Week 6 of Ironman Training - Who has the time?

Week 6 is behind me, and speaking of behinds holy hell was mine hurting this week.  This was the first week I was back on the bike since last Fall.  This past week marked the first week of my full ironman training schedule which is basically 3 sessions of biking, 4 of running, and 2  of swimming.  I learned very quickly the value of training aids, of the specific uses I won't go into detail, "butt" some are essential for long bike rides.  A big thank you to Melanie Gray who gave me a tri-training care package that had several helpful items.

Melanie completed her first Ironman last September (I say first because I suspect she's going to make a habit of these).  I was able to watch Melanie first hand on race day and had the honor of being the first to congratulate her when she RAN across the finish line.  Being an Ironman finisher is an amazing accomplishment for anyone and especially for a busy mom like her.  Melanie has 4 boys to look after, I'm lumping her husband Jeff in that count.  Her days are filled with sporting events, school activities, refereeing fights, feedings, and managing lives.  All of that alone is a full time job for any person, but on top of that she threw in training for an Ironman.  Ask her and I'm sure she will tell you that she made some sacrifices along the way but I'm willing to bet they were at her own expense and not her family's.

My point is that we all have the ability to create some time in our schedules to achieve the goals that are most important to us, we just need to prioritize and make some sacrifices.  The math is simple, there are 168 hours in a week.  Let's say you work 50 of them and another 5 hours commuting to and from, down to 113 hours.  Take out another 56 for 8 hours of sleep (this is a necessity for a major athletic undertaking) and you're down to 57.  Let's say there's another 10 hours a week doing things around the house (grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, etc), now you've got 47.  Say another 21 hours of family activities and you're left with 26 hours.  26 hours each week to do with whatever you want:  get in shape, expand your education, volunteer, learn a new hobby.  I realize my math makes some grand assumptions and that everyone has different demands of their time, but if you do the exercise yourself I think you'd be surprised at how you're currently using your time and that maybe you can make some adjustments to take on a new challenge.

Don't get caught up in the excuse that you hear from everyone that there's not enough time for this or that.  Evaluate your schedule and understand where you are spending these precious hours and then use any left over time to go out and do something you've always wanted to do.  You may have to make a couple of sacrifices but in the end you'll be amazed at what you did with what little time you have.