Triathlon, 7 years later

Cat 5 tattoo (chain grease marks) from my first triathlon.

Three days ago was the 7-year anniversary of my first triathlon. It made me smile when it popped up in my Facebook memories, but it also made me a bit sad that I’m not in a condition to be triathloning right now.

Lately, I have been consistently frustrated with how little of my day I have to dedicate to any type of training. I have to get up before 6 a.m. to walk the dogs, eat breakfast, and get ready for work (which I’m almost always a few minutes late for anyway). If I go to barre or for a run right after work I don’t get home until at least 7:15 p.m. By the time I do my PT, if I do my PT, and eat dinner, it’s 9-9:30 p.m. and I need to shower and get to bed so I can do it all the next day.

What on earth had I done differently in the past to make training for a 70.3 doable, while still working a full-time job? I went back a few years in my Google calendar to see, and came up with a few things:

• I only worked half-time in an office and remotely the rest of the time, which meant no commute at least two days per week. That was huge in time savings. Plus, my old office was a bit closer to home, so my commute was shorter when I had to do it.
• I worked in an industry that started later in the day, which meant I could sleep later than 4:30 a.m. if I wanted to swim before work. There’s a huge psychological difference to me in waking up at 5 something vs. waking up at 4 something.
• I didn’t really do any food prep and ate many fewer salads for lunch.
• I ate out for dinner a lot more.

So, there’s the trade-off. I eat a lot more meals at home now, eat a huge salad for lunch almost every day, and do several hours of food prep on Sunday. Is it healthier in the long run? Maybe. Probably. The saying goes, "You can't outrun a bad diet."

I had to make a conscious realization a while ago that I could only reasonably expect to do three things after work: One errand (usually stopping somewhere on the way home from work), one workout, and one meal. Sometimes that errand becomes PT, sometimes it all gets thrown out the window for lazing on the couch. I think I’m overall happier trying NOT to cram too much stuff into my evening. Most of the time.

So, what's a time-crunched person to do? I fit as much as I can in the 4 hours or so I have every evening, try to get to bed at a decent hour, and take it easy on myself for not doing everything. The other option is to stay up too late, and that doesn't work for me, either.

I don't know when, or if, I'll ever get back into multisport. My available time is going to be one of my limiters for now. I'm going to keep working at being efficient with what time I do have, and train when I can. I don't see myself doing anything long course while I have this work schedule, but maybe a sprint will be in the near future again. 

I came from zero triathlon experience 7 years ago — I can do it again, right? Time (heh) will tell.