Teachers Who Tri

Hey

First year middle school teacher here. I have to wake up at 4:00 to workout but I am in bed by 10:00. I actually found that I am more energized with 6 hours of sleep then 8 (go figure). When I work out in the morning I cook my food the night before allowing me to eat then shower at school saving me some precious minutes before class.

High School teacher here, I get up early during the week around 4:00am and do my workouts then. Bike or runs at home and for swims I go in to school about an hour early and use the schools pool. It helps a lot that my daughter is now nearly 17(how did that happen?) and she drives herself to her school.

Hi
I think I may actually submit this as an article...


I am a HS US History teacher and I have already gone through an entire school year (last year) as a "triathlete in training" so hopefully, I can provide some insight. Keep in mind that I am in my 7th year of teaching so I do not have to do a great deal of planning and time management has become much easier. My school day starts at 7 a.m., but I am usually one of the first people in the building as I show up at around 6:15. This helps me justify myself to all of those people giving me dirty looks when I am headed for my car at 2 p.m., minutes after the last bell rings.

I also have an 8 mo. old daughter and a wife who teaches in the same school as me (she is currently on leave until Sept '07). My wife is also an avid exerciser, martial artist and runner, which helps because she understands my addiction, I mean dedication, to training. My wife staying home does not provide me with extra training time as the majority of my wife’s training time takes place in the evenings. She does not bring our daughter with her to the daycare facility at the gym or dojo during the school day because we have decided that that is unnecessary.

O.K., I digress, I try to set up my training as practically as possible. I follow a few rules:

1. All days off are during the week. In my opinion, it makes no sense to take off on the only two days out of the seven that you do not have to spend 7+ plus hours at work. So, if you want to work out 5 days a week, you only have to train on 3 school days.

2. I do all of my long training days on the weekends. This takes a lot of stress off of me as I am not trying to fit in 10 mile runs before school. I use the weekdays mostly for maintenance. And the weekends for breakthrough or milestone workouts. (read Brad Kearns book, Breakthrough Triathlon Training. He puts a lot of scheduling issues into perspective.)

3. I wake up at 4:30 am, now I understand that I am a guy and I am a guy with a shaved head, so the time I need to get ready for school is minimal. My wife says that women would never be able to do this. I disagree, If you have to, wake up at 4 a.m. Do you running workouts this early. I say do only the running workouts this early because it is safer than biking in the dark. Get a bunch of reflective gear, don’t wear your headphones (as you need your hearing to make up for loss of sight). If you do not have to travel to a pool, which may be a waste of time in the morning, by all means, there is no reason why you can’t get in a good swim before school as well. Now, you will only have to work out one day after school, (check the sample schedule below.)

4. Do you long weekend workouts early! I get up very early to do my long runs and swims on the weekends. This helps me have enough time to still be the devoted husband and father that I strive to be every day. If I get back from my long run before my wife and baby are even awake, everybody wins!!!

5. Use your off periods wisely, I often see a l lot of teachers just hanging out on their preps and or lunch periods. Use this time to do all of the paperwork that will get in the way of training.

6. So, a week of training may look something like this: (keep in mind, that I am not a coach or an expert. Remember also that you will not be doing any IronMans or even half-IMs for that matter by following this kind of a schedule. And, remember that we have the added luxury of not having to work in the summer, which is when the vast majority of us will amp up our training for the in-season.


Example 1: (6 days)

M - Off
T - Run :50
W - Swim :45 (pm)
TH- Run :45 (hills or speed work)
F - Bike 1 hour (use a trainer or spin bike or spin class if you have to)
S - Bike 2:30 and Swim :40 (long bike)
Su - Run 2:00 (long run)

Example 2: (5 days)

M - Off
T - am Run :45
pm Swim :45
W - Bike 1 hour (use a trainer or spin bike or spin class if you have to)
TH - Run :45 (hills or speed work)
F - Off
S - Bike 2:30 and Swim :40 (long bike)
Su - Run 2:00 (long run)


I hope this helps some of you.

Wait until you've done your big race and take off a couple weeks. You'll still wake up at 5 and be amazed at all the "found" time you now have. For whatever reason, it's just impossible for me to sleep in to 7.

And a cup of coffee just doesn't give you that morning glow as well as a training session does.

