Finding balance
How to balance life, work & somehow still follow a structured training plan to crush your goals.
“ I realized you can get a hell of a lot out of a 6-8hr training week and I have so much respect for my athletes who week after week dedicate whatever time they have to spare to train. ”
A couple of years ago if you told me you want a training plan and have 6-8hrs a week to train I probably would have shrugged my shoulders and uttered ´Good luck!´. Now, working full time, coaching, managing my social life, training and above all still having quality time with my wife and little puppy I’ve never valued time more. I realized you can get a hell of a lot out of a 6-8hr training week and I have so much respect for my athletes who week after week dedicate whatever time they have to spare to train.
As a WT athlete the only thing I had to worry about was training, eating and recovery (and racing, of course). That’s all I had to do all day, every day. This also gave me a skew perception of the amount of training required to be in good physical shape. Ask my wife, my ‘easy coffee shop ride’ I took her on was anything but easy for her. I never understood that as my perception of what was short and easy was totally different to hers. I do now. I barely train 6hrs a week, but realized when done right and optimized, you can be in great shape and achieve the goals you have set for yourself even with time constraints.
It was definitely a big transition to make and I had to force myself to let go of the world class fitness I had. It was causing unnecessary stress to try and push the same power and train hours and hours every week without the access to support you have as a professional athlete. Nowadays, I regularly come home surprised after a ride looking at my Strava file seeing new PB’s or that I’m not that crazy far off the pace on some of the segments I trained on as a professional. ‘How’s this possible!?’, I laugh and say.
Obviously, I’m nowhere near the fitness I had a few years ago, but I’ve learnt how to stay in shape and still ride my bike fast without spending hours and hours a week training. Here are a few tips:
I always try to emphasize recovery and a happy, positive mind space to the athletes I coach and to not let training be another stressor in their life. A happy athlete is a fast athlete and if you can find that sweet spot balancing life and training then you’ll be amazed at how good physically you’ll be able to perform. If you have limited time I want to be sure you recover well enough between key workouts so that you can hit them strong to get as much adaptation as possible out of them.
A mistake (in my opinion) I see many athletes with limited time to train make is doing too much intensity too often. Just because you only have an hour to train a couple of times a week doesn’t mean it has to hurt every single minute of it. Don’t forget about the basics!
Depending on your goals and current training status, do other sports and incorporate strength training into your routine. Swop a 1hr ride during the week for a proper strength session in the gym (or at home if you have the weights). My buddy is a personal trainer and we recently started ‘Deadlift Monday.’ Big lifting sessions every Monday combined with general body conditioning afterwards. After only a couple of weeks I’ve already noticed a difference on the bike. I can stay in control while pushing the limit and not waste unnecessary energy moving around trying to squeeze out more watts.
Don’t forget to sleep. This is so important! For physical recovery, mental freshness and general health. Don’t skimp on that. I’m happy with my 7hrs of sleep a night and when possible will always try to sneak in a little afternoon shut eye to freshen up.
Balanced, healthy diet. So easy to say, so hard to do sometimes. Be sure to fuel your demanding rides properly to meet your energy requirements. I like to emphasize pre, during and immediate post. You’ll feel great during training, hit the required targets leading to a nice little dopamine kick to get you in the right mindset for the rest of the day.
Don’t be so hard on yourself and give yourself some more credit. You deserve it. Even for just surviving to the end of this post.