Tips to Training / Time Management Part 2

Last week I shared with you some tips from some amazing women in triathlon about how they chase their dreams while managing work, mom life, training, and life in general.  If you missed it make sure you check it out HERE as it was really awesome to hear from these women.  While it was geared towards training in triathlon in reality you could interchange the word triathlon for anything as it isn't just the dream of triathlon that we easily push to the side because we feel we are too busy. I wanted to follow up last weeks answers to the questions posed with my own answers and tips.  I hope you find them useful :)

Time Savings Tips 

Get up Early This is something a lot of the other women mentioned last week as well, but this is something I employ as well.  Get up and get it done before your brain knows what you are doing. :) But really getting up early and getting either your workout done or work or chores done allows you to be more flexible during the day, for when things come up it is easy to get wrapped up in it so if you are already done with what needs to happen you don't have to let it stress you out.

Planning ahead I try hard every morning to sit down with my planner and look at what I need to do for the day.  I take a look at what Training Peaks says I need to do for the day, then compare it to what I need to do from a work standpoint and other appointments going on and write out what needs to happen for the day.  By scheduling it all out and writing it down I can see where it all fits, like a puzzle piece.

Batching Similar to planning ahead whenever I have the time to sit down for a solid amount of time I do what my business coach calls Mega Batching in which I get a bunch of stuff done for a long period of time.  May get a couple of blog posts done, or extra work done for my athletes, or whatever it is that may give me some more time in the future for down time.

How to stay motivated 

Remember Your Why For me this is the biggest motivator and the main reason I keep coming back.  This goal is something I focus on every minute of every workout.  The more that I visualize the feeling of strength when I hit my goal brings me back when I start to struggle.  My husband also uses it to motivate me when I am complaining about needing to go to the pool for the 5th time in the week, usually all he has to say to me is Kona or sub 10 or whatever goal it is that I am searching for and it gets me back on track.

Having a Coach Having a coach manage my workouts makes a huge difference for me; I know that someone else is watching my workouts and keeping an eye on me.  It is also that person that I can speak to when I am frustrated or unmotivated in which she gets me back on track.

Don't beat myself up There are times when things have to move around, it is just the way it is.  Maybe its life related, work related, or emotionally how you are feeling whatever the reason is it has to happen sometimes.  When this does happen not only do I make sure to tell my coach so that they are aware but I also don't beat myself up for it.  Just try to hit the next workout hard the next day.

How do I help my family (ie: the husband) feel included with my sport Plan vacations around the races We don't always get to do this but when we do it is really fun.  One of the great things about triathlon is that the races are in such beautiful places, and it is fun to explore them. Chat about the goals While my husband would disagree that I chat with him about much of anything (I'm not much for talking) but chatting with him about the goals I have for the races, training, my business, etc makes it all a lot more real.

Get him involved with the athletes I train One of my favorite things is that whenever my athletes have a race Brandon puts them all on the tracker and watches each of them.  He asks about their goals and yells at his phone when they need to go faster.  While it is my business having him involved from this standpoint makes it feel more like something we do together.

Include him in the workouts  He bought a road bike so that he could ride his bike with me during my long runs.  I love this because not only does it not mean that I don't have to carry my nutrition but it is something that we can do together.

What would be the one thing you would tell someone who comes to you and said that they would love to do triathlon, but they don’t have the time?

If you really want to do something then you will make the time. Triathlon is all about want, if you want it then you will get it done.

One of the beautiful things about life is it is a chance for you to step outside your comfort zone, so do it, step outside your comfort zone.  Do something that scares you just a little bit, for the growth you will get out of it is amazing.

CHEERS!!!!