When Is the Best Time to Work Out for a Training Schedule?
Are you wondering when is the best time to work out if you have a specific exercise goal? Perhaps you plan to walk the Camino de Santiago or you want to jog a 5K or run a half marathon or full marathon. There is usually some kind of training schedule involved. When will you find time to do this?
If you read my post on “When is the best time to work out?” you’ve already picked up some ideas about how to find more time in the day for exercise. But what if you need some longer blocks of time in order to complete different aspects of your training regimen?
How to create the best time to work out:
*Understand the big picture. Whether you’re going to walk the Camino or run a marathon, you don’t just suddenly exercise for six hours straight. You need to build up, which is why you have a training program. Study your training program schedule to see what the increases will be each week so that you can plan for them accordingly.
*Let your household know what your goal is and why. If you are the primary caretaker of your household and choose to do everything for everyone, you might not have time for catering to everyone else’s needs if you’re going to stick to your exercise routine. It’s time to get your household on board with helping you so that you can achieve your goal! Get them excited about what you’re doing! If you live with people who don’t care about your needs, let them know that you’re doing this to improve your health, which will benefit them because you’ll be in shape to take care of them. If they still don’t want to help you, let them know they’re on their own for cleaning their rooms and doing their own laundry because you’ll be practicing self-care during that time instead.
*Block off small chunks of exercise time. Take a look at your calendar. When each day can you exercise for at least 15 to 30 minutes? This is a start until you can build more time into your schedule. Ideally, it will be at the same time each day, but it doesn’t have to be. The key is that you’re working your muscles and cardio at least four to five days per week.
*Block off one long block of time per week. When you start moving into the longer workouts, you might not be able to exercise for four or more hours in a day when you have to work. This is why it’s critical to schedule longer workout blocks on your days off. If you have back-to-back days off, considering scheduling your longer work out on the first day so that you can use the second day as a rest day if you’re tired or sore. Block these times off right now – before other activities creep onto your calendar.
When you train for a marathon, it’s rare that you run more than one full marathon as a part of your training before the “real” race. In fact, there’s usually tapering involved. You lessen your miles before race day so that you can rest but still keep your muscles and lungs in shape. Instead, the goal of the training schedule is building up endurance and slowly but surely adding on mileage each week before the tapering starts. If you can run 22 miles one month before your race, you can run 26.1 on race day. It’s all mental.
The same thing goes if you’re walking the Camino. Your longest day on the Camino might be 12 miles, but that doesn’t mean you have to walk 12 miles in one day on your days off. If you can walk 6 or 8 miles in one day two or three weeks before you walk the Camino, you’ll be good to go. Again it’s all mental.
Your legs and arms will be able to move you because you’re in shape. The critical factor will be your mind. Will your mind have the drive to say, “Keep going” – and will your legs and arms listen?
You can do this!
Those were a few ideas to consider when trying to find the best time to work out for a training schedule. Remember, the best time to work out is the time that you schedule it!
