Part 1- The Time Commitment
Triathlon magazine articles, websites, and chat groups are loaded with advice on training volume. What cracks me up is that many of the articles are written by professional triathletes – some of them former Ironman World Champions – who have no idea what it’s like to fit workouts around putting 10 hours in at the office, eating a meal with your family, then running kids to activities of their own. Going into this year my brain was programmed to think that an Ironman commitment was equivalent to 20-hours per week of training. Not sure exactly where this thought came from, but I’m guessing I’ve been brainwashed through all the web browsing I’ve been doing. 20-hours… Give me a break!
Let’s do some math. There’s 168-hours in a week. If you’re training hard, you better average close to 8-hours of sleep per day. Then there’s the work commitment. Including commuting and miscellaneous weekend homework, I average about 55-hours per week. Alrighty… Let’s throw in the kids – transportation, sporting events, homework assistance, playing Nerf hoops, endless attempted negotiations (I don’t negotiate with terrorists), etc. Let’s throw 10-hours at that one. What else is there? Paying bills, family mealtime and activities, household stuff, church-going and activities, keeping in touch with friends/family, the list goes on. Hmmm. Tough to quantify. Let’s go with another 10-hours. OK folks, assuming this is like one of those action movies where you’re left wondering how the heroes go without food and potty breaks, we’re down to 37-hours for training, right? Oh, wait a minute… I forgot one small detail – I’M NOT A FREAKIN’ ROBOT!
Going on a more subjective level (tough as it is for an engineer-type), I’ve determined that 14-hours of training is straddling the fine line of my personal breaking point. One MAJOR factor to consider in “training time” is the time-impact of planning and recovery. I can honestly say I’ve never read a single article on this subject, but it’s worthy of a full book! I figure I spend ½-hour on planning and recovery for every hour of training. Think about it… You have to plan 3-hour bike rides, prep/clean your gear, purchase sports nutrition products, play Mr. Fix-it with your bike, shower, stretch, drive to the gym, actively recover, log your training time, evaluate workouts, etc, etc. No kidding, a 14-hour training week is all of the 20-hour commitment! Yikes!
I’m around 14-hours right now. After a recovery period from my half-ironman on May 6, I will graduate into some “real” IM training blocks. I think we’re probably staring at some legitimate 20-hour training weeks. There’s simply no way to pull this off without burning vacation time. Like I’ve said before, my training peak will generally happen from Mother’s Day to Father’s Day – perhaps just a week or two shifted later. Wouldn't have it any other way. Life is good...
