You all know how I sometimes get free schwagg to talk about on my blog, right? This time OutsidePR has sent me some sweet schwagg to share with you. Read on for details of how you can enter a contest to win some of this cool stuff…
What will you win?
Three winners will be selected at random from all eligible entries. Each winner will receive
- one pair of Ryders Eyewear cool sunglasses valued at $39.99-$44.99
- a coupon code for a free RoadID of your choice valued at up to $31.50
- 2 packages each of Gu Chomps and Gu Brew Recovery valued at $9.80.’
- That’s a grand total of up to $86.29 of free schwagg!
What do you have to do to enter?
Since starting working full time last November, I am having a very hard time balancing life, work, and training. So, I want to pick your brain! Please post your tips and ideas for balancing life/work/training as a comment on this blog article. Your comment must be at least 40 words! I don’t just want “get up earlier in the morning”. Tell me HOW you motivate yourself to get up earlier? How do you squeeze a decent lunchtime workouts in just an hour? How do you organize your gear to save time? How do you find energy and motivation after working all day to go home, feed your family dinner, and then do a workout? Oh, and how do you get more value out of less training…I’d love to know that secret. Please tell me! If you have a photo to go along with your idea, email them to ncskibum@gmail.com and I will add it to your comment. I can’t wait to read all of your ideas!
Legal Mumbo Jumbo:
– Contest only open to US and Canadian residents.
– You may enter now through Thursday April 1st, at noon (Eastern time).
– All entries will be placed into a random drawing.
– The 3 winners will be announced on April 1st at 8pm, and will be asked to contact me so I can get them their winnings!
A big THANKS to the people at Ryders Eyewear, RoadID, Gu Energy Labs, and Outside PR for being so generous! Thanks guys!
So enter NOW! You only have through Thursday April 1st at noon! Be sure to check out my review of RoadID…and stay tuned for my thoughts on the Ryders Eyewear!
Just started following your blog, love it so far! Well, I’m a stay at home mom of a 3 year old, and a full time online student. I also do taxes during tax season. So my situation is a little different, as I don’t have full time conventional work. However, I still struggle to balance. I have a tendency to put too much on my plate so I’ve started to prioritize my days. In my quiet morning time, I figure out what I want to get done today. Working out is always a priority. I also work with a trainer a couple times a week, which I love! She helps keep me focused and motivated. I cook my meals before hand if I’m going to have an evening workout, that way all I have to do is heat it up when I get home. I also try to remain flexible about my workouts. If I can’t get it in the morning, when I prefer, it’s okay to do it in the afternoon. If I can only do 45 minutes instead of an hour, then that’s better than not working out at all.
I find that the portion of my workout that I tend to slack on if I know I will have a busy week is biking. To overcome this, I’ve committed to biking to and from work. I live only 3 miles from work so when I have my bike at work, I love to bike during my lunch hour. Taking that break at noon not only allows me to get some miles in, but I also get my mind of my work, and when I get back at it, I’m more productive. I even work in a bike/run brick at lunch once a week. I am NOT a morning worker-outer, so sometimes I’ll go to work a half hour or hour early and take an extra long lunch to get in a longer ride or run.
Food-wise/meal planning for the family consists of planning meals on Sunday for the week. If I have a meal schedule for dinner, then if I am running late, the family knows what we are having and they can get it started (if I’m lucky :))
I can’t force myself to get up in the mornings anymore. So I take it easy in the mornings, get in a good lunchtime bike or swim, and a nice hard after work bike or run. I want a pair of those sunglasses! yowsa!
the key motivator for me is seeing how my pants fit. I’ve lost a few inches over the last few months, and that keeps my tri training ramped! It’s time to HTFU!
I find 2 things key to squeezing in workouts into a sometimes busy schedule.
1) combine the workouts with something else. I live 8 miles from where I work. So I ride my bike to work when I can and then on the way home I’ll tack on a hill or two, or an extra loop to get a few more miles in. Or, if I need to run that day, I’ll bus into work then run all the way, or get off on a stop that is x miles from home and run the rest of the way.
2) quality over quantity. for the 8 mile bike rides home, if conditions are good, I’ll TT it and try to beat my best time. Again, hills are your friend. Put on the hurt going uphill to improve flat/windy riding. Plus it’s fun to descend!
I recently started working with a cycling coach and he has had me training harder than I ever thought I could train. That being said, it was a challenge the first month trying to figure out how to fit all the extra workouts in with the family schedule. My partner is training for her first triathlon and I am training for a multi day charity cycling event and we have a teenage son.
It took some trial and error, but now we have it set so that we alternate early morning workout days so that one of us is available in the morning for our son. Then I ride at lunch 3 days a week. I worked it out with my boss so that I could take a half hour longer lunch and I make it up at the end of the day.
Also, my rest days are never the same as my partners, so that’s 4 days a week that one of us is available to do errands, car pool duties and whatever else needs to be done.
