Do you REALLY think you train hard enough?

misty floyd

After a 2m interval session last night, I started thinking about how much I push myself. I got home and had a look around the logs and really, what makes progress is consistant hard work......we all know that. Some people improve a lot over a short period of time and I tend to think they are the people that really push the boat out, those that leave the comfort zone more often then not. I've been running a lot of easy miles and questioning myself that I'm not training hard enough.

Do you think smart consistant running, keeping effort levels below super hero workouts is the way to go?
Do you think bust your bits, no pain no gain is the way to go?

Are YOU training hard enough and do you ease off when the going gets tough? Be honest

Just something to waffle about

ShaneIRL

misty floyd wrote: »

After a 2m interval session last night, I started thinking about how much I push myself. I got home and had a look around the logs and really, what makes progress is consistant hard work......we all know that. Some people improve a lot over a short period of time and I tend to think they are the people that really push the boat out, those that leave the comfort zone more often then not. I've been running a lot of easy miles and questioning myself that I'm not training hard enough.

Do you think smart consistant running, keeping effort levels below super hero workouts is the way to go?
Do you think bust your bits, no pain no gain is the way to go?

Are YOU training hard enough and do you ease off when the going gets tough? Be honest

Just something to waffle about

I think you need to mix it up IMO. Some easy miles on the road isnt such a bad thing as long as you are getting the miles in but then again you need to push yourself now and again. No pain no gain sessions are a must also to build up resistence levels and basically gain mental strength. Use the easy miles as your recovery period to an extent but dont slack off on a hard session now and again.

I try to get in 2 tough sessions a week and a few runs but in saying that I find it tough to get motivated when training alone. My suggestion - Get a running partner of the same fitness level or above and push each other to your limits.

Woddle

I think the problem with the superman sessions is they can leave you tired, fed up and lacking motivation.
I was flying at xmas time, I was keeping my sessions off my log as I didn't want to be told to be sensible. Basically every second run involved 1 mile intervals. I knew I was in great nick but when I got injured and not as a result of the training may I add, stupid ice, I got very demotivated and I think it was a case of the hard sessions having caught up with me.

I think balance is the key. I get a pain in my backside with easy running but there essential for the hard sessions.

RoyMcC

Depends what, if anything, you're training for. If you've got no races planned than there's not much point in pushing yourself out of the comfort zone. You're just looking at maintenance miles.

Also for marathons (and beyond), unless you're an accomplished runner wanting to win/achieve PBs, most of your work will be high & slow mileage.

But if you're racing HMs and below then you'd better get some intervals and tempo runs in or the races will hurt.

I've dawdled along happily since Cork but, with a number of races coming up, I'm gonna get my 1,000 miles done and then hit the track more often.

tunney

Its all about consistency. Every week, every month. Stupid "I AM THE MAN" sessions break consistency (illness and injury) and you are unlikely to make significant long term gains.

robinph

misty floyd wrote: »

Are YOU training hard enough...?

Nope.




I am now doing some training with the club a couple of nights a week though. Haven't a clue what type of workouts they are as far as fitting in with any training plan descriptions the rest of you talk about, but some bloke stands at one end of the field and shouts at us to run faster and I try my best not to get overtaken by too many of the kids. Then we do that again about 10 times. Another night of the week we split into groups and run off fairly fast around the park/ woods/ hills for an hour, I think that would be called an hours worth of tempo chatting, but not certain on the official terminology.

Yet to see if any of this will make a difference or not, but it gets me out of the house.

Cabaal

I think I am training hard enough, I'm on the HM training programme at the moment and I'm upto 10.4km runs twice/three times a week, on my cross days I'm aiming for 30-50km on the bike so I think this is hard as I can train without getting a divorce at present

mloc123

I think I train hard enough for sustainable training. Joe Friel mentions 'winter stars' in his books.. those that train too hard and too early on, peak and then end up injured or burnt out when it matters.

