We all lead busy lives, but this should never be an excuse to miss a workout—you’ll only be cheating yourself.
Sure, you lead a busy life. But no training program can work if you keep skipping the workouts. So here are 30 strategies to help you find the time and stick to the plan. Some days, you’re absolutely sure the Rolling Stones had it all wrong. Because when it comes to getting in your run, it seems that way too often “Ti...ii...iime” is not on your side. Survey after survey reveals that lack of time—whether actual or perceived—is the primary reason that exercisers don’t get in a workout.
Obviously, this is a problem. Particularly when you’re a beginning runner. Every workout that you miss is a workout that’s not advancing you toward your goal.
That’s why this chapter is about beating the restricted-time barriers that are conspiring to steal away your workout time. There are basically three time-management issues that you need to deal with: making time (questions of when, where, and how); saving time (little do’s and don’ts that add up to serious savings); and rethinking time (new ways to examine the relationship between your running and the time you need to do it).
We all lead busy lives, but this should never be an excuse to miss a workout—you’ll only be cheating yourself.
Here are 30 can’t-fail time-management tips from all three of these categories. Now quit making excuses. Get out for your run.
Your week actually has plenty of time for regular workouts as long as you’ve got a plan to make good use of the time.
1. Block out time in your schedule for all the workouts you want to do in a given week. Do this first thing, at the start of the week before the blank spaces start filling up with errands and other time thieves. Use your PDA, computer calendar, day planner, or whatever other system you have for scheduling your week’s activities. Just be sure to give your workouts the highest priority.
2. Get the biggest bang for your buck. Several times a week, think quality, not quantity. It’s the effort you put in that counts. If you’ve only got 20 minutes, use them. Don’t skip your workout. Just do something a little shorter and harder than you might have planned.
3. Receive your bonus for doing number 2! You don’t just get stronger, but leaner too. Alternating faster with slower workouts not only builds running strength and speed, it also burns more fat. What’s more, according to a 2001 study in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, alternating fast and slow running helps you lose weight faster than a steady-pace effort.
“If you’ve only got 20 minutes, use them. Don’t skip your workout. Just do something a little shorter and harder than you might have planned.”
4. Run earlier. Many runners have found that the early morning is the perfect time for a workout. It jump starts your day with a jolt of energy that lasts for hours and relieves you of having to worry all day about when you’re going to get the workout done. Not a problem. It’s already done. If you have children, an early-morning run allows you to log your workout before they get up and need your attention.
5. Run even earlier. If rolling out of the rack at 5:30 AM still doesn’t give you enough time, then “Get up earlier,” advises 1972 Olympian-turned-coach Jeff Galloway, “and have a stronger cup of coffee.”
6. Get a dog. “No way you’re not going to get up at 5 AM when there’s a wet snout in your face saying ‘now, now, NOW!’” says Oregon runner Greg Chaimov, whose pooch pulls him through 4 miles, five mornings a week.
Owning a dog can help you get up, out, and running—he always needs walking.
7. Tag-team tot patrol. One morning, afternoon, or evening, your spouse looks after the kids, you run. The next day, reverse roles.
8. Park the kids. Many gyms now feature in-house nurseries. In 60 minutes, you can get in your treadmill time, with additional time left over for a basic strength workout, a core strength workout on a Swiss exercise ball, or an excellent circuit-training workout that takes you rapidly through a number of strength stations.
9. Circle the kids. While your kids are playing soccer (baseball, softball, whatever), run and/or walk loops around the outside of the field. “I do this twice a week,” says mother-of-two Judie Simpson. “One time I’ll do a steady run. Another day, I’ll do pickups on the long side of the field and slow jogs on the short side.”
10. Chuck the commute. Take your togs to work and do your run from the office after work while everyone else is spending a miserable hour in fingernail-gnawing gridlock. By the time you’ve finished your run—sweating, pleasantly tired, totally detorqued from the day’s workplace rigors—the whole smoggy mess will have cleared out and you can cruise home comfortably (while feeling very, very clever).
Even if your commute is clean and fast, do not go home before doing your workout—even if it means parking a block away from your house and heading out from there. “That can be deadly,” says marathoner Matt Henderson about walking through the door right after work. “Do it, and the odds are you won’t do your workout.” Instead, you’ll encounter TV, food, stuff to put away, kids who want to play, newspapers to flip through, phone calls, general lollygagging, beer. Way, way too many off-ramps.
