Preparing for a baby

I wouldn’t plan to train at all, and then when you get that magical 30 minutes in, you’ll feel tremendous. Leave the trainer set up so you can get it in when 35 minutes presents itself. After, say, two months when you settle in and baby establishes some semblance of a routine, maybe then start a low volume plan and be willing to do things like Geiger -5 instead of Geiger when needed.

Newborns are hard. Don’t fool yourself into thinking otherwise! And don’t worry about it if you’re off the bike entirely for several months. Some things are more important!

Signed,
Dude with one and another on the way in February.

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Everyone here is saying the right thing. One plug for maybe moving to mornings is that if you wake up, the conditions are right for training, you can bang it out. If the conditions are wrong (baby up and needing attention or mama needing support) you can always try again in the evening. If you wait till the evening to try, you don’t have a plan B. Just a though. And maybe listen to this weeks podcast about morning vs evening. Good luck man, you’re in for a trip!

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This post is the “best” plan you can come up with, in my opinion.

We had our first child ten months ago. It’s a learning process, where you’ll do much adapting. Train when you can, rest when you can’t— It’s out of your control.

I hate to add to your worries/fears, but sleep is not the only battle you’ll fight. I lost almost a month of training this year (leading into cx nats, down the street from my house this year) due to trading sicknesses with the little guy. It happens, you adapt, and you move on.

All in all, still well worth it. Children are the best.

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Father of three here. I can only second the “flexibility” aspect. This is key. Apart from this, you don’t know the sleeping habits of you little one yet. And when the rough nights start. All our kids were “fine” in the first year, got enough sleep, but tormented us later. And newborns sleep all the time anyway.

Here you really have to wait and see. Personally I found age 2-4 more “disruptive” to my training than 0-1. And we have twins, so sort of a special situation, especially at nights. 0-3 was just unstructured training, no racing for me. at 4 I tried but then came #3. Back to square one, though she was always a good sleeper. Pretty much had to pause racing for 4 years but back in full racing mode for 2 years now.

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https://www.trainerroad.com/forumt/training-as-a-parent/

Some of what you mention was discussed above.

From my own experience, I have just started back on SSB low volume 6 weeks after the birth of our 2nd child.

I train in the evenings mainly as early mornings after little sleep would be too much for me and would mean my wife has to be the sole carer at those times which is a little unfair. I think somewhere around 4-6 weeks a baby’s sleep can start to improve and by 2 months they should have developed a more regular pattern.

Advice: talk to your partner about their goals and give support for them to get back into a routine too.

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I would plan to be inconsistent - I know it’s supposed to be the enemy on training, but such is life.

We’ve had three kids now. The biggest surprise to me was that my wife often just wanted/wants me out of the house and out of her way so she could get on with things or be alone with baby. This can be training time if you want, but I wouldn’t underestimate the value of socialising in your free moments - you won’t realise the stress you’re under.

If baby sleeps well you can find yourself awake before the family, I prefer that time to use the turbo but in winter it could be time to prepare decent breakfast and get some tidying/washing done and find a slot in the afternoon or evening to train.

Of course if you’re still working, you always have commute time you could be on the road :wink:

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Good luck. My suggestion is to put all of your effort into practicing recovery.

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Don’t plan anything, there is nothing more frustrating than having something planned and not being able to do it.

Write off the first 2-4 weeks entirely, if time presents itself great, if not you haven’t missed anything.

Best wishes

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I would second the idea of commuting by bike if you can. Saves money (for baby!) and us basically protected cycling time. When my pair were very young commuting was 95% of my cycling and although didn’t build fitness much for me, it did keep things ticking over for a few years before returning to ‘proper training’

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In my experience you cannot predict the sleeping pattern of a baby, so just be prepared to be flexible. If you would like to train uninterrupted you probably should hop on the trainer as soon as the baby starts a nap - therefore mornings might be a little more risky.

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Congratulations, first of all.

In my experience getting the training done in the morning is the best way. I never thought I’d get up early voluntarily to do sports (tried that during uni a few times and hated it), but this way I get a bit of me time without sacrificing family time.

A few more pieces of advice:
(1) Prioritize sleep. Treat sleep like a squirrel treats nuts: when you have the chance, hide away and catch a few minutes of shut eye. This will make you a better dad, a better husband, and, frankly, a better human being.
(2) Be flexible and smart. Sometimes you will have to get up at night to console a crying baby, make a bottle, change diapers, etc. It is ok to skip exercise. If in doubt, obt for priority (1).
(3) Expect to get sick. This will derail your training. There is nothing you can do but wait until it passes. (Washing hands religiously helps, too, but sometimes you will come down with something.)
(4) Trade time with your partner. Give her some time off so that you can get some time off. Probably this will happen rather infrequently for as long as your baby is being breast fed, but do it as often as you can. This pays back double and triple.

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Good advice! In my experience the getting sick part starts a little later, because the first 6 months the baby is more or less immune. For me getting sick was closely related to my son being exposed to other kids…the start of daycare / kindergarden kicked off some rather challenging weeks :wink:

Yes. First year of my daughter in preschool my house should have just been quarentined.