I have not been injured this year, thankfully while still getting key sessions in... could I go harder? Probably, would I still be injury free 8 months into the year.. who knows.

tunguska

misty floyd wrote: »

Some people improve a lot over a short period of time and I tend to think they are the people that really push the boat out, those that leave the comfort zone more often then not.

Do you think bust your bits, no pain no gain is the way to go?

Are YOU training hard enough and do you ease off when the going gets tough? Be honest

Like you said man, the people that improve over short period of time are the ones who push themselves to the absolute brink, both in training and racing. You well know about steven way at this stage and from taking a look at his blog you know he kills himself in training. Look at his results, the proof is there.
I train with Niall and those sessions are savage. Pretty much in every session I'll get to a point where that voice in my head will start whinging and wanting to quit. And that voice will offer up a lot of very reasonable sounding explanations as to why I should quit:

Ive already run so many miles this week, Im tired.
I had a hard session Tuesday
I raced at the weeked
I had a long day in work
I can quit now and go further next training session because I'll feel better next time.
This is too hard, it shouldnt be this hard
I bet nobody else trains this hard so why should I have to?
I deserve a break, I trained hard last week
Everybody else is off partying while Im here being tortured, its not fair...............blah blah blah, excuses excuses.

But Ive learned to dismiss anything this voice says because this voice is that weak part of me that doesnt like pain and will try anything to get me not to endure pain. But pain = growth and development. At the start of the year I made a promise to myself that I wouldnt quit or cut short any training session no matter how I feel. So when those moments come in training where I want to quit I just remind myself of that promise I made. The sense of satisfaction at the end of a session when you completed it all even though you were hurting badly, is massive. And its worth its weight in gold come race day aswell.
JD talks a lot about "resisting the urge to slow down." I never really understood this until recently. I always thought that if you slowed in a race it was because you were out of gas, it was beyond your control, something that you didnt get to decide upon. But I know now thats a load of cobblers, you DO have a choice. You decide if you slow down or keep up the pace. There comes point in every race I do where it starts to hurt like hell and its at this point that im faced with that decision: slow down and make it more comfortable(and get beat by the guys who were behind me)or hold the pace, even though its agony. Im only really becoming aware of this decision lately but before I didnt even notice I was making a choice, it all happens so quickly. I used to think I had just run out of juice but that wasnt it. What I was doing was deciding to give up because it was painful even though, physically, I was able to keep up the pace.

And thats why hard sessions in training are crucial, they condtion you to endure pain and to enable you to make that decision during a race: Slow down and in effect give up or keep up the pace and do yourself justice.

BeepBeep67

Personally I think it's important to train in cycles, with an overall goal in mind. For me it's typically: base building, hills & tempos, intervals and races, then some easy weeks to recover before starting all over again.
I don't think you can go eyeballs out from Jan 1 to Dec 31, you'll surely burn out and defeat the purpose.
That said you should give every 'planned' session or race 100%.

jeffontour

tunney wrote: »

Its all about consistency. Every week, every month. Stupid "I AM THE MAN" sessions break consistency (illness and injury) and you are unlikely to make significant long term gains.

Have to agree. I'm only this year discovering the gains that are made by not targeting an event then taking a month to contemplate the world from your backside and a bar stool afterward. I'm in way better shape now than this time the last few years. I haven't trained harder, just consistently.

Now to get back to the question, do I think I train hard enough? I KNOW I don't. I need to join a club to sort this out, I've learned this year that training with people brings you on in leaps and bounds. I don't think I need to change a lot though to train to the maximum that my work/life balance will allow whilst staying healthy and avoiding injury. It's just whether I decide to HTFU now or in a months time.

Woddle

tunguska wrote: »

And that voice will offer up a lot of very reasonable sounding explanations as to why I should quit:


I can quit now and go further next training session because I'll feel better next time.

