My daughter was born 7 months ago and I haven’t really gotten back to my 2 workouts a day routine. She is my first born. I’ve decided to get back into running half marathons to ease back into shape. The last ironman I did was CDA last summer, so it’s been a while.
Anyhow, can anyone who has had children give me any tips on how to get back into TRI shape or better yet tricks to train and still be part I my family?
Thanks
Congrats toronja10,
My son is also 7 months old (also my first); here are a few tips I’ve come across from new parents, and/or figured out myself …
Be sure to enjoy your new family time though - triathlon will be around for a long time; your baby’s first years - not so much
Congrats toronja10,
My son is also 7 months old (also my first); here are a few tips I’ve come across from new parents, and/or figured out myself …
Be sure to enjoy your new family time though - triathlon will be around for a long time; your baby’s first years - not so much
x1000
Also start to refer to what you’re doing as *exercising *vs *training *
I can relate, my boy is almost 2 and we have another on the way due in September. My opinion is always your family comes first, which I think goes without saying. I also struggled with a very large work week, household expectations, family time, volunteer hours etc. Recently, my wife and I sat down and charted out the hours I spend at work, the hours she is at work and how much “free time” we can allocate as personal time for each other. What works for me is from 5:30am to 7:30am I can do as I please. I let her sleep in on weekends, and that leaves nap time for a swim / bike / run. After 7:30am, I am alive to serve my family and employer… in that order.
I found that if I go way out of my way to make sure she is getting the time she needs, I am left alone to train as I please. Once kids come around I think quality and intensity replace quantity.
Further to that, I am sure that exercise is part of who you are, without it everything else crumbles. I explained to my wife that I NEED to do this otherwise everything else is affected.
Also, anything from Tiffany’s helps:)
That is my two cents…
My daughter was born 7 months ago and I haven’t really gotten back to my 2 workouts a day routine.
That was good for a smile, thanks. Unless you’re insanely wealthy and can basically outsource all child rearing duties, I’d recommend revisiting your goals with respect to tri.
It’s not that you can’t get back into the sport, it’s that things in your life have changed in a big way. Kids change everything. The challenge now is figuring out how to make all your interests and responsibilities work together.
For me the important things WRT triathlon/cycling are the lifestyle lifestyle benefits, not the racing. So I rarely race now and when I do it’s a bike or running race. I try to keep my workouts on the short side and workout early or late. All day Saturday workouts are largely a thing of the past with the exception of special events. Thankfully my wife is generally very supportive of my working out.
My kids are 3 and 5 and my wife and I are still figuring things out. A simple example is that we’re kind of bored with “date nights” and a night out now is very different from what it used to be… we’re no longer interested in staying out all hours. We’re going to start having ‘dates’ that are long mid-day things like riding/hiking/paddle-boarding etc.
It’s not that you can’t have little kids and race IM. Lots of people do it. I think it’s just difficult and not for me. I have people comment to me on how lucky I am that I get the time to ride as much as I do and in my head I think how the amount I workout now is about half what I used to do when racing.
Be sure to enjoy your new family time though - triathlon will be around for a long time; your baby’s first years - not so much
x1000
Also start to refer to what you’re doing as *exercising *vs *training *
These are words to live by! This morning I was on the treadmill for an hour, the second my boy came in with a huge smile I could not jump off that thing fast enough.
i think it’s a real win when you can make a fun weekend out of a race and involve your family. My kids are in school now and they saw a lot of places and experienced lots of things by going to races. I promote races for kids now and get them to help me, which they enjoy. Sometimes they jump in and race, sometimes no.
Planning out time for the real key workouts like the weekly long run and 1 or 2 quality sessions is key. I don’t waste much time with group workouts, sometimes I train with a person or two but I really avoid wasting time and try to concentrate on quality.
I use the indoor trainer a lot because it’s time efficient and I can see gains. I kind of like it, truth be told.
Like everyone says: family first!
I have a 3 and a 2 year old. The best times I have found are two hours before the house wakes up or the two hours following putting them to bed. My wife sleeps as much as my kids so this philosophy works for me. I also sneak out for a long lunch sometimes at work.
If your little guy isn’t sleeping throughout the night, it is a hard life. Just do what you can for now. It will soon pass.
TW
Well it certainly seems like my expectations were way too high. I can see now that I have put more effort into my workouts rather than always working out for time. A schedule with my wife also wouldn’t be bad idea. Thanks to all of you!!
Go to bed when your kids do. Wake up earlier then them and train.
Ride your bike to work.
Run/swim during lunch.
My kids barely know I train…and I can get over 20 hours per week in peak times.
I agree with the previous posters. As the father of 20 month old twins, I don’t think either my wife or Irealized how much our training, and more importantly, our life would change. You just adapt, plan and figure out what works for you - but it can be done.
When you do have the time to train, do intervals. You can get in a lot of work in a relatively short amount of time. My tribike, and road bike, are parked and instead we do family rides with me pulling a kiddy trailer behind my mountain bike - ride a big hill like that and you’ll realize you can still get a good workout (grant it at 7 months you’re probably still a year away from the bike trailer). Get a running stroller too, which they can handle a little sooner than the bike trailer. If you don’t want to spring for the BOB running stroller, Schwinn make a very affordable one that IMO is equal to, or even better than the BOB. Similar to the bike trailer, pushing that much weight makes a typically easy run a challenging run, especially if you incorporate hills.
