Triathalon training with little kids

I am training to do my first sprint triathlon this summer. I am a mom to three little boys, ages 4, 2 and 4 months. I am still breastfeeding the baby.

Wondering if anyone has experience training with a family - not literally swimming or biking with the family, but how to make the schedules work? When did you workout? How did you balance family and training?

I am also looking for some input on how to eat enough to keep on breastfeeding. I only need to loose maybe 5 more pounds of baby weight, or switch those 5 pounds from fat to lean tissue, and even without exercising I've had a hard time not loosing too much weight while breastfeeding.

Anyone BTDT?

I didn't train for a tri when mine were little, but I did work at home at a job I couldn't do while I was watching littles (medical transcription).

I worked from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. or longer depending on the work. The bigger kids got up at about 6:30 to go to school, and the baby woke up around 7. The bonus of doing it that early in the morning is that my husband was there in case anyone needed anything during that time, and if they didn't, he still got to sleep.

Then, I napped when the baby napped. And I went to bed at 8:30 or so, so I could get enough sleep. I was lucky that my kids have all been good 10-hour sleepers even as infants! I'm freshest in the morning, so it wouldn't have worked for me to work at night after they'd gone to sleep.

I think the important thing is that this is your children's only childhood, and they won't always be little, and if it all gets too much, err in favor of the kids.

Karen

I'm training for a sprint triathlon this summer and it's TOUGH when you have kids around. Mine aren't so little (7 and 10) but the 7 year old is profoundly autistic, and as a result DH and I have set up our schedules so that we work opposite shifts. It's great for childcare, but not so good for getting time to yourself. My husband's schedule is four nights per week, Wednesday through Saturday, so I have to work around that (which means no weekend day training for me since I have to take care of the kids while he sleeps).

My current "training" (and I hesitate to even call it that) is four workouts per week during my lunch hour--I work on a college campus and have access to the gym and pool, so I can run over there and put in 45 minutes on the track or treadmill or in the pool. On Saturday mornings my son has a swim lesson at a nearby gym, so my DD plays in the family pool during that lesson and I go to the lap pool and swim for 20 - 25 minutes. Not great, but you take what you can get. In theory I also do pilates at home after getting the kids to bed, but, um, I haven't done that since January! Biking is the biggest difficulty. Currently I bike to work (13 miles each way) one day per week, on one of the days when DH is off so he can get the kids off to school. I'm hoping that when summer comes I can increase that to two days per week and one weekend evening after DH wakes up for his "day" but before he goes to work. Right now it's still too dark in the evenings for that.

My sister was in a closer position to you with three children and trying to get in workouts when she could. She and her husband would trade workout times--she'd ride her bike to the gym, swim/run there, and then ride home then her husband would turn around and do the same thing. Once her infant was six months old or so, she started signing her kids up for the childcare slots at the gym, which made it easier to schedule workouts without relying on her husband being home, although her entire week seemed to revolve around when she could get the childcare slots!

As for eating while breastfeeding, just listen to your body--eat when you're hungry and really focus on eating well, not just scarfing down calories. Don't worry about your own weight--your baby's weight will let you know if he's getting enough through breastfeeding, but if YOU feel unusually tired or run down (I know, hard to tell what's "unusual" when your schedule is all whacky), you might need to be eating more. Drink lots of water, of course. I had some supply issues with my first baby and ended up taking fenugreek to help increase milk production, but that didn't happen until she was older.

Good luck!

Sarah

Hi- First, Welcome to TE!
I am in my second season of training with a 2 year old and a six year old. It can be very difficult to fit training sessions in.

I have my bike on the trainer, and often get on it at 9 or 10 PM. In the summer time, I get up at 5AM to get my runs in. This morning I was at the Y at 5:10 to get in a swim and get home before my husband had to leave for work.

I also have a family membership to the Y. I utilize the children's corner when I need to so that I can get in my pool workouts or use the treadmill.

I think it's critical to have a partner who is supportive of your goals. I usually sit down with my husband during the weekend to map out my goals for the upcoming week. We talk about any days that it will not be possible for me to get in a workout, due to scheduling conflicts. Those are my planned rest days for the week.

It's not easy-but it's worth it.

I've mapped out a plan for training from here through my last race in September. Basically I am going to swim, run and bike each twice a week. I think I'll try to run early in the morning before my husband goes to work. I'll use grandma to get in one swim workout during the week and then hopefully escape to the pool for a quick Sunday afternoon swim during my kiddos naptime. When the weather gets better, I may try to swim in open water when our family goes to the beach. I'm going to do my shorter ride on Thursday nights while my husband makes the kids pancakes for dinner (they all love this!) and then hopefully the two of us can do a longer ride on Saturdays together, as in a date. ;) We live in a city with lots of date-worthy bike paths where we can ride to good food (or good wine or beer).

My DH is supportive. Very supportive. He's awesome. I spent 5 months of the last year on bed rest. I've been pregnant or nursing for 5 years straight and I spent a total of 9 months of that on bed rest. He loves to be active and is thrilled that I'm getting back at it. My kids are supportive too. Today while I was at spinning (still don't own a bike!), my 4 year old drew pictures of me winning a race and of he, his brothers and daddy all cheering for me.

Oh, that's so sweet! :)

Get out there and go, girl!

Karen