09/20/07: Training Hours

Saw this on Slowtwitch and found it entertaining:

"When people post about their training hours for a given week, I'm assuming that most people, like me, count only the actual hours of the activity....So, here's a sample training week scenario that describes why the significant others tend to feel that we spend more time training than *we* feel like we've spent...

Note: The hours below are fictitious, and any similarity to the training of any actual person are strictly unintentional

Option 1: *** this is the way the athlete sees it ***
Day 1:
1 hour run

Day 2:
1 hour swim
1 hour bike ride

Day 3:
1.5 hour run
1 hour swim

Day 4:
1.5 hour bike ride

Day 6:
1.5 hours of swimming

Day 7:
5.5 hours for long bike/run brick

TOTAL: 14 hours (that's not so bad, beats sitting around watching TV, right?)
***************************************************************************************
Option 2: *** this is the way the significant other sees it ***
Day 1:
1 hour run
PLUS:
30 minutes of finding running shorts/shirt/shoes, stretching, getting IPOD, etc.
30 minutes of walking around a sweaty mess talking mumbo-jumbo about 2x5:00 fartleks

Day 2:
1 hour swim
1 hour bike ride
PLUS:
1 hour driving to/from the pool and changing/showering while there (more if you do hot tub or steam room)
30 minutes of finding bike helmet/shoes/shirt/sweatband..., stretching, pumping bike tires
30 minutes of walking around a sweaty mess talking about the crazy driver that cut you off

Day 3:
1.5 hour run
1 hour swim
PLUS:
30 minutes of finding running shorts/shirt/shoes, stretching, getting IPOD, etc.
30 minutes of walking around a sweaty mess talking about how hard the training is
1 hour driving to/from pool and changing/showering

Day 4:
1.5 hour bike ride
PLUS:
30 minutes of finding bike helmet/shoes/shirt/sweatband..., stretching, pumping bike tires
30 minutes of walking around a sweaty mess talking about how many watts you were pushing

Day 6:
1.5 hours of swimming
PLUS:
1 hour driving to/from the pool and changing/showering

Day 7:
5.5 hours for long bike/run brick
PLUS:
1 hour of finding/preparing all of your bike and run gear, stretching, lubing...
2 hours laying around dead tired, complaining about what a tough workout week it was while simultaneously mentioning that next week you have to "pick it up"

TOTAL: 23 hours (hmmm....)

PS: This does not count time spent PLANNING your training schedule, races, nutrition...; SHOPPING for new wheels, tires, helmets, shorts, pedals...; or TALKING about all the above til they hope to never hear about anything having to do with swimming, biking, or running ever again. "

Thanks for putting up with my addiction Lori :)