I think one thing we do that saves us both a bunch of time since we both take our lunch to work every day is that on Sunday’s we either grill up enough chicken or whatever for the week and prepack it for lunches. The crockpot is also great for this. We both try and stay away from sugar and processed foods, so making a roast or some really great pulled pork in the crockpot really helps.
Last but not least, we decided a while ago that it was worth the $80 every two weeks to have someone come in and do the house cleaning (we do the daily stuff). That alone saved our relationship. 🙂
Ummmm…..when I do my bike, I put one in the hitchhiker, and behind that, one in the trailer with the dog. I ride until they complain, but figure I am pulling enough weight to accomplish something! My husband helps out a lot when he is home, but he is leaving for Afghanistan this summer (his 5th year long tour overseas), so I’ll have to workout smarter, not more.
I have a totally different issue. As a Trophy Husband (stay @ home dad) of a wife that travels 4/5 nights a week. My daughter is in first grade. Instead of not enough time, I find I have too much time and I find it’s just as hard to get motivated. I have always signed up for races as soon as they open, giving me something to look forward to. The simple need to have something to talk about with my wife when she comes home from a trip helps motivate me to train. I will break up my workouts in a day. Running for an hour in the morning and an hour before the bus comes. Carol your blog title says it all: My Journey from Couch Potato to Triathlete.
Thanks
I find that the best motivation is to sign up for a race. I have my first half marathon coming up in October, so I have no choice but to train. I think the best plan is to have a plan. Something that you can realistically do. You know how it goes, you have an over aggressive schedule and you start missing training. Then you start to give up because the week is a loss or whatever. So make a plan that you can stick to. Then, when something comes up that forces you to miss a training session (and that will happen no matter how well you plan) don’t get discouraged.
The other part to keep in mind is to make time in your schedule to do the things you need to. I make time for my wife and kids.
About getting up early, I think that may work for some people, but I’m just not that kind of guy. For me, I am better off working out at night. So that is where I squeeze things in.
I have three small children, and I work full time. I work hard to make time to workout. It isn’t easy, but it is doable because I have a decent plan that I can get back to.
I am lucky that my husband really supports me. I am a swim coach, which doesn’t require me to work till 3:45pm. That allows me the time to get motivated to train. Also, I just love the discipline and challenge! I love the feeling I get after doing something hard. I usually have to think about that feeling to actually start the workout though. Also, pictures, videos, training blogs help me get motivated too!
HAPPY TRAINING!
I work a pretty demanding job that usually has me in the office at a minmum from 8-6 (on a good day), so exercising after work has never really been an option for me. I’ll spend all day talking myself out of it and by the time I get home, take care of the dogs it is the last thing I want to do. That alone is what motivates me to get up everyday at 5:15 to get my workout in. The days I want to just sleep in, I remind myself how glad I will be at the end of the day knowing my workout is done. Also, I usually meet up with people in the mornings, so I have people depending and relying upon me to be there. I’m not one to let others down so that serves as extra motivation. Hope that helps!
tips and ideas for balancing life/work/training
I’ve tried a lot of techniques for balancing life/work/training but only recently have I struck gold. I used to tell myself “don’t be lazy, get off your butt” or “you really NEED to get this workout in” but all of that inevitably led me to feel guilty when I missed a workout, which inevitably happened because I have a semi-chaotic work schedule. That guilt would cascade into me missing more and more workouts and did not help me stay motivated.
So what does work? I’ve made a list of things I don’t like about different areas of my life (work, training, extracurricular activities, etc) and then each day I ask myself “would it be nice if I worked out today?” or “would it be nice for me to finish this task before I leave work for the day?” Strange thing about phrasing the question that way: first I think about what I don’t like about the different areas of my life and how the activity I’m questioning myself about would help improve that area. Then my emotions kick in and intuitively I know where my priorities should be. If there’s a work deadline, I know my professional performance should trump the workout and then I don’t feel guilty about missing a workout. But the thought that I don’t like the way my clothes fit motivates me to eat a healthier meal instead and look forward to having a great workout the next day. It also motivates me to take the stairs instead of the elevator or do other little things if I know I’m going to have to miss my workout. I also set myself up for success by having a bag packed with everything I need for my workout (baby wipes and face wipes (so I can quickly “towel” off if I only have 30 minutes for a workout, deoderant, other toiletries clothes, shoes, etc) that I take with me EVERYWHERE. That way, I’m ready for whatever opportunities I get to grab a 15 minute workout.
Find a workout buddy and committ to each other to get it done. I know you don’t want to hear “get up early” but seriously morning workouts are a lifesaver. And the only way I can get out of bed on a regular basis is to have my husband right there with me. I know that if I get lazy then he skips a workout too – we keep each other motivated becuase if one of us slacks we both suffer. Also, try to mix it up and keep things different. I get so bored with the same thing over and over but a new place to run, a new swim workout, a different kind of bike ride – they get me EXCITED!