Whether it’s training for a marathon, an endurance swim event, a bicycle stage race, or other feat of fitness, preparing to be in peak shape at the right time takes hours every week for months. As a professional with an office job and commitments outside of work, the time component needs to be considered up front. For me, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to commit my whole winter to hours of solo riding in our basement… at least when I’ve done winter marathon training it’s been outside. I could ride at my work gym, but then I’d be spending a lot of time away from home and that solution doesn’t cut it, either.
Some of my friends are cute couple runners, and I’ve always been a tad envious of that since my husband would only run if he’s being chased. But he has been more enthusiastic about bicycles, so I asked if he’ll be my training partner this winter. He agreed to try it out! I am thrilled, because it addresses the torn feeling between working hard to get after my goal and spending time with him.
So, training is still going to take a huge chunk of time, but I won’t be going after it alone. I do recognize that we have the luxury of time since we don’t have kids. I have seen friends and family who have kids navigate their fitness goals by equally supporting each others’ time away to train, whether that’s during the same period of time or swapping between specific training blocks for each other. These couples are exceptional at healthy communication and support, and it was through their example that I considered the option of training together with my husband.
The next problem is how to train together with only one BikeErg…