Early morning rides vs sleep...

JST

My riding was coming along really well last year but then we had a baby in September and I haven't been on the bike since Admitedly winter doesn't help with motivation either. :roll:

I want to start getting out on the bike again but now have to balance even more carefully between home life (wife/baby/dog) and keeping fit/time to myself.

Does anyone here do early moring training rides - sort of 5:30 am? I am more of a morning person but that does sound early. Those that do, do you eat before you go or when you get back, do you find yourself getting very tired at work or in the evening, do you have to go to bed earlier to compensate? We don't tend to stay up much past 10pm anyway...

I think I would struggle to get out regularly in the evenings without winding up the Mrs but hope to try and get longer rides in early on Saturdays or Sundays with the only other option being early mornings...

Any advice from other recent fathers much appreciated 8)

petejuk

Are you able to commute to work by bike? Mixing necessary transport and training is a fantastic time saver.

Foesrider

I use my bike for the commute, i set off at 6 am to get to work for 7:30 i eat when i get to work not before hand. The only advice i can give about being a father is that you have to wait until they start at school, sorry. But that changes everything. Good luck with it all, it does become easier !

JST

I have done in the past but will be a bit more tricky with a recent job change. I need my car at work so would have leave it at work then cycle to and fro. It is about 8 mile each way so not far but I can stretch it with different routes. I also have to walk the dog before leaving for work which takes about 30 mins. The Mrs used to do it but now does baby stuff first thing, or sleeps if she has been up during the night

JST

Foesrider wrote:

I use my bike for the commute, i set off at 6 am to get to work for 7:30 i eat when i get to work not before hand. The only advice i can give about being a father is that you have to wait until they start at school, sorry. But that changes everything. Good luck with it all, it does become easier !

School is 4 years away Would be easier without the dog, he is getting on a bit but seems in good health although a little slower than he was...

carl_p

With the lighter mornings not so far away a very early morning ride might work. I go to the gym before work nearly every week day morning and then eat breakfast at my desk. I am shattered some days after a heavy session.

I do a pre breakfast ride on one of the weekend days and a longer ride (about 3-5 hours) the other. I have an understanding wife! Perhaps try offering to look after baby all day on one of the weekend days while wifey does her own thing?

danlikesbikes

Yeah I get out on my bike at around 5:30 for a ride then loop back home quick change and out in the car to work.

Sometimes I do eat but often only half a banana before I leave - sometimes if its a hard day before I make up a nice smoothie the night before with fresh fruit juice and whatever fruit I find knocking around. Works pretty good for me and as I'm pushed for time with family life and work during the week is the only time I can fit in weekday rides.

glasgowbhoy

During the early months after our first was born I found the turbo invaluable especially as it was winter. You can knock out sessions before work, evenings and on weekend days/nights when you are looking after the baby and it's sleeping.
We have a 2yr old now and I still get 10-12 hours in a week between commuting, evening training and weekend training- almost all outdoors. First race of the season is next Sunday. The wife is due No2 the following week. The way I look at it it's going to be like juggling 5 balls instead of 3 now but if you give up a large part of your social life (I've had enough Sat nights/Sunday mornings on the pi** to cover a lifetime anyway) then you can still compete even with a young family.Your up and about early anyway just make the most of your time

golfergmc

Last summer I was getting up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning and doing up to 60 miles then home for 10 am just as the rest of the family surfaced. This worked for me as it got me out and kept wife and kids happy. Also done 3 shorter sessions at night during the week.

billy whippet

Every morning on the bike at 600. In winter it's the turbo, summer out on the road. Weekends I go out a bit later. (I have 4 kids)

mrbrightside

I cycle into work, as above have breakfast when i get there. the days i have to take the car to meetings i pick the kids up on the way home. We also have a gym at the office so i can get in up to 3 sessions on some days.

The Mrs does evening classes through the week and a double (spinning/circuits) on a Saturday morning, i'll take the kids out thereafter to feed the ducts etc to let her get ready to something as a family later in the day. She'll sometimes go out on a girl's night on the Sat night....

TBH she only gives me grief when she can see i'm making better gains then her, tbh the secret to it is to let them do their thing guilt/hassle free so you can do yours. Before my mrs was training she'd moan like f~@k about me leaving her with the kids at 5.30am to drive to london on Monday morning a if i did it to spite her...

simwilli

We're up most mornings at 5.30 due to our young family. If I need to take the car to work for meeting etc I would put my bike in back of the car, park up somewhere quiet on the way to work, do an hours interval session then drive to work. I'd have breakfast at my desk. This worked for me last summer and didn't interfere with family duties on evening.