Also consider getting babysitters not for “date nights” but Saturday rides or runs. Our neighbor hires a high schooler to watch her kids while she goes for a run. She gets in a quality run, and the kid made $10 for hanging out at the neighbors house for an hour…win win.
Hang in there.
While all those well intentioned folks keep talking about ‘don’t miss your kids for training’, you likely won’t -the infants are so demanding that they’ll eat every last second of your time and sleep, so don’t worry about that at all -I never once felt that I was missing out on my infants’ life due to training, not even close.
I’d get a BOB stroller or other sport jogger. Really, really helpful for training, although it does take getting used to and will feel weird at first. I ended up doing 6 5k-10ks and countless miles with that stroller, even off-road on some really gnarly trails.
Bike trainer is key for bike training if you want to maintain that. I’m really motivated, but I got minimal bike time during my infant’s first 14 months of life - it was just too hard between loss of sleep and need to help out with childcare.
I did get some swims in at noon hour lunch at work, which was the most reliable workouts I got. I actually got slightly faster in the water than the year prior (which meant I went from super slow to moderately slow.)
I’d give the advice of do as much as you can but acknowledge your lack of sleep and fatigue levels and don’t be overambitious in planning and training. I did a fair number of workouts on minimal sleep, with a big headache due to lack of sleep and it honestly didn’t help one bit. If I had to do it again, I’d try to sleep more and do less workouts, even if it meant not racing that whole year.
Have faith though - it gets much better at year 1,2, and 3.
I took my boy on two 60km rides last year in the chariot. He mostly slept, watched tractors and said “hi” to me about one thousand times. Also, when they are young, they zonk out pretty hard in a stroller while you run so plan it around nap time. that way your wife gets the house to herself! 60km with a chariot behind your bike feels like 90km, 10km running with a stroller feels like 15km!
i agree with everything that has been said but also want to point out triathlon is not just ironman. Sprints/olympic tris are pretty fun and you probably already work out enough to complete them easily.
Pay attention to your kid now. You can always neglect her when she’s a teenager.
I guess for me the other thing was that I did not really “get it” until my kids were over a year or so old and we were able to start communicating, then it dawned on me how cool being a father is. I’m making Toll House cookies right now with my 3rd grader, I love every second of this. Even when you have a lousy race, it’s so cool to cool down with your kids 
Congratulations on your new addition. I was there not long ago. I found it VERY hard adjusting. I put a lot of stress on family due to my love/obsession for triathlon/IM’s.
I’ll be honest with you, it will be extremely challenging. I don’t want to blow sunshine up your ass. It will be tough.
I don’t know all the aspects of your situation(wife’s ability to cope, childs sleeping pattern, your work schedule etc)…but 2 a days are pretty much over for a while IMO.
You need to have your wife on board for this to work…and pay just as much attention to her as your new addition…trust me on that one, it is important!! (mine was not on board with my training) Otherwise you will have some serious family issues. I personally had a very difficult time adjusting to a new addition, and not have my training where I wanted it. It took me 2 years before I realized what was more important.
Seriously trust me…the stronger your home relationships are, the better for quality training and an allotment of time for you.
Start by being an expert in time management. There will be days you only get 25-30 minutes…take advantage and use it to its fullest. Be organized for days like this, so when there is very little time, all you have to do is go! Have your swim gear ready always, running gear ready to roll, and bike always left ready to ride with clothing easy to grab…and trainer set up if cannot leave house.
I remember cycling in basement beside baby monitor while my little guy was sleeping. Rarely I got in 2 hours, usually 45min, and sometimes 10 minutes.
Anyone who tells you it is easy, is full of shit! There is northing easy about the situation.
PM me anytime…I seriously was just there not long ago, and still continue with a 3 year old and now I am injured from trying to train like I used to after doing less for 3 years.
But in the end…the long nights, spit ups, dirty diapers, challenges…are all worth it. It’s just very hard re-adjusting.
Kids (YOURS) are the highest priority. Everything else pales in importance. Disregard that and you may well pay. Infants and toddlers need constant care (shared between the parents). It gets much easier once they are up on their hind legs and on to preschool, etc. You could be very blessed like my daughter and have doting grandparents at hand who like nothing more than to step in as first line caregivers.
Congrats on the new edition! I have an 11 month old, nothing will ever take priority over the family but I still have passion and love for the sport. I have had to learn to become nocturnal in my training, I can’t remember the last time I trained in the light of day. if I can’t get workouts in during the morning hours, it probably won’t happen, I usually am on the trainer and have purchased a bike light to ride at night on the bike path close to the house, maybe it’s not ideal but I hate to leave my family.
This is an easy answer, and scanning all the posts I didn’t see it listed so I’ll say it. How does 1 find time to train after the birth of there first child? Have a 2nd one. Then you’ll realize just how much free time you actually have when you had only 1. I know it sounds sarcastic, but the point is there is time out there if you HAVE to train. Remember to ask yourself why you are training in the first place. Pride? Health? Performance? All 3 can be good reasons. My oldest of 3 will be 8 this summer and she is super stoked about doing her 2nd tri this summer and not because I asked her to do It but b/c she wanted to get involved after cheering for me Just like when I was younger I wanted to do run races just like my dad. All my life I have had a positive attitude on exercise because of my dad.