I have a friend who is a high school teacher and a couple of times a week she is going to try running straight after school (from the school), then jump in the car to pick up her kids from childminder before 4pm. If you can do this even just for runs a couple of days a week when getting up early is not an option then you will be able to go home and know it can just be family time

Good luck

Jackie

wow, your wife is only 8 weeks, talk about robbin' the cradle....

I would love to talk a little more about your training plans as I aspire to be an IM one day. I know you are busy now, best of luck with your IronMan!!

Um, not a teacher - so I can't speak to that. But, that also means I don't get summers off. Soooooo.... if those of us that work full time year round can do it, so can you. (For point of reference, I have a 3 year old and a 3 month old at home right now, and work 4 10 hour days while my husband does over-night shifts twice a week. I still manage to get 5-6 workouts in a week.)

Get creative. Can you bike home from work? Can you work out at lunch in the gym? What about your weekend? If you workout both days there, you're half-way to your goal.

Most of us work full time without a couple months off a year, so you should be fine to juggle being a teacher and training. You might get a little less down-time, but you'll survive

Glad someone else beat me to it! Those of us who work full time all 12 months of the year manage just fine!

Lets not start this argument again, I know I get lots of time off, but when school is in session I work 12+ hours a day (with my coaching obligations and time spent grading and preparing).  Do plenty of people work that year round, YES and give them a ton of credit if they can manage to work, train and have a family life. 

I would be willing to comapare schedules with just about anyone and feel that I work as hard and spend as much time as most.

Edited by nccgrap 2006-09-01 8:30 AM

WHOOOOOAAAA...

I think that the dilemma many teachers face is that they start their triathlon lifestyle over the summer, when, yes, we are very fortunate to have the time off that we do. I think that the adjustment to school starting creates some concern over how to set up a schedule and continue training.

We know that the majority works year round and we also know how lucky we are, so there is no need to remind us of that over and over.

The idea of having to work is not the issue, the issue is organizing your training for the two distinct part of our years.

I'm not trying to start an argument or be harshy. I'm just saying that we all face challenges. So, maybe teachers can learn from the rest of us, too. I know that as soon as I hit the door to my house, I'm on family time. It's RARE that I get to do a workout after work. My approach to dealing with that is working out at lunch and as my means of transportation.

While I can't relate to having my summers off (even though I sure wish I could), I CAN relate to changes in schedule. In winter, my workouts decrease because I can't bike home in the snow, for instance. So, I, too (and most of us that live in Northern climes) face cyclical training schedules. Winters are for reduced capacity training, right?

I thought I offered several constructive suggestions for how she could cope with her school-year schedule. My comments were MEANT to be positive (as in - you can do it, yoo rah, cheerleader pom pom jump action )

Thanks for the positive feedback many of you provided. Between grad school, high school English teaching (the paper load is tremendous!), a two-year-old who hasn't yet figured out how to sleep through the night, and a husband who bills 200 hours a month as an attorney, I think my life is pretty darn busy.

Work begins at 7:15, lunch is 25 minutes, and my commute is an hour long.

Those of you who work year-round -- obviously there are challenges in your life, as well and I support you in your efforts to train hard.

I am going to set a goal of training 4 times per week, and I know I can do it!

Edited by constance 2006-09-01 6:28 PM

As a high school P.E. and Health teacher I see only one answer. Make triathlon training part of your class. Maybe that is a little easier said than done, but I am able to incorporate some work-outs into my lesson plans. Off season is a little easier to do. I have a fitness class that meets in the weight-room so I am able to do my weight-training with the students. I am trying to get biking units set-up so that I am also able to do slow longer distance training on the bike with students (my classes are 95 minutes long.) Swimming is difficult because my school does not have a pool. Running is somewhat fractured but can be a good work-out. I do a hiking unit and if I am motivated I will jog the whole time, basically jogging back and forth between the groups of students who fall behind and those that get ahead. I am trying to work-out a class 4th quarter called Triathlon 101. Students who take the class would be training for a triathlon the whole quarter. The final would be competing in an actual tri at the end of the school year. Have quite a bit of logistics to figure out before then, but I hope to make a go of it.

Attached is an interesting article from trinewbies about balancing workloads and tris.

http://www.trinewbies.com/Article.asp?ArticleID=64

Also, here's a blog from a mother of two preschoolers, teacher, aspiring writer and podcaster, who is doing IM Wisconsin 2006.

http://www.throughth3wall.com

Steve

Edited by berlinsd 2006-09-03 12:00 PM