I used this one only yesterday

Gringo78

Pretty much in every session I'll get to a point where that voice in my head will start whinging and wanting to quit. And that voice will offer up a lot of very reasonable sounding explanations as to why I should quit

yeah, I get that voice aswell....however when you complete the session, the feeling you get is something only replicated crossing the line in a race after running a PB

And thats why hard sessions in training are crucial, they condtion you to endure pain and to enable you to make that decision during a race: Slow down and in effect give up or keep up the pace and do yourself justice

+1 Cross & conquer the pain barrier in training and you'll do it in a race too. You should also never expect to get to a point where there are no voices in your head suggesting you should stop...if you reach that point, you are not training hard enough i.e your increase in fitness means you've outgrown your session....you should never let it get to that point.

you should never start into a session without a planned target...you need to set this target in the morning not during the session, otherwise the voices will unhelpfully select an easier target. Pick a reasonable target, do it, give yourself a small pat on the back. You only need to beat that target by a small bit each week to make massive improvements over time. A 5 mile tempo done 1sec/mile quicker month on month adds up to a 2min improvement on your 10 mile time. 2 tough session a week is all you need, but do them most of the year. 5-6 miles of tempo, 4-5 miles worth of intervals - 10 tough miles per week is all the takes, the rest can be easy.

Gringo78

jeffontour wrote: »

I'm only this year discovering the gains that are made by not targeting an event then taking a month to contemplate the world from your backside and a bar stool afterward.

+1 The biggest hurdle to improvement - sub 3 marathons, ironmans & ultras - I'd reckon the majority of people who hit those milestones put on a stone afterwards and don't improve much after. If you're going to aim for a big milestone that calls for a big training committment, take the time to write down a 3 year plan when you're making up the big event 4 month plan. You need to know what you're going to do after you hit the milestone so that you don't spend a month afterwards on a bar stool thinking about the next big target.

rainbow kirby

I know I don't train hard enough. And I know I keep making excuses for it (some genuine, some all in my head). And I need to work on that.

runrabbit

I don't push myself hard enough on my shorter runs - I only realised this last night . I totter around at a comfortable pace and then complain about how slow I am and how I don't seem to be improving. Also my LSRs and midweek runs tend to be at a similar pace (that should have been a clue).

I actually pushed myself last night and managed a better pace than ever before in training - I need to force myself to do that more often now. I wish I'd realised sooner.

TheRoadRunner

I could train harder but training harder would take away from my races. People may train harder than me but few will race harder than me.

No use doing superhuman sessions in training and your race times taking a hammering. Nobody asks about your PBs in training.

shels4ever

Nice topic. I think the other aspect of this should eb do you train smart enough. I think in the past I suffered from the Martin Fagan syndrome of not making it to the starting line, So needed to change the way I ran, so more easy running and then give it a major lash on race days.

I think I can manage maybe 4-6 weeks of doing hard session and then after that i'll fall away and races will suffer.

As the RR said nobody askes your pb's in training so in regards to training if you dont back up what you do on race nothing else matters.

Brianderunner

I definitely don't push myself 100%. usually 4 or 5 days a week, and i find i'm too lazy to do strength training or strides afterwards. I plan on stepping it up after the race series is over but i've said that before :rolleyes: Good intentions get lost easily.

misty floyd

Very interesting posts. For me, when I try to add a third hard session per week, I find I'm like a zombie in work and I can lose interest in training. At the same time reading posts like Tunguska's, I think, maybe I can get used to it if I kept it up.

I also agree with Tunney's comment that consistancy is the key. Pushing it too hard makes it more likely to get an injury and we all know that thats a sure way of losing fitness. Its a fine line....are these excuses to not run hard all the time? who knows. I think its important to enjoy it aswell and I know I wouldn't enjoy it if I was running myself into the ground.

That said, those two sessions I try to do a week, esp the interval one, I work really hard. For interval sessions and races (up to half's), if I want to quit half way into it and finish feeling a little sick (for races) I know I'm doing well.

We are all able to push ourselves further than we think. No excuses during a race.

As for motivation to complete core/strength work during training........I'm Mr excuse on that front. Hate it.

pgmcpq

Interesting topic.

