Most of us have been there and I see it with so many of my athletes. How do you make time for yourself when there is no time to be found?
This is the most common hurdle my athletes face and one that I often struggle with myself. When you are juggling a stressful job, after school activities, taking care of your spouse and kids (furry ones count too!), life obligations and all the other things that take up time you will find yourself over reaching and losing motivation. I like to think of this as baking a massive cake and not making enough frosting to cover it. So where do you find more frosting? You have to make it.
Sleep should be a priority so start with a regular sleep schedule that you can maintain. For me I fall asleep between 7:30pm and 8:00pm. Most mornings the dogs have me up anywhere from 4am-5am. I used to stay up late watching movies or playing on my phone. I now have a hard cutoff at 8pm and I try to be done working by 7:30pm, this includes weekends (I work 7 days a week and maintaining a normal sleep pattern helps to maintain good sleep hygiene). This gives me time to get in enough sleep to feel good the next day. Once you establish a sleep schedule then you can begin to plan your day.
I like to wake up and have an hour to drink my coffee, eat some food, journal and respond to my athletes workouts that happened while I was sleeping. I guide early morning personal training sessions before the sun comes up and give myself around an hour to do my morning cardio workout. This allows me to get in a workout early in the day before I am too tired and lose motivation later in the day. When I was a dental hygienist my morning workout was typically a gym session with cardio at lunch or after work (I had to dig very deep to do after work cardio). For most people waking up a bit earlier to get in a workout before you start your day will leave you feeling recharged and ready to tackle the day! It can take a bit to get used to waking up early but you will adapt! There is something magical about starting in the dark and seeing the sun rise.
I typically use my mornings to work on athlete schedules and try to avoid having any meetings until after lunch. My lunch break is a gym session. Working from home makes my daily grazing easier but, even when I was a dental hygienist with minimal time to eat or go to the bathroom, I had snacks prepared that I could eat within a minute or two. Sometimes chewing my food while going pee. Yes, that is how healthcare is and if you can’t multitask you will be hungry with a full bladder. I still have easy snacks prepared so that I can quickly eat when I feel hungry. Eating the same foods makes it really easy to stay on top of macros and getting in enough calories each day. Dinner is always different and is just a protein, carb and fat that changes daily.
Protein shakes and smoothies can be an easy meal if you are combining your lunch break with a workout. A portable blender pre filled with whatever you choose takes seconds to mix up and a few minutes to drink! Have fun with your smoothies and play around with combinations of different foods that include all 3 macros.
After lunch is when the bulk of my meetings happen. It is a lot of talking, working through challenges and planning athlete strategies for events and races. I try to have a hard cutoff for meetings by about 4:30pm to give myself time to decompress by taking the dogs for a walk. After coming back from the walk it is time to have dinner, shower, and respond to my athletes workouts and questions. I take time to watch a couple of episodes of tv shows while doing corrective exercises and rolling out. Having a little bit of time to veg out before bed helps me fall asleep easier.
For a lot of my athletes with long commutes and after school activities it can be easier to workout while your kids are in practice. If they are at a school there is typically a track you can run on. One of my athletes runs to and from the train to work while others run or bike commute to work. Encouraging your kids to have a bit of downtime before bed is important and may give you a bit of space to get caught up on stretching/rolling out at the end of the day. Some kids enjoy being a part of it so don’t be afraid to include them!
When you have a stressful day, remember, your body will respond to your stress the same way it would respond to speed work. Take those days to use a lower effort while exercising. If you find yourself in a constant state of time constraints and stress taking a deep breath and rethinking your goals will help you find time to stay fit. Don’t stress out about getting in high miles and lots of speed work because you will become overwhelmed and cranky. I have had athletes switch from marathon goals to 5k goals because they can’t find balance when training for a long event. Once they went through the grieving process of changing goals they began to flourish in all aspects of their lives! The stress will eventually pass and you are never too old to train for longer endurance goals!
Having been a race director I have seen many people above retirement age doing amazing things at really hard races! It is a reminder that sometimes you have to wait until the kids are out of the house, you move on to a less stressful job (or retire) and eventually end up in a place where you have more time for you! If you maintain any form of fitness you will be able to return to your bigger goals at a later time! I am personally taking a break from big goals until my life allows me to have more time to revisit them. Once I tore off that bandaid and let go of feeling the need to do all of the big events I found more happiness in smaller and more achievable goals. At some point I might return to some longer and more demanding goals but for now I am happy doing less.
Aim for at least 30 minutes a day of strength and/or cardio. Workouts can be split up into two sessions. Target 1-2 days a week for a HIIT workout, plyo routine or speed work. Take 1-2 days off a week to allow for proper recovery. Sandwich your harder effort days with at least 30 minutes of easy cardio and if you have a few small goal events or races that you can sign up for it will help keep you motivated. 5k’s are awesome because they are short, easy to train for and fun! Some areas have local seasonal series such as biking, running or triathlons that are short after work races which can provide social time and speed work! Many of these small events offer activities for the whole family so the kids can participate in kids races too.
If you feel stressed out trying to get in workouts for big goals then consider smaller goals that will keep you motivated, fit and allow for more happiness in your life. You are not a failure for doing less. If you are able to acknowledge that you need to choose smaller goals to improve the quality of your life, I commend you. When the time is right you will have a beautiful base to do all of the grand adventures! If you need help learning how to find the perfect goals to train for in your busy life, reach out! I would love to help you learn how to make more frosting!
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