Training with little time: work, family and endurance
How to plan endurance training around a busy schedule: priorities, key sessions and flexibility.
Most endurance athletes train between work, family and everything else. Planning has to start from that reality, not from an ideal plan nobody can follow.
Start from your availability
Write down how much time you really have each day of the week. A six-hour plan is useless if you only have four, and doing four hours well beats failing at six.
Prioritise the key sessions
- One quality session, threshold or intervals.
- One long session on the day you have the most time.
- The rest: short, easy sessions you can move or skip without drama.
Use the gaps
Run or ride to work, 30 minutes on the trainer after the kids go to bed, 20 minutes of strength at home. Short sessions add load too.
Sleep
When time is short, sleep is the first thing to go and the most expensive in performance. One fewer session and one more hour of sleep is often the best possible change.
A good plan adapts: when the week goes sideways, move the key sessions and drop the fillers.