Talking the marathon as an example. Te conventional wisdom (I know not everyone agrees) that you do most of the running at slower than PMP, don't do hard sessions in succession, tempos once every two weeks, etc, etc. The focus is on not pushing yourself most of the time. So you finish up and wonder if you should be running faster .... training harder ... and pushing yourself ..... or "trust the training". I know I don't have the experience to know where the line between pushing myself and overtraining is - not sure I'd recognize it if I fell over it !

So yes, I do feel that way. But I follow what a) seems rational and b) seems to get results for other and try to supress the doubts.

christeb

It's an interesting one. Overall I would say no. Right now I'm prioritising "life" over running, and the quality of my sessions has deteriorated as a result. I know I won't be setting a huge PB in this autumn's marathon, so I'm mentally backing off accordingly.

However I still do quite a lot and I think I've fallen into that runners syndrome where all you can focus on is your next session. If you don't get it in you feel a bit off.

I do still do 2 x core sessions / week too though, as I've got weights in the garage together with my record player. It's my happy place

thirtyfoot

I think most Irish athletes or runners don't train hard enough. You have to hurt in training. Obviously you don't go mental but that's were a coach comes in. Competing should be easy, the real pain is in training.

Is the lull in Irish distance running due to people not training hard enough? Is the boom in sprinting down to them finally training hard enough?

tisnotover

Great thread Misty!

I'd have two "hard" sessions a week with one long-ish run done over hills.

I am finding i'm pushing myself more in the "hard sessions", in particular speed-work on the track....and the rewards are showing in races.

Where balance needs to come now though is what I eat+drink. I've been a bit fond of the Guinness lately and the diet could be better too, that leads me to believe that their are further improvements in me...that would mean more discipline out of the running shoes.

Consistency is key though...structured training, knowing what each run's aim is day-do-day is i'd agree important.

RacoonQueen

I've always said I don't train hard enough. I'm not good at leaving my comfort zone and hurting in training - mostly because I put too much emphasis on my next session. Most of my thinking during any one session is based towards my next one which is something I've desperately tried to eradicate and repeatedly failed to do so.

That being said, my 'easy' pace now is faster than what I hit in my fast runs this time last year. So does patience and consistency pay off? I may have taken longer to reach 8:30 as my 'easy' pace than if I'd trained 'harder' in the past then again maybe I'd have ended up burning myself out if I'd been training 'harder'...

Then again, a lot of other people seem to think I DO train hard, I have high expectations of myself so even if I trained like Gebreselassie it still wouldn't be good enough for me. I will one day see misty floyd at a club training session so I can see what hard training REALLY is. I will.

shels4ever

Tingle wrote: »

I think most Irish athletes or runners don't train hard enough. You have to hurt in training. Obviously you don't go mental but that's were a coach comes in. Competing should be easy, the real pain is in training.

Is the lull in Irish distance running due to people not training hard enough? Is the boom in sprinting down to them finally training hard enough?

Whats a coach?

misty floyd

RacoonQueen wrote: »

I will one day see misty floyd at a club training session so I can see what hard training REALLY is. I will.

ha ha Tuesday @ 7, I'll remind you again

By the way I hope I don't come across as 'look at me, I train hard'. I've been doubting some of my training effort so its the opposite really. If you pop into the training logs, within 10 minutes you feel like you are not doing enough.

RacoonQueen

misty floyd wrote: »

ha ha Tuesday @ 7, I'll remind you again

"Hello new clubmates and coaches, I'm RQ, I started training 5 weeks ago for a 50 mile race thats in 3 weeks time." They'd love me!

TheRoadRunner

Tingle wrote: »

Is the lull in Irish distance running due to people not training hard enough? Is the boom in sprinting down to them finally training hard enough?

ah tingle you little divil you. How can sprinters hurt in race conditions. They only pose and wave to the crowd (ala Bolt) for less than 10 seconds. Sprinting is for gym bunnies who like wearing spandex/Lycra outdoors. Middle / long distance runners hurt for multiple yes multiple of minutes in races. Granted they have their Ron hill stirrups for protection but after 40 minutes of pain their magical powers dissipitate. I'm joking of course tingle may have a point.