Our first baby is due in late January! I’m excited to be meet the little one and be a father.

I’ve been exercise for past 18yrs, weights initially and now cycling - i can’t really imagine being without it. But speaking with new fathers, i can’t imagine how tired i am going be, or how much empathy i have for my tired wife.

I’m a little lucky, i can train at lunch time. At keep mentally fit - a few weight sessions. But i guess i’ll have to call off the whole 3x per week 1hr morning sessions…

Congratulations on the forthcoming arrival!

I am in the thick of it at present, with seven and a half week old baby at home. So far, we’ve been pretty lucky with sleep (in that we are getting some) but to be honest as other people have said you just have to roll with the punches. My boss gave me a good bit of advice - one bad night is manageable, but you have to remember the cumulative effect that it has. Around week six I had a major drop in energy after not having slept more than about four hours continuously since the birth. But that has come back around a little after I backed off to let my body recover a bit.

In terms of how my training has changed… I did Celtman in mid June, having averaged about 10 hours training a week for six months previously including a full TR base, build and speciality plan (mid-volume full distance triathlon). I can safely say that won’t be happening again anytime soon :slight_smile:

There are training modalities out there that will help, with TR being one of them. I am working my way through a FIRST Academy run programme for a 10k in early November, it’s based on three runs a week with a lot of intensity. I am trying to commute three days a week, cycling eighteen miles in and ten miles out with TR outdoor workout intervals on the way in if it’s safe. I am trying to swim twice a week and do a thirty minute kettlebell workout three times a week at home so I can do nappy changes in the morning if necessary rather than disappearing to the gym. It sounds like a lot, but very few of these sessions take longer than an hour and the commute is already a ‘sunk cost’ in terms of the time, so how I get there is my choice. I agreed with my wife I wouldn’t do anything after work to maximise time with family, but she is sleeping with the baby until I leave work and I can run at lunchtimes.

This will go without saying but it’s a real game-changer. The period around the birth is really intense, but once our son was here and everything was fine with him and his mum I felt more relaxed and just tried to have fun. You will be covered in lots of body fluids so best do it with a smile on your face!

Finally, it can take a little while to get used to a fully formed baby suddenly being there, whereas your partner has had time to develop a relationship with them already. Don’t worry if you feel overwhelmed. When they start smiling and noticing you it’s a really special thing.

thanks very much for this advice!

I’m taking this all onboard!

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Congratulations! Dad to a 10 month old. For me, the biggest barrier to training isn’t a lack of time, but my guilt over leaving my wife alone with the baby. By now we’ve settled into a bit of a routine, where we put the baby to sleep around 8pm then I’ll hop on the trainer for an hour. There’s no way I could wake up early to train, but I’m not a morning person.

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I agree it’s just don’t really want to be away. Olive is 8 months now and goes down at 7 so I can doing a bit of exercise then. Been found alot of running as it’s so time effective.

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First off, congrats!! We have a 4-month old little lady and I love every minute of it. My wife and I both work out, so its a give and take- and sacrifice.

A piece of advice I got before E was born was to split your schedule at night. I can tell you, I had friends that were ‘mad’ at me because my wife and I were both getting 5-6hrs of consistent sleep. Heres how it goes… Bedtime is 8pm. Period. Start the routine and go from there. Your little one will be up every couple hours. We moved the pack and play into the guest room and slept in the spare bed when it was “our shift”. We did 8pm-1am and 1am-7am. Regardless, youre getting undisturbed sleep where you can let yourself go and conch out. And yes. We really did have friends “mad” at us because we weren’t both completely exhausted (misery loves company).

Now that shes 4-months, she goes to daycare from 8-Noon every day. Im a fireman, so I can catch a nap coming off shift, or I can have a little freedom in the morning to do chores. Then she’s mine from 12-on everyday (except shift days). That gives her a routine, and us some freedom. I generally don’t ride on the weekends anymore. Those are for “us” and my wifes workouts. I get up at 4am everyday, on the trainer by 5, off at 6. My wife works out 6-7 and were good. We still split the night. I take the 1st feeding, she’s takes the 2nd.

Having her is awesome. Truly the best thing that’s every happened to us.

I’ll update here as well - daughter #2 born in mid-February. I shifted from MV SSB down to LV Sustained Power Build… short version: I was good for about three weeks, then things started to fall apart in March. I ended up going back and creating a mix of SSB MV1/2 and tackling that for about 8 weeks in April until late May, when I had a surgery and then left home. That reduction in intensity and volume helped re-establish my base, consolidate my gains and ready me to move forward again through another Build. After that, I’ve done General Build MV and the first half of Century MV… below is my TSS graph:

Suffice to say, the lack of sleep in the first couple of months took a toll on my training, as you would expect. It is what it is! I didn’t let it get to me, but did what I could when I could. Then, being away from home now for about three months I’ve been a bit more consistent and made gains surpassing where I was.

That’s the key takeaway here, after two kids… whatever you may lose in doing your daddy/mommy duty, you can gain it back. Enjoy the time with your kids, the bikes, the events, the races, and the workouts will all be there waiting when you’re ready!

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