Daily Efficiency: Getting Started

Published on 07. Mar, 2008 by Patrick McCrann in Hack, Planning, Time Management, Triathlon

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A well-oiled triathlon life has a lot to do with proper workout scheduling, but it has even more to do with both your preparations for training and how YOU prepare for training. Today’s post just has some tips on how you can “get ready” for your workouts in advance, making the transition from citizen to athlete (and back again) as smooth and seamless as possible (short of having a phone booth gig like Superman).

Number 1. Make sure that you have everything ready to get started in the morning and by “everything” — I mean coffee. My day doesn’t start without a nice hot cup of coffee. I have a coffee machine with the timer on it, so when I wake up, everything is ready.
Number 2. Plan ahead for your workouts. Every Sunday sit down and review prints outs whatever you need to do, all of your workouts for the week. This will allow you to make sure that you know exactly what you need to have ready for every single day of the week. It’s a very small step, it takes only about 5 minutes, yet it will make a big difference in terms of planning.Â Instead of getting slammed w/ a surprise track workout, you can not only find a track, you can plan the right gear and maybe line up some errands around going to that side of town.
Number 3. Managing your gear. Something you probably don’t think, about but it’s something you need for every single workout. That’s right, it’s your clothing.Â “) This is no joke here. Trying to do a workout when you don’t have the right gear is not only not fun, it’s often dangerous and can result in you getting sick or fumbling around with a zipper on a tricky descent. So, one thing that I like to do is fast-tracking my laundry. This means it gets done almost every single day. It’s pretty simple but very effective. Simply pile everything you need in a place where you can take it right to the washing machine or if you’re fortunate enough to have a washing machine right there, just put it right in at the end of the workout. So, you can run it at night…and have all the clothes you need for the next day.
Number 4. You can organized a mobile station from where you can get the simple short workouts done on a rolling basis — i.e. without the need to start from home or your gym, etc. This can be very simple and it cam be simply a duffel bag with the stuff you need in it to workout as well as some cleaning supplies to get ready afterwards and perhaps hang or two for your work clothes.
Number 5. Proper nutrition. It’s not just not having the right food during a workout; there’s probably nothing worse than doing a workout having eaten the wrong food. In my case, my personal nutritional weakness is hummus…I love it unfortunately, gastronomically speaking, my body does not do a very good job of digesting garlic. As you might expect, this can result in some spectacularly bad workouts. You can do yourself a favor and base your food on the workout schedule you reviewed on Sunday. Make sure that you have the right food that you need to eat at the right time based on what kind of workout you have. And don’t forget to make sure you have the right food to eat when you’re done as well.
Number 6. Tracking your data. This not actually a prerequisite to have every week but it’s a part of the puzzle. It’s a small step you can take in the larger mission towards becoming a more self-aware athlete. I make this a daily activity simply because if I wait too long not only do I forget what I did a couple of days earlier, I am also usually overwhelmed with other stuff and don’t have the time to transfer all the data. After each workout, download the device or make the quick notes that you need to, and then drop it into your log. This way you can build a weekly review into you Sunday routine: just as you plan for the next week, you can also assess your past performance and plan accordingly.