Travis Balances Yoga With Triathlon And Parenting

FINDING TIME FOR YOGA

I started in triathlon, like most, doing sprint races and working up to the longer races.  With only one child at the time (who was a really consistent sleeper) my first three years of triathlon were pretty smooth.  I had a coach who was great and managed to avoid injury by sticking to his plan.  However, his schedules were time-consuming and as a stickler for schedules, I could easily get frustrated by missing workouts or cutting them short.

Then came our second child.  He was not a consistent sleeper, waiting 18 months to sleep through the night on a regular basis, and so workouts were not happening on a regular basis.  I stopped working with my coach because finding the time to fit in workouts seemed impossible and I really cut back for a year.  However, in an effort to get myself back up and training on a regular basis, I did the “Dan Plan” through the Sufferfest, which included the Yoga 15 workouts.  The plan was appealing to me because Daniel Lloyd stated that he only had about 8 hrs a week to work out and I thought that would fit in my new truncated training life.

I have to admit when I saw the yoga blocks on my schedule I assumed those would be the flex where I would make time if things started to fall apart.  But after a few sessions and seeing how easily a 15-minute yoga session fit into my workout schedule it’s become a staple.

BEING THERE FOR MY KIDS

One of the biggest physical benefits I’ve found from the Yoga 15 workouts is that I am fresher and less ache-filled after my workouts. 

This is important because I usually workout in the morning before my kids wake up.  Despite my being sore or tired, my two year old still wants to be carried up and down the steps and my 6 year old wants to ride a bike or run around.  Getting in the Yoga 15 workouts ensures I have a good stretch and I feel fresh the rest of the day.  I know it’s good for performance, but being there as a dad and having a good parent/athlete balance is more important to me at this point in my life.

PHYSICAL BALANCE

If you’re a fellow Sufferlandrian, you’ll know about Elements of Style and some of the Standing Starts workouts that are good for your technique.  They are all well and good, but as a triathlete who basically started riding to race triathlons, getting more physical balance is one of those neglected spaces in my training.  I can’t tell you the number of times I have tried to take a drink out of my water bottle and almost drove my bike into a ditch.  Again, with a very reasonable cost of time you get the freshness of feeling stretched and plenty of good balancing exercises to help, even if it’s just getting your feet out of your wetsuit without falling over…every little helps. 

These workouts are very simple and straight-forward, but they deliver in your physical performance, and how your feel after a good workout.