Getting back to the OP I was thinking about this, this evening and on average for the last ten years I've trained 8 months of each year. The rest is lost to injury and mental/physical fatigue. The last 12 months I have run conservatively yet continuosly and am currently on the best racing streak of my life. I've realised that 3 sessions a week doesn't suit me. In fact 2 hard sessions increases my probability of injury so I do one a week now. Some may think in wussing out but if you look at my year on year progression you will see sometimes less is more. Some might say show me you medals I don't train or have enough talent to have many of these but instead I say show me your PBs and the enjoyment of what you get back by training to the BEST of your ability .

G-Money

tunguska wrote: »

You well know about steven way at this stage and from taking a look at his blog you know he kills himself in training. Look at his results, the proof is there.

Link please

Thanks.

shg101

mloc123 wrote: »

I think I train hard enough for sustainable training. Joe Friel mentions 'winter stars' in his books.. those that train too hard and too early on, peak and then end up injured or burnt out when it matters.

I have not been injured this year, thankfully while still getting key sessions in... could I go harder? Probably, would I still be injury free 8 months into the year.. who knows.

Friel also talks about 'crash weeks' - super high intensity weeks well into the training year, leading to significant gains about 2 weeks later. But need to be preceeded and followed by recovery weeks. The volume stays the same in the crash week, the intensity goes up (or rather, the porportion of the week spent at high intensity goes way up).

tunguska

grandmaster wrote: »

Link please

Thanks.

Im afraid you'll have to get in contact directly with Steve himself for that one.

maryishairy

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

I could train harder but training harder would take away from my races. People may train harder than me but few will race harder than me.

No use doing superhuman sessions in training and your race times taking a hammering. Nobody asks about your PBs in training.

+1 to the above...

My motto is "We train to race, not the other way around". I know runners who train very hard, so hard in fact that they usually end up under-performing in races. There is a very fine line between training hard and over-training. When you are over-training, you cannot and will not perform at your best when you want to (race day).

opus

Interesting question, could I train harder, possibly. Should I is another matter! I've been sticking to a Runners World training plan which seems to be going ok so I don't plan any experiments of my own seeing as my knowledge of training wouldn't even fill a postage stamp

A few people I know have gotten bitten by the running bug this year & are now on first name terms with their physio. I've been very lucky and haven't had any real problems so I'm guessing the level of the current plan works for me.

Gringo78

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

on average for the last ten years I've trained 8 months of each year. The rest is lost to injury and mental/physical fatigue. The last 12 months I have run conservatively yet continuosly and am currently on the best racing streak of my life. I've realised that 3 sessions a week doesn't suit me. In fact 2 hard sessions increases my probability of injury so I do one a week now. Some may think in wussing out but if you look at my year on year progression you will see sometimes less is more.

+1 to this. you have to find the training balance that allows you to more or less train all year round. 3 weeks out due to injury is not just 3 weeks schedule lost...its 3 weeks where you lose fitness, a week easing back into the running so as not to stress the injury, at least 5 weeks training just to get back to the point you were at before you got injured...so 3 weeks injury costs you minimum 2 months but more likely 3 months.

So the key is to train hard enough that you don't get injured or sick

Brianderunner

Here's a point none of us have touched upon yet. Nearly all of us have known from a young age or from when we first started training properly that we were never going to become top level athletes, no matter what our training volume was. We could all drop everything and become full time athletes, training 4 hrs a day, gym, physio, altitude training, dietician, etc, but why? To shave 2 minutes off our 5 mile time, what is the point? It is just not practical in the real world.

tunney

Brianderunner wrote: »

Here's a point none of us have touched upon yet. Nearly all of us have known from a young age or from when we first started training that we were never going to become top level athletes, no matter what our training volume was. We could all drop everything and become full time athletes, training 4 hrs a day, gym, physio, altitude training, dietician, etc, but why? To shave 2 minutes off our 5 mile time, what is the point? It is just not practical in the real world.

