Do you know how much time you realistically have to prepare for your goal endurance event?

As 2023 approaches I am getting contacted by athletes wanting help to prepare for the upcoming season.

One of the first conversations we have is about expected results and the time need to achieve those results.

Most athletes find their goals fall into one of three categories:

  1. I want to finish.

  2. I want to improve my result from the last time I did this event.

  3. I would like to improve my result and place in my age group.

The result expectation is always related to the time it will take to achieve that result. The higher the expected result, the greater amount of preparation time it will achieve to complete it.

Also, the length of the event will factor into the preparation time as well. For example, a sprint distance triathlon or 5km run will take less time to prepare for than a 70.3 or half marathon.

Considering the above information, when deciding on a goal event, understanding your available training time to prepare is critical in order to choose the right event for you and your life circumstance. The time you spend each day with family, work, social/religious/spiritual commitments, sleep, meals, transport, factor into how much time you actually have to prepare.

I call these non-negotiable priorities.

You have them each day, after completing those whatever time is left over is your available time to train and prepare for your goal event.

Here is how to do your own priority time audit:

  1. Make a table: left hand column each row is all your non - negotiable priority time each day, top row list the days of the week.

  2. Enter the hours you spend each day in each non-negotiable priority.

  3. Second to bottom row total your non - negotiable priority time.

  4. Bottom row subtract your total non-negotiable priority time from 24 hours.

  5. Whatever remains to your potential time available to prepare for your goal event.

Here is an example of my daily non-negotiable priorities table:

How To Identify Your Available Time To Prepare For Your Goal Endurance Event

My table indicates I have 2 hours per day Monday to Friday and 3.5 hours on Saturday and Sunday for a total of 17 hours per week.

Now just because I have a potential 17 hours a week to prepare this does not mean I start my program with 17 hours a week of training. I consider what my current volume is (about 8 hours per week) and I start there. I gradually increase my volume over time as I move closer to my goal event.

The rate of increase will depend on the person’s athletic background, current fitness level, and how they are adapting to the previous level of training.

If I am training consistently, able to recover well between sessions, seeing progress (efforts are becoming easier at the same pace or power), and my time availability will allow it, I will begin to add volume every approximately 3 weeks.

The key takeaway:

Know your non-negotiable priority time so to you can commit to a level of training and preparation that you can consistently sustain until race day.

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