Scheduling and Training

It's week 2 into the new year and the question I have been ask a few times in the last few weeks is how do I do it? How do I manage a full time job, training and life.

Easy.... Cloning, I've named them all 6.

But seriously, It is a daily challenge but not impossible to achieve success in a sport while working and dealing with life's daily activities.

Here are a few of the things I've learned.

1st: Great coaching. My Coach, Adnan Kadir, Aeolus Coaching, works with my work and life schedule to achieve maximum performance out of my training. There are so many great coaches out there, you need to find the right fit for you and YOU'RE desired success. Someone who can work with in your capabilities and potential to help you achieve YOU'RE success. I highlight YOU'RE success because it is all about you. I have heard stories of coaches you drive athletes into the ground because that is how they succeeded or someone else has succeeded. Or better yet, coaches that train women like men and we are so much different and need to take that into consideration into our training programs and ability to succeed. I give Adnan my schedule in advance so he can work my training in around it. I'll go into more detail about my training and other great coaches I've meet in another blog post. In the meantime you can visit http://www.aeolusendurance.com/.

2nd: Prep work. I do so much prep work for the next day it's absurd but really, it helps. Here are a few examples of my prep work. When I get home from work, I get into my fat pants a a huge warm sweat shirt and get to the computer to double check my schedule and the weather. I then pack my gear bag, based on weather conditions, for my next days workout and set it my the door.

When I make dinner, I will be making my lunches for the next day.

If I have a morning trainer ride, I will prep my bike on the trainer, towel, water bottle, ride video, headphones and lay our my gear. When I get up in the morning it change and mount.

I do my best to pick out my work clothes for the next day and lay them out.

I prep my coffee the night before so all I have to do is turn on the burner.

3rd: Scheduling: Seems like at any point in the day I am on a schedule. It can get ridiculous but it works for me. I schedule, training, eating, sleep, eating, shopping, blogging, socializing, eating, working and eating. Scheduling time for these things helps me to manage the chaos. A typical week schedule for me looks like this:

Monday: 7:00 am wake up

8-5:30 work

5:30-6:15 grocery shop

6:30 dinner

7-9 Down time/Prep time, movie or book.

9:00 BED

Tuesday: 6:00 am wake up, 6:30 to 7:30

Training ride, 8:30-11:45 work

12-1 Yoga

1:20-6:00 work

6:30 Dinner

7-9 Downtime/prep work, Downtime

9:00 BED

Wednesday

6:30 Wake up

7:30 work

12-2 training ride with intervals

2:30 - 6 work

6:30 dinner

7-9 Downtime/prep work, Downtime

9:00 BED

Thursday:

7:30 Wake up

8:00 Work

12-1 Training run

1:15 t0 6 work

6:30 dinner POTENTIAL DATE NIGHT

8-10 Downtime/prep work, Downtime

10:00 BED

Friday

7:45 Wake up

8-5 Work

6:00 Yoga

6-7 Dinner time

6-10 Open night for social activities.

Saturday

6-9 Wake up, enjoy social media, FB, blog, email

10-11 Ride start

10-3/4 ride

4-5 Veg out

6-8 Dinner

7-10 WHATEVER

Sunday:

8-12 ERRANDS and chores. I must say this is a a huge secret. So many people sleep in on Sunday, I head out and so my errands, i.e. bank, farmers market, garden shop, target, ETC. some places are not open till 11 but hit them at 11 and they are not too busy.

1-5 Ride

5-7 open

8-10 Bed

#4 Embrace that Chaos.

When traveling to El Salvador racing the vuelta down there a few years ago were were hit with so many road blocks it was insane. Typically you schedule arrival time, start times, warm up times, meal times etc. I was really getting stressed out. One morning we arrived at the start 10 minutes before the gun. We were running late because we were following the race director around trying to find a start line. We get out of the car, start to get our bikes and the race organizer says, "No, I don't like this, we move". I had it. I was almost in tears and them my teammy Kele Murdin, looked at me and said "we just need to embrace the chaos". From that moment on I have "Embraced the Chaos", in life and in riding. Good thing I really embraced the chaos at that moment. That was the year El Salvador was hit with an earthquake, flood and a volcano. Another day another blog on those details.

These are just some of the things I do. Take from it what you like. Remember it's you're training and you're life. Suck the essence from it and enjoy the journey.

Enjoy the ride

JennX