Dilemma for Business Owners & Tri

Not a business owner, but have 3 kids. I think you need to figure out the balance between your family (1st), business (2nd), and triathlon (3rd) needs. you say you are hoping to tackle a 70.3 and then an Ironman. why decide about the 140.6 now. Take care of your family, run your business, and train for the 70.3. I think you'll be able to find whether or not you have the energy and the desire to commit to the full after your 70.3.

For me, I would love to do another 140.6. At this time, between family and work commitments, I can train for and race the 70.3 distance without it being to taxing on my personal and professional life.

I did it easily when the kids were little.  Once they got to be teenagers and then wanted to do triathlon themselves it was a giant pain in the arse for me to get training in.  I bagged racing in favor of watching and supporting them train and race all over the country.....couldn't be happier.  I get a bike in here and there, a swim when I feel like it, walk/run since a knee surgery, and basically enjoy seeing what I fostered in my kids.

In a few years they will be on their way in life and I'll get back to it for myself.  Until then, no, I won't miss a second of traveling them to races and watching them race.  It's been the joy of my life.

No kids here, but my take is to forego the full IM at this point. You just don't have the time to devote to full IM training, you will not feel good about the amount of training you are getting, and if you do you will likely have problems at the business and with the family.

I have been waking up at 5:00am every Saturday for the last 2 months for long rides. longest was 6.5 hours. It takes a toll. All I have is a wife and a job, no kids. The wife is being very supportive, but she is ready for this thing to be over. 

There are other goals to be had in triathlon. Consider the 70.3 distance (I will be moving back to HIM distance after this full). Consider Oly's or sprints. It takes some really hard work to get good at the Oly distance. The workouts aren't as long, but they are very intense. Might be just the thing for someone who wants a challenge but doesn't have the time to go ride for 6 hours at a time. 

Prioties:

1. God (if you are a believer)

2. Family

3.  Work

4.  Training

Ah, if it were only that easy...

To the OP:  If you have family and a job, there is really no "good" time.  Just times when it's less of a problem.

ALSO, I'm not sure why everyone thinks it's SO hard to train for something like this.  For an HIM, what's your longest workout?  4-5 hour bike ride a couple times in your peak month?

For an IM, it could be 2-3, 7-8 hour rides...  I don't have kids, but other than that, I didn't find it that hard to do.  Get up at 5-6 am on sat and sun and be done with your workouts by noon.  Weekdays?  One in the morning and maybe a 90 minute lunch workout and done.  Ride on the trainer at home at night in front of the TV if you can't get out.  Got a treadmill?  I think many people probably waste more time than they think, even with a family and work taking up a lot of it, to get training in.  You are looking for 15-20 hours a week with half of that on Sat and Sun.  It's not that hard to get it in, IMO.

I thought it went:

1. God

2. Country

3. Corps

To the OP... I think that you could likely do the 70.3 w/o much trouble, the full might be more challenging.  I know nothing of your fitness level, nor your past athletic endeavors.  However, that said, if you are of decent health, with a decent base level of fitness you could finish a 70.3 on a relatively low amount of volume.  If you've got 3 or 4 days a week that you can get 60-90 minutes in and at least one weekend day for a 2-3 hour session you should be good.  It doesn't take 18 hours a week to train for a 70.3... to hope to win one maybe, but not just to finish one.

If you need a bunch of strangers on the net to convince you to go for it, then I'd say to wait.

people make time for what they deem  important.

I also have a wife and three kids and a job, and it was important to me to run 140.6. So I made it work. I did not hit every workout on my plan and I made sure to work around family and work, but it canbe done if you want it bad enough.

These people that put God before their family freak me out.

But to the OP - run your business, take care of your family and spend three months exercising when you can.  If 'when you can' = enough to do the distance you want then you're away but the last thing you need is to make it a stressful experience.  

I tried and failed last year. Simply could not juggle it all. Made a late decision to pull out of Lake Placid and focus on business. It was a terrible business year on top of everything else. In retrospect, probably the smartest decision I've made in a while as we are growing like crazy. What a difference a year makes. I'll do Ironman some time, but not until the business is stable and I can devote 15+ hours a week to training. My kids are 18 and 21, so that's not as much of a factor. 

I'm finding out this year that there's a lot to be said for doing sprints and Oly's. You can race much more frequently, recover is quick, and you don't lose the whole weekend.  

I always like the saying that everyone has a God, and it always comes first in your life.  So the question is, who/what is your God?

If your God is selfishness, materialism, your job, naughty websites, etc... you are putting them before your family whether you're consciously choosing to or not.  When Christians say they're putting God before family it's because we strive (and often fail) to put a strong moral foundation and compass ahead of our Family because we recognize it's gives us the best chance at "getting it right" with our family.  Remember, kids do what we do not what we say.

Even if you don't believe in "God" at all, it's very good advice to have a strong moral foundation in front of your family because without that it's very easy to get sideways.

To the OP, I was a little in your situation because I was 3 years into a new business and training for a HIM and IM in the same year.  I was able to juggle my schedule so the vast majority of my training was before work.  My kids are all in their teenage years, so it didn't add any additional burden to my wife at all.

HIM training isn't much worse than Oly training, so if you can make it work I'd say you're ok.  However, make sure your wife is on board and that it's not a distraction at work.  If it becomes a wedge between you and your wife (too much time) or effects your performance at work then it's probably a good idea to postpone it for a little while.