You can try four hours a day and not be full time. Just dedicated. (And have no kids)

Seres

did the really hard training thing last year for a couple of months , trying to beat my times every training session i went out ,yes huge improvements & BURNOUT ! my objective is not training preformance , its race preformance , i think it takes more to be deciplined, and control our pace in training than it does to go eyeballs out each hard session , the improvements are proved in races therefore use the built up reserves for these days . i think the question for me is not do you train hard enough but are you committed enough re consistency , stretching , diet etc , it takes alot more to train day in day/winter& summer/on holidays /when your really tired /overloaded with work and family life than do a few really tough weeks in the year ! thats my opinion on it anyway .

theboyblunder

great thread.

Im not the smartest trainer. I generally train on the too hard side of hard. Always being told to back off. Probably as a result, this marathon training cycle ive had achilles tendonitis, bronchitis and a mild calf strain (new addition). Still, im now stronger and faster than I was and I dont feel like I took it easy on myself, which would annoy me I think.

To be honest I enjoy pushing myself in training. I get little buzz out of passing people in races, except maybe if Im close to the front (rare). How other runners are performing says little about me or my training. For me its keeping going when the body screams stop is what its all about*. In my view you can only do that in races if youve done that in training.

*Disclaimer: I can be an awful wimp sometimes as well.

Tipp man running

Hi all, completely new here but have been following some of the threads, this one in particular. I find i've no problem with training hard, its training smart is the problem. Go out for an easy ten miles and find myself picking up the pace when i promised myself i'd take it easy. Been racing a few years but still can't get myself to slow down properly and train smart. Oh well, one day.

misty floyd

I've been doing a bit more thinking about this...as ya do. Warning waffle:

To make significant breakthroughs with fitness/improvements, I think its fair to say you need to step out of the comfort zone more often than not in training. Some race lots and thats kind of the same thing. It seems some do this more than others and reap the rewards more quickly.

There was a thread before about 'can anyone go sub 3?', very interesting what peoples opinions were at the time. Some people said they couldn't do that because of age or some other reason. Not once did I see someone say 'I couldn't be arsed trying' and I suspect that must be part of it. I think everyone (including myself one day) can go sub 3 and if I don't do it its because I wasn't arsed. I wasn't hungry enough and didn't push myself.

Another twist on the original question, are you hungry enough to push yourself? Honestly, I'm not hungry enough to do what the likes of Steve way does (and some others here). I wish I was and I really admire and envy that commitment. I'm happy at the moment to chip away at things rather than bulldoze my way through training. I've a good chisel though

End of waffle. I'm off for a run....an easy one.

RacoonQueen

tunney wrote: »

You can try four hours a day and not be full time. Just dedicated. (And have no kids)

Not if you work full time. When would you eat and sleep?

If I was to start training as soon as I finished work I'd be training until 9 and as I don't get the opportunity to eat between lunch and finishing work that'd be 8 hours without food as well as a four hour training session, then home, shower cook and eat some food. Get to bed at what? 10:30, hope to be asleep by 11 and up again at 6 am for the days work. Not really a realistic possibility...

rainbow kirby

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Not if you work full time. When would you eat and sleep?

If I was to start training as soon as I finished work I'd be training until 9 and as I don't get the opportunity to eat between lunch and finishing work that'd be 8 hours without food as well as a four hour training session, then home, shower cook and eat some food. Get to bed at what? 10:30, hope to be asleep by 11 and up again at 6 am for the days work. Not really a realistic possibility...

Almost sounds like my old World of Warcraft habit

tunney

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Not if you work full time. When would you eat and sleep?

If I was to start training as soon as I finished work I'd be training until 9 and as I don't get the opportunity to eat between lunch and finishing work that'd be 8 hours without food as well as a four hour training session, then home, shower cook and eat some food. Get to bed at what? 10:30, hope to be asleep by 11 and up again at 6 am for the days work. Not really a realistic possibility...

