Sleep, eat and exercise: the routine and life of a triathlete
Posted on 04 February 2010
Triathletes are a breed of extreme endurance athletes looking to expand their physical control and mental barriers. There is not one triathlete in the world who did a triathlon by thinking about it, it takes effort and time.
Let’s take a look at how a triathlete’s day looks on a typical working weekday.
- 6am wake-up
- 6:15am - breakfast loaded with caffeine, sugar, or protein depending on their picky choices
- 6:45am - 5-10 mile run outside no matter the temperature (freezing cold wakes you up)
- Mid-morning breakfast (eggs, fruit, coffee)
- 8:30am-12:30pm - work of some sort
- 12:30pm - carb snack before afternoon mid-day run
- 1pm - run during lunch hour or bike if possible at corporate gym (luxurious rarity these days)
- 3:30pm - hunger kicks in and 2-3 pieces of fruit shoved in stomach
- 5pm - panicking and wondering if you brought workout socks for the gym in gym bag
- 6:30pm - head home, shower, and straight to the gym or spare bedroom converted into makeshift gym.
- 7:30pm - 1-2 hour bike session followed by 15 minutes stretching or mild yoga (some pain ensues)
- 9:30pm - consume large protein-packed meal (fish, lean meat, salad, eggs); then shower
- 10pm - unpack gym bag
- 11pm - sleep for 7 hours and repeat
This routine isn’t made up or of wishful thinking. Many triathletes struggle with the family/home life aspect and the sport they love. The fine balance of time and pleasure takes many months or years to adjust to as daily training can take 2-3 hours each day (3-4 hours for Ironman triathletes). If you’re already a triathlete, hats off to you. You’ve done something 99% of the world has not been able to do. If you’re training for a triathlon, hats off to you. Most people would never attempt such a sport.
For more information on helpful triathlon training tips please visit Glutenfreetriathlete.com and visit my Examiner page here.
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