Every time I open up a triathlon magazine or log on to a tri-related website, there is always much talk about the “limiter”. The limiter is a nice way of saying weakness. It is what limits the potential of an athlete. Maybe the swim & run are fine but the bike is a weakness/limiter, like me. Sometimes the limiter is not a single sport but rather specific aspects fitness such as endurance, strength or speed. All of this is fine and well, but I truly believe that time & genetics are the genuine limiters for most all age-group triathletes. There isn’t much we can do about the genetics, but we can manage our time better to maximize the genetic potential that we all possess. There is generally not enough time to swim-bike-run, let alone enough time to strength train & recover properly. The key to overcoming the time limiter if efficiency and planning. Just stop the excuses and be positive. I promise you that most everyone toeing the line at your next race is busy too. Plus, people who complain about being busy are annoying.

I’ve written in past posts about getting scientific with training and that does fix part of the time limiter issue. Every session can be purposeful and relevant. Simply putting on a heart rate monitor does not mean that you are training by heart rate, you need to test fitness to establish proper zones. See www.go2trio.com for information about metabolic testing.

Once you have proper training zones and a great program to follow, it’s all about overcoming the time barrier. It takes planning to get it all done without blowing deadlines at work, neglecting your family and turning into a total triathlon-tool. Plan every session in advance and try to utilize time when you will not be missed. Here are a couple of ideas:

Spend a few minutes on Sunday nights planning out the week. Merge all your work, family, social & training calendars to put together a master plan for the week. As a school teacher, I usually spend a couple hours on Sunday’s writing lesson plans and I usually do all my weekly planning then too.
Try to find some routine for key workouts. I do a Wed & Fri mid-morning swim during my conference period at school. The pool is set for long course meters and it’s not too busy. I get to school about 60 minutes early every day to I can escape for these swim workouts and not fall behind at work. Swim 3-4K + a transition run + quick shower = a very productive conference period & lunch hour.
Be ready to go in the morning. Lay out the gear for the workout the night before, pre-grind the coffee beans, & set yourself up for success. Have a swim & run bag in your car, you can’t forget it if it’s already packed up.
Get an indoor bike trainer, sweatproof headphones, ipod shuffle & Netflix so you can watch Friday Night Lights. Many busy triathletes only ride outside once a week and that’s fine. Make the trainer sessions pure quality knowing that you are not wasting any extra time checking the weather channel & putting on extra layers of clothes. (Less clothes = Less laundry)

Find the local stuff. I swim at a pool less than 2 min from one of my jobs on Wed & Fri. I swim on the other side of town the other days. I do run intervals on the high school track where I used to coach football, the service road behind the local little league fields, and some amazing trails about 5 minutes away for my longer runs. Find training spots around town so that wherever you are, you can get it done.

This post was written by ANTI-Mike