11. Fast-forward to free time. Many would-be exercisers who whine “No time to run” find plenty of time to develop blisters on their remote-control thumbs—23 hours a week on average for Americans. Well, hidden away inside every hour-long show are 20 minutes’ worth of running time. They’re called commercials—and they’re your friends. Instead of watching the live broadcasts of your favorite shows, watch them on tape—freeing up enough time for you to fit in a decent little workout.
12. Goal for it. Too many runners think too long range—a 6-month or yearlong plan—when laying out their training. “But that vision can be lost pretty quickly when you’re feeling down,” warns Dave Scott, six-time Ironman winner. “Instead, set a 2-week goal and make it specific: Run your goal workouts for the next 2 weeks.” Then set another 2-weeker. And so on.
13. Just bet it! A study at Michigan State University found that people who bet $40 that they could stick with their training program for 6 months had a 97-percent success rate. On the other hand, fewer than 20 percent of those who didn’t place a bet stuck it out. Bet a running buddy that the first to slack off pays up. Open time slots will suddenly, almost magically, start popping up.
14. Especially good for beginners: Run often, not long. If you’re in your freshman year at Runner U. and want to run regularly, “aim for frequency, not duration” to make running a regular part of your life. So says Carl Caspersen, Ph.D., at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Translation: Instead of trying to find time for a 45-minute workout two or three times a week, shoot for shorter sessions—15 to 20 minutes—but be sure to fit them in most days.
15. Buddy up. Recruit a regular workout partner and agree on time, place, and distance. If someone is expecting you to show up, you’re more likely to—and less likely to claw around for excuses not to. “When you commit to running with a friend a few times a week, it becomes just another part of your weekly routine,” says Laurie “Housebound-with-Two-Infants” Doane.
Buddy up: If others are expecting you to turn up for a run, you’re more likely to be there.
16. Evolution, not revolution. Okay, the prospect of all of a sudden getting up to run every morning (Yikes!)—or during every lunch hour (What? No tuna melt?)—can seem daunting. Because it is. So, here’s the deal: Commit to running just one morning and/or one lunch hour per week for just a month and stick to your usual schedule the rest of the time. See how it goes. Two small steps rather than a giant leap is always the smart way to go.
Fifteen seconds here, a minute there. Doesn’t seem like much, but watch how fast they all add up.
17. The night before, lay out your gear. All of it. Even loosen up your laces so your feet slide right into your shoes. That way, you sit down and dress for battle quickly—one-stop run prep. No pinball back-and-forth from dresser to closet to laundry room, back to dresser, running down clean shirt, shorts, socks, shoes. Nope, they’re all there. Waiting for you to take them out for some sweaty fun.
18. The 8-second breakfast. After you lay out your togs in the evening, also plop your favorite smoothie ingredients in a blender, and put it in the fridge. After your workout the next morning, hit a switch, and 8 seconds later: breakfast. Okay, 11 if you count pouring.
“On superbusy days, you can beat the clock by adjusting your workout plan downward.”
19. Don’t spend time stretching cold muscles. Instead, walk briskly for a few minutes, then jog slowly into your run.
20. Go, then gab. Too often, you show up, you meet your running partners, you start talking while doing some lame trunk twists as a “warmup.” This isn’t what you turn up for. Time to change this scenario. Just don’t do it. Instead, say “hi” and start jogging slowly into your run. Start gossiping then, once you’re under way.
21. The time-saver’s combo plate. Order up all four items (numbers 17 through 20), and you save 7 to 10 minutes—a nice addition to your regular workout. Over the course of a workweek, you net at least 35 more minutes of exercise time. That’s enough to pay real benefits.
22. “I wear running shorts as underwear,” says modern-day minuteman Galloway, thus rendering himself run-ready the instant his antennae pick up a 10-minute block of free time. “Accumulate enough short runs,” he tells us, “and they add up.” Jeff’s dialed in here. A Stanford University study found that “multiple bouts of moderate-intensity exercise produce significant training effects.” Which leads us to . . .
Even on the off chance that Jeff Galloway’s solution (number 22) seems too unconventional for you, don’t ignore the underlying message: On superbusy days, you can beat the clock by adjusting your workout plan downward. But don’t scrap it altogether. Remember, every mile counts. If you can only do 1 mile, fine. That’s way better than nothing.
