Do it while you can. . .

When I first joined the Glasgow Triathlon Club a few years ago I remember overhearing some club members chatting about the number of training sessions they did in a day. "Oh, I've been out on the bike for two hours already today so I doubt my running will be up to much," said one woman, as she sped off into the distance ahead of me. Others talked of cycling for 10 miles to swimming sessions, or else cycling to work and then running home before heading to the pool in the evening. At one training weekend there were numerous GTC forum posts suggesting that a group cycle to Aberfeldy from Glasgow before they even started on the "proper" training session. 

"They are all totally bonkers," I thought quietly to myself.

A year or so later and I was at it myself. When I worked in the city I would cycle the 12-mile round trip to work before heading off in the evening for a swim training session or the weekly running session. On one memorable day last summer   I ran from Bearsden for 12 miles (marathon training)  before being picked up by a friend to head to Loch Lomond for an open-water swimming session (open-water triathlon training).

Although the double whammie of two training sessions in one day certainly gets you fit, especially for the multi-sport of triathlon,  my main reason for squeezing in a couple of training efforts on some days is due to the tight work/life timetable that is operated between my husband and I.

His football nights are Monday and Wednesday (while I look after my daughter) and so the only nights I have to train are Tuesday and Thursday (Friday is family night). If I'm to maximise the time I have available  – and pack in all the sports I like – I sometimes end up doing a couple of sessions in one night. 

So on Tuesdays in the winter I do a circuits class from 7pm to 8pm and then a tri club swim session from 9pm to 10pm. As it happens my yoga class (fab Ashtanga-style with Jo-Yo) is also a Tuesday, but in the morning. 

I am usually completely exhausted (but feeling smugly exercised) by 10.15pm on a Tuesday. Now who's the mad one?