It can be done. Plenty of people do it.
Train before work, train at lunch, train in the evening. Simples.

RayCun

Yeah, gets back to the question behind the question
Do you train hard enough?
Hard enough for what?

misty floyd

RayCun wrote: »

Yeah, gets back to the question behind the question
Do you train hard enough?
Hard enough for what?

To win something at some stage, to finish top 10. To improve fast.

RayCun

misty floyd wrote: »

To win something at some stage, to finish top 10.

I would have to pick my races very, very carefully to have a chance of either of those.

misty floyd wrote: »

To improve fast.

On the other hand, this is easy. So far.
But next year it will be harder to get big improvements, and the year after it will be harder still. At some point I'm going to have the choice between training consistently 5-10 hours a week and seeing small improvements or training 15-20 hours a week and seeing larger improvements.
I have a job, a family, and other interests. I know which choice I'll make.

rovers_runner

IMHO it's all relative to the amount of free time and potential someone has. No use putting up on 4hrs a day to throw in a DNF etc. Although some people on here make on they train for Ireland but always have an excuse so "training" is a difficult thing to measure against race performance ala Cragg

misty floyd

RayCun wrote: »

I would have to pick my races very, very carefully to have a chance of either of those.

ha, yeah me too, in fact the womans mini marathon 2012, top ten finish, dressed as a woman....who knows.

RacoonQueen

tunney wrote: »

It can be done. Plenty of people do it.
Train before work, train at lunch, train in the evening. Simples.

See training at lunch brings up the when do you eat question again? I'm sure 'plenty' of people do do it(and I bet you do 8 hours a day...), they all must have great jobs as I only actually get about 30 mins at lunch anyway but 4 hours of running/cycling a day would be impossible for me. Rest and nutrition are just as important as the physical aspect of training. 9 hours at work, 4 hours of training, 7 hours in bed, 1 hour of commuting to/from work, 1 hour getting ready for work and 2 hours to have a life/prepare food/eat food. If only the day was longer eh?

As much as I enjoy training and racing and as much as I long to improve the above lifestyle wouldn't work for me. You'd hit burnout in about 3 days...

aero2k

I was going to stay out of this one, but the short answer to the original question is no. More to the point, to alter the question, "do I race hard enough", the answer, up until recently, is also no. I do feel, however that sometimes you have to know when to live to fight another day. Unlike tunguska, I listen to my body, and I've learned to tell the difference between "I just don't feel like it today" and "if I keep up this intensity, something is going to break". I've had no injuries and very little illness for the last few years. I occasionally postpone hard sessions by a day or two if I feel tired; I've only missed or abandoned about 5 hard sessions in the last 2 years.

RacoonQueen wrote: »

9 hours at work, 4 hours of training, 7 hours in bed, 1 hour of commuting to/from work, 1 hour getting ready for work and 2 hours to have a life/prepare food/eat food. If only the day was longer eh?

RQ this is not a personal attack on you - I'm a huge admirer of your achievements, I just want to present another point of view. Here's a rough daily schedule from 2001:

Easy day
6am out of bed. Potter round half asleep for 15 min trying to get into cycling gear.
6.15-7am easy spin to work
7am 10 min stretching or 20min weights followed by 10min stretching. Shower and at desk by 7:45am.
15 min breakfast break at 8.30. (Desk drawer kept full of figrolls etc)
1pm 30 min dinner break
5 or 5.30pm 45 min easy spin home.
6.30pm home, quick shower, bed by 10pm so 3 1/2 hrs for "a life".

Hard days (2 per week) as above except for 2 hr spin on way home from work, or 45 min easy followed by 1-2 hrs on turbo, still 2 hrs to "have a life"

I usually managed 8-9 hours in bed. I typically spent 12-15 hrs on the bike per week plus maybe another 2-2 1/2 hrs doing weights, stretching etc.

Sean Kelly had it right - when asked "How do you find the time for training?" he replied "you don't find time, you make it."