9 Practical Tips To Fit Endurance Training Into Your Busy Life
How to find the time alongside a 9-5
It’s a depressing place when you don’t have the time to train.
You need a healthy challenge outside of work and family. Endurance training scratches that itch. But training alongside a 9-5 with all life’s commitments is hard.
If you are a seasoned athlete, or someone tackling their first big challenge, this article will show you finding training time is a skill. It’s as much about habits as it is time. As a productivity nerd and endurance sports enthusiast who works a 9-5, I’ve learned how to train with a busy life.
Here are the 9 practical tips to help you find the time:
1. Goal defines the scale
Big goals require big efforts.
No matter how good your habits are, some challenges require significant training. You’re in for serious problems if you budget 5 hours a week for an Ironman. The size of your goal sets the scale and has an influence on how you use the rest of these tips.
Think about your goal in relation to everything else.
2. The ideal week
Most athletes miss this point.
The first step in committing to a big challenge is deciding how much time you are willing to, and can realistically commit. It’s easy to rush into training with excitement. But without a structured week, you will waste time and energy balancing priorities. An ideal week shows the time you have reserved for training, alongside other work, social and family commitments.
Using a calendar app or paper, block out your non-negotiable commitments: work times, school runs, sleep, date night. Whatever you are not willing to sacrifice. Then create blocks for training time: mornings, evenings, lunchtimes, weekends, whichever suit your schedule. This sets a weekly rhythm that is sustainable throughout training.
Routine brings consistency, and consistency matters for endurance athletes.
3. Choose your suck
Every action is a trade-off.
Time spent training is time spent not doing something else. When other areas of your life start to suffer, the discomfort of seeing your progress slow or even reverse is hard to stomach. Rather than trying to excel at everything and disappointing yourself, Oliver Burkeman says you should decide in advance what to suck at.
During your training, maybe decide to suck at finishing home DIY projects, cooking 5-star meals, or attending drinking sessions. Making a conscious choice makes it ok when these things inevitably slip. You can consider ways to counter - if you're not cooking 5-star meals, maybe buy more healthy prepared meals.
Choosing your trade-offs allows you to be at peace when the small things inevitably slip.
4. Eliminate dead time
This was a game-changer for me.
Most people spend their work commute scrolling Instagram, or checking emails. Replacing your commute with a workout not only unlocks training time, but also raises your energy levels, making you feel good at the beginning or end of the day. If running or cycling is your thing, then this is for you.
It doesn’t work for all. Some commutes are too long, and most offices don’t have shower facilities. So consider running or cycling some of your routes, or just do the return leg to save you from stinking out the office.
It's a great feeling arriving home from work knowing the training is done.
5. Plan for disaster
Not all weeks are created equal.
An ideal training week is great, but what about the one off events, family visits, or sick children. Without flexibility your training takes the hit. Leaving you frustrated and scrambling to catch up.
I’ve found that just 20 minutes of planning for the week ahead means I can adjust the training blocks for those one-off events, and even add contingency time if things go to hell. Giving you a greater sense of control and confidence to execute your training.
Disaster will come so better to be prepared for it.
6. Pre-commit
The last thing I want to do when I wake up is jump in a freezing pool.
But that’s what I do every week. The reason I’m there is because I’ve pre-paid the entry fee. Pre-committing to something acts as a forcing function when you don’t feel motivated. It saves time debating yourself when you don’t feel in the mood to train (get used to that). It pushes you out the door and you never regret it once you are there.
Pay for a class or commit to training with a friend. The social and financial pressures make it harder to escape. You spend less time in contemplation and more time in training.
You won’t always feel motivated so best to plan for it.
7. Reduce friction
Don’t spend the first 20 minutes of every workout finding your gear like I did.
This adds up and you don’t have time to waste. It pays to design your environment so everything you need is easy to find. Set out your gear the night before: clothes, water, nutrition, devices. Make any fixes, or mods the night before. Don’t be hauling your bike from the back of the shed at the start of a workout.
Less time to get ready = more time to train.
8. Get a structured training plan
Fail to plan and you plan to fail.
The second time I finished L'Étape du Tour - a gruelling amateur cycling event in the French Alps, I didn’t have a plan. I knew what I was doing…I thought. But I wasted hours each week planning my next sessions. My performance suffered, and I was in no shape to compete.
The previous year I used a 6 month training programme. Each workout laid out - interval reps and efforts levels. All I did was show up and it paid off on race day. A structured plan prevents decision fatigue each day and saves your mental energy for hard workouts, rather than incessant planning.
Get a plan so you just have to show up.
9. Stack your training
Isn’t one workout enough?
I thought so before I discovered Ironman events. Sometimes it’s more efficient to stack workouts together to minimise ‘faff’ time - Getting ready, showering, all the things you do anyway for a single workout. It requires a single time block (although extended). Plus, stacking workouts can create a much needed rest day.
Make the hard days hard and the easy days easy.
Enjoy training.
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Martin.