Some time barriers to running are external—work, gassing up the car, picking up the kids, root canals. But equally restrictive are internal roadblocks: attitudes toward running and/or ourselves that work against working out. So let’s change a few perceptions here.
23. Be realistic. Cut back on your running if you need to now and then. It’s okay. Just don’t toss in the towel because of what is a fact of life: Workplace deadlines, sick kids, holidays, etc., can severely cut into free time. Ride these periods out and shoehorn in a workout of some kind—15 minutes, 10 minutes—every second or third day. Then resume your regular exercise routine ASAP. When your impeccably laid-out schedule implodes, think short-term glitch, not catastrophe, and don’t fret your way into sofa sloth. Don’t get caught in that “all-or-nothing” snare.
24. Be like Sue. “When I’m really busy, I run for maintenance—20 minutes or so every other day,” says Susan Wentzien, 31, a high school biology teacher. “When my schedule lightens up, I pick up the frequency, distance, and intensity.”
25. Think of it like sex or an income-tax refund. A little bit is always better than nothing. If all you have is 17 minutes to fit in a run, then run for 17 minutes.
26. Be selfish. No, not really. But don’t ignore yourself either. By giving your run a high priority a few days a week, you’re boosting your own physical and emotional health and living up to your obligation to your family to be as healthy and happy as you can be.
27. Be flexible. Don’t throw up your hands and not run if circumstances suddenly change, as they do. If a surprise meeting cancels the 30-minute lunchtime run, then do your miles after work while the traffic clears out. If you forget to set the alarm, take your gear to work and run at lunch.
“When your impeccably laid-out schedule implodes, think short-term glitch, not catastrophe, and don’t fret your way into sofa sloth.”
28. Burn the alternatives. Take a torch to “I don’t feel like it” or “I should wash the car/water the plants/sort out my loose change.” If you allow too many options to invade your commitment to run, you’ll lose the battle.
29. Make your exercise program just like brushing your teeth. “If you really want to run, you’ll find the time,” says Ron Hill of England, a former British marathon star. “It’s really no different than finding time to shave, eat, or read the paper.” Think about it. Why do you always seem to have time for those activities? Then plan more ways to help you find time for exercise.
30. “Have fun during every run,” says Bob Williams, an Oregon-based coach. It greatly increases the likelihood that you’ll want to—and will—find time for the next one. Run a new route; run an old one backward. If you usually run on roads, hit the trails and run through the trees. Do something goofy during your run (like singing the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” in your head).
So here’s the game plan: Pick any three of the foregoing strategies—one from each section—and road test them for a month. If any (or—dare we hope?—all) work, yippee! Good for you. Stick with them.
If they don’t work, pick three more and take them for a spin. Keep repeating the same process until you’ve gone through the whole list and found the several that help you the most. Then make sure you keep repeating them and keep finding time for your workouts.
Q : How much time do I need to do a worthwhile workout?
A : Whatever time you’ve got. Ideally, 30 minutes is a good starting point. In that amount of time, you can warm up, do a solid 20 to 25 minutes of workout, and briefly cool down. So if possible, put at least 30 minutes into your planner. But if you simply don’t have 30 minutes, do whatever you can. This includes stretching at your desk, walking stairways in your building, or taking a quick lap or two around the block. Don’t fall into the all-or-nothing trap. Instead, tell yourself that every little bit helps.
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Three things to remember about this chapter:
1. Keep your bags packed. You can waste a lot of time looking around for the socks, shoes, shirts, shorts, and pants that you need for a workout. Or you can always have a bag packed and ready, with all the gear you need. Have your gear organized at home and at work. Some runners always have an extra bag in their car.
2. Same for your meals. We live in a fast-paced world, but that doesn’t mean you have to succumb to unhealthy, fast-food meals. Always keep a stock of healthy drinks, snacks, and other foods in your cupboard and refrigerator. It’s easier than you may think, as food manufacturers are continually producing more healthy alternatives for active people.
3. Find a training partner. Or several. You might only run with this person once a week, but it still makes a big difference to have someone who’s counting on you (while you’re counting on him or her). Even if you only run together once a week, you can keep in close contact through e-mails and phone calls.