Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day
This quote needs to be left in 2022.
One thing that I have learnt through 3 years of being a father is that time is of a premium. Once you have added together work hours, family time, sleep, shopping and other tasks anything you have left over, might be afforded to training.
To manage this I rely on Google Calendar - More Busy Parent Tips
“Everyone has the same 24 hours in the day”
I hate that quote. It’s bullshit.
It puts pressure on people who live in a completely different world from the person quoting it. Kind of like Insta v Reality. The reality is that during some weeks things will happen beyond your control and usually the first thing to be compromised is training.
Most of the people who I coach are parents who work full time in diverse types of jobs that place different types of demands on that person. They all share something in common and that is they have big goals and are willing to invest in themselves and sacrifice to make that dream a reality.
I also have a percentage of athletes who are completely the opposite to this and time is of a luxury, however they are certainly in the minority.
Regardless of status, job or time availability, we all have moments when we need to adapt and respond to the current situation. When these situations happen, you may need to modify your training.
Here are 3 time saving ways in which you can still get the most bang for your buck if you are short on time.
Tip 1 - Brick Sessions
My go to when time is short and you still need some form of high quality training. Amongst its benefits are:
Physiological/Muscular adaption for multi-sport
Specificity
Time efficient
Challenging
Fun
If I was to recommend one type of brick session that would give you the most return on investment in the time that you have available it would be as follows:
Threshold 90 (This is a tough session and should be modified to your ability and readiness)
Bike - Sweet Spot Ramps
10 mins warm up
3 x 4 mins of 85-95% of FTP ramp with 3 min recovery
5 mins cool down (this can be skipped if you want to make it race specific)
Run - Threshold Intervals with Vo2 Spike
3 x 5-minute intervals with the middle 1-minute of each interval run at a faster pace (just over 5k goal pace). You get a 2-minute recovery period following each fast rep.
By adding in this surge in the middle you will spike your heart rate and lactate levels and then challenge you to drop them back down over the final 2-minutes of the interval.
Tip 2 - Swim and Gym
The easiest thing to neglect or remove from the programme is strength work in the gym. However, if you are short on time and know that you might need to give the session a miss, a good way to keep it is to double it up with a swim.
The strength sessions can be completed in around 30 minutes and would not add much time on to your week providing that your pool has gym access too. I have seen programmes in which people have 2 x 45-60 minutes of Strength and Conditioning planned in to their week. For the people I coach, this is simply unrealistic.
Tip 2 and Tip 3 are excellent ways of including some strength work to supplement Swim, Bike and Run. The session below could be completed straight after a swim workout.
My 30 minute Strength and Conditioning Workout
(A full warm up to be completed prior to starting this session)
Strength
Either Deadlift or Squat 3-5 sets of 5 reps with at least 90 seconds between sets
Conditioning
Lat Pull Down / Benchpress 3x10 superset (60 sec recovery)
Box Jumps / KB Swings / Plank 30 seconds on each x 10 with 30 seconds recovery after each round.
Developing whole body strength
Specific to Triathlon in targeted areas
Progressive overload principle can be applied to the big strength move
More reps for time can be added in the conditioning session (higher HR)
Only use this session if you are experienced in strength and conditioning. I would highly recommend that you seek the help of an experienced personal trainer if you are new to the gym floor.
Tip 3 - Triathlon Specific Resistance Training
Keeping on the theme of strength work as it is usually the first thing to disappear out of the training plan.
The one thing that I am consistent on when planning my athlete’s training cycle is that there is always an element of strength included across Swim, Bike or Run. This will either act as maintenance after a focused period or the main focus for that block.
3 simple sessions to help maximise strength through the disciplines are as follows:
Swim
Maintenance - 10x50 with paddles after the main set and primary focus for that session
Priority - 5 x 200m paddles CSS + 15 seconds
Bike
Maintenance - 10 x 1 min at 55-65 RPM with 1 minute recovery
Priority - 20 x 1 min at 55-65 RPM with 1 minute recovery finishing with 15 mins Tempo
Run
Maintenance - Undulating course for the long run with the addition of 2-3 climbs
Priority - 6 x 1 min, 6 x 45 sec, 6 x 20 sec hill intervals