compounded training makes that happen

**Recovery: **My body responds better to active recovery than passive recovery. While I have a complete off day once in a while, a recovery day for me generally looks like a 45 minute spin and 25 minute easy swim (about to do this now).

**Hobby: **It is absolutely a hobby, GMan, and like I said, I don’t have kids right now, so view this as a window of opportunity to push myself in this aspect of my life so I won’t feel the need too later (less a “get it out of your system” approach and more taking an opportunity and running with it). It absolutely helps that my fiance embraces the active lifestyle as well, and of course there are many sacrifices I still make. Cut the fantasy-football league, etc, etc. Yes, to some my life may look overly streamlined, but right now I am enjoying it fully and would rather be doing this than anything.

**Minimizing Commute: **Absolutely key, and was a huge factor in determining where we decided to live when we moved. Even if you aren’t a triathlete, I personally believe that there is a huge correspondence between commute time and happiness (e.g., less commute, more happy).

***Again, my point wasn’t to start a debate on volume versus intensity versus recovery, but just to show how it is possible for a young guy like me to train a lot, perform well at work, and have a good enough social-life (albeit most of my friends are athletes, but is that a problem?) ***

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My HS sophomore son started his x-country season a few weeks ago and this is the message I am attempting to send him. It’s hard to get a teenage boy to commit to much of anything but if he can buy into it, it’s a victory no matter how he does. True for all of us.

Bingo!

I have a 15 year-old going into grade-10. HUGE running talent. Runs an 18 min flat 5K on essentially no training. Basketball is his thing - and he’s very good at that. He does run xc and track and does well, but I think he does it for Dad! No pressure from me, as I know that for the individual sports, and in particular the endurance sports, the motivation and the drive has to come from within

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I’m commenting because you put it up for comment - I don’t mean to be nasty.

Your results don’t match your training effort.
I’d advise you to get a coach. If you have one, consider changing.

You enjoy the work - that’s great. Try to fix it so the work counts towards results.

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Must be nice to get to work around 9am…

+1. Must be nice to be allowed to get to work at 9, let alone getting an undeserved reputation as a slacker.

And the commute. Ugh. There are still a lot of jobs that will never allow telecommuting. ever.

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20 hours a week, No AG should have to train that many hours.

That’s a whole other discussion, but you are right. There are Pros winning IM’s, AG’ers winning AGs and qualifying for IMH, all on less than 20 hrs/week.

I know that to many that sounds preposterous, but it’s true.

I hate to hijack this thread so maybe food for another discussion but “Pros winning IM’s” … Really?

That surprises me a lot! Having read about the training regimes of guys like Van Hoenacker, Macca, Crowie, Wellington etc. that seems odd. Moreover, I read bits from Gordo and he seems to suggest that pros do really really long weeks (ok, 20hours for me is crazy but when you’re pro…)

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+1. Right now I’m in the 8-10 hr. range, with a majority of that from weekend long workouts. Just turned 40, and faster than I was 5 yrs. ago. I don’t get paid to do this…

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20 hours a week, No AG should have to train that many hours.

That’s a whole other discussion, but you are right. There are Pros winning IM’s, AG’ers winning AGs and qualifying for IMH, all on less than 20 hrs/week.

I know that to many that sounds preposterous, but it’s true.

“Should have to” and “choose to” are two different beasts. Personally, I think if you have the ability to train more than 20 hours a week, want to optimize your performance and you don’t add the volume, you are leaving talent on the table.

Also, to say there are pros winning IM’s on less than 20 hours a week is silly. I’m sure you can find some, but I know for a fact that the majority of guys consistently winning IM’s or on the podium are doing more than 20 hours a week.

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i am a 18-20 hr a week guy right now…i am 40 yrs old, have 3 kids, a wife and i work 45-50 hrs a week…my wife also works 25 hrs a week…the majority of my workouts r before 5:30 am and my long training days r on my days off of work…

sean maher