CakeLovinBeast

Now the mornings are a bit lighter, I'm actually back to commuting again, rather than pasting myself onto the garage wall quite so regularly. In the darker months I was up regularly at 5am to get 60-90 minutes in on the rack before the rest of the house woke up. Generally speaking I do at least 2 commutes a week (34-ish mile round trip) normally with the option of grabbing another day on a Friday. That's coupled with 2x 1 hour turbo sessions in the evenings where I can get on with causing myself some real pain! The weekend depends on family duties, but I can normally grab one longer ride at some point.

JST

Some great advice, thanks guys. Nice to know I'm not the only one who has these problems... Those of you who are up between 5 and 6; do you find yourselves getting very tired from lack of sleep or do you just try and get to bed earlier? Or just MTFU and get used to it!!!

Giving the mrs time to do stuff without baby is something that I'll have to make sure I do, it should be easier now as she has stopped breast feeding and is on bottles / mashed up food.

I'm going to try and get back into commuting, depending on the route I should get away with getting up at 6ish, only downside is gettign home a bit later than I have been and doing the bed routine to give the Mrs a break (and time to cook dinner ) I may leave it till the clocks change though...

Early weekend mornings should be ok for slightly longer rides although the Mrs doesn't tend to lie in long which is a shame as it kind of gives me less time although I don't think she'll mind as long as I don't take the piss and get back at midday

andyrr

Turbo may work for you if you want to use that - depends on your motivation, easier if you have a definite goal to aim for as opposed to a general 'getting/keeping' fit type of thing.
If getting up silly-early to do 30 miles or so isn't your kind of thing then allocating 45 mins to the turbo (allowing 5 mins warm-up cool down) is maybe a go-er ? Sitting in a garage at 6:30am is pretty unpalatable for many but the benefit over a road ride is it allows a more compressed/time-efficient exercise as there is less of the getting pre and post-ride stuff to take care of. Have your shoes and shorts / music/drink etc ready to go and off to the turbo-room you go and you are done and dusted in far less time. As opposed to early ride can you do a late ride ? Either after tea (before bed) or postpone tea and do an evening turbo sesh.
For me, with a baby around I utilised the turbo fairly extensively plus I became more prepared to just do the ride when I got the chance to get out and I rode in nasty weather if I had a couple of hours or could commute to/from work. Occasionally I'd even drive to work with bike in the car and do a ride of 45 - 60 mins from there which meant that I could drive home and be back sooner than cycling would allow and doing it that way meant that the drive in was quicker (missed the traffic) than if I rode at home then drove in after. Does seem a bit silly but it means your sat at work having done a semi-decent ride at least and with a shower at work it worked out ok for me.

I have generally been an morning-person but for early morning stuff I don't think I ever set my alarm for much before 6:15 - seeing a time starting with a '5' is just too much ! I've been prepared to do late sessions pretty late on in the evening - sometimes 10pm+. If you are prepared for that and have it planned then I didn't mind it too much - something to look forward (kinda) to. Even a Tabata-type session (8 - 10 sprint intervals of 20 secs on / 10 sec off) which are worthwhile in comparison to doing zilch and occupy a minimal length of time.
I wouldn't do an early ride with anything more than a drink - for an hour so no food is needed and a serious turbo session would not be too pleasant with much food in my stomach.

sancho_panza

Lots of sensible advice given here - nice to see people making it work. It's about the convenience of work as much as anything else.

In the same situation I had a mix of turbo and perhaps one evening ride and then one ride on the weekend. So that was three sessions a week. My work was convenient at a 10 min ride away and although I started early (07.30), I was able to be on the bike for an evening ride by just after five.

Have fun!

CakeLovinBeast

JST wrote:

Some great advice, thanks guys. Nice to know I'm not the only one who has these problems... Those of you who are up between 5 and 6; do you find yourselves getting very tired from lack of sleep or do you just try and get to bed earlier? Or just MTFU and get used to it!!!

Bit of all of those, to be fair. Having a newborn you should pretty much be used to sleep deprivation anyway, surely?

JST wrote:

Giving the mrs time to do stuff without baby is something that I'll have to make sure I do, it should be easier now as she has stopped breast feeding and is on bottles / mashed up food.

I'm going to try and get back into commuting, depending on the route I should get away with getting up at 6ish, only downside is gettign home a bit later than I have been and doing the bed routine to give the Mrs a break (and time to cook dinner ) I may leave it till the clocks change though...

Exactly... It's all about the sharing. You need to ensure that you do your share too. Our little 'un is 4, so older and has a regular routine. Incidentally, I've just done my first commute of the year today - as soon as I have enough light between 7 and 5:30, I know I'm good to go. I tend to commute on Tuesdays & Thursdays, which still means I'm back in time to perform child-collection duties on Mon/Wed nights. We juggle our evening plans about to ensure that neither one of us ends up doing the lion's share.

BruunLoss

Almost all of my cycles start at 5:00-5:30am. I find it easier to cycle with less traffic and less red traffic lights and get home and shower before anyone is up knowing I had a good work out.