Help Me Balance Training with Real Life

[TheSandwichMonster]

Just recently I feel like I've let my training drop, not to mention that a series of illnesses, bad weather, social and work commitments have led to me missing both races and training days that I would otherwise have been all over. This month has been a particularly poor show, with low effort and low mileage both. I have limited time: Normally Mondays & Wednesdays are right out on account of childcare arrangements back home, the other days I have options, but I feel like I'm lacking structure that I thought I actually had earlier in the year. My main focus is now racing, with most events being short crits. I don't want to neglect my longer-distance endurance, but it's not my highest priority right now. Currently my week looks like this:

Monday - AM: Off the bike. Childcare. PM: Usually childcare. New series of Cat4 only crits due to start in the next few weeks, so possibility of getting a pass stamped for some of them as they're not every week.
Tue - AM: 22mi commute to work. PM: Return commute; or commute by train and chaingang.
Wed - Childcare.
Thur - Same as Tuesday, only with club 10TT in evening.
Fri - Commute again, or 2x20 in the evening.
Sat/Sun - Longer ride 50-80mi and/or race. If there's a race then it has priority out of the two.

So my questions:

- How can I utilise my turbo better/more? I can potentially grab an hour or so before anyone wakes up on Mon/Wed, but the time that I'd be doing that pretty much exclude me doing any high intensity work due to the likelihood of waking up family members.
- Can I realistically commute in both directions on Tue/Thu and STILL join in the chaingang/TT? Or will that be asking too much of myself?
- Should I vary the intensity of my commutes for better effect? If so when would be best to do this
- Assuming a race on Saturday, is it acceptable to be doing a 2x20 Friday night?

 

[black'n'yellow]

If you're worried about waking people up, why not get out on the roads? Get up as early as you need to and use lights if you have to.

As for combining commuting and chaingang - it should be perfectly do-able, but nobody else can answer that - you won't know until you try.

Likewise with the 2x20 Friday, followed by racing on Saturday. If you can ride an effective 2x20 session and be sufficiently recovered to race on Saturday, then go for it - again, you won't know until you try. Depending on how many miles you put into your legs over the winter, it should be do-able. It's not unusual to ride back-to-back races, so a turbo session followed by a crit shouldn't give you too many problems...

 

[Kiwiavenger]

could you no do intervals on your commute? I'm considering a turbo in the garage of my new house with a baby monitor for when i need to listen out for little man in the evenings when the wife is at work.

 

[TheSandwichMonster]

B'n'Y: You're dead right... I'm over-thinking things at the expense of actually trying to get them done. To the point that I'd not even considered trying to ride in the outside world instead of on the turbo.

Kiwi - probably! I'd probably have to chop the intervals down some to take account of traffic and stop/starting, but I could probably manage a 3x10 at a minimum... I'm just conscious of trying to keep high & low intensity work reasonably separate.

So, I just needed a kick up the backside (and some common sense). Ironically I'm away over the weekend, so no riding for me until Monday, but I have the beginnings of a plan now... Thanks for the help.

 

[fossyant]

Commute as much as possible - forget the train. I assume the childcare bit is dropping the mini-me's off somewhere. What about dropping them off, then going back for bike, or working something out like that - walk to childcare, you push bike, hop on after dropping off ?

 

[TheSandwichMonster]

Not quite. Kidlets get dropped/picked-up from the childminders, which is literally a few doors away. However, I have to let Mrs SM get her exercise fix too - so Monday nights & Wednesday nights are hers. Because my commute is over 20 miles, getting to work early enough to ensure that I can get away on time to pick them up, means leaving the house early. That means that the Mrs is left to get herself and everyone else ready in the morning - and that's not very fair on her. If I could help round the house, ride to work, get showered and do a full day and then ride back in time; it wouldn't be an issue!

I don't need the train. And it doesn't speed up my commute any great deal to be fair. What I do use it for is chaingang nights, just to ensure that I have fresh(er) legs than if I'd ridden 20 miles that morning, then 20 miles back, followed by a final 25 miles being beasted up and down the Teign Valley! As others have said though... I need to man up on that front!

I've come up with a rough training plan for the next four weeks using a rough traffic light system for intensities of effort. Mon/Wed morning efforts will be down to me getting up before people wake up (~5am-ish), which I was managing for the turbo back in January, but could be interesting. There are some days that are, by necessity, unavailable due to other commitments. See what you think - any constructive critique is welcomed: