Lettuce, great thread.
To all those out there training and mix it with a family life, well done!!
I have a 5yo, 3yo and the young fella is 8 months. Love being with the kids and I love training also. I work from home full time, so my time is a little bit more flexible. If the wife takes the kids out during the day, whether its swimming, kinder, mothers group, whatever, I can get out and train for an hour or so, but funnily enough I don't tend to do this.
Through the winter I get on the wind trainer out in the shed at night once the kids are in bed. Sometimes its 8pm, sometimes its 11pm. Its tough, but if you love your training, any hour of the day is good. Daylight savings is great. Once the kids are down, I'll get 1 hour of daylight riding + do another hour or so in the dark (night riding is great fun!)
As we all know, family commitments, work commitments, kids getting sick, kinder meetings, keeping the wife happy, etc, etc all get in the way of our training routine (you never get a training week to run smoothly). To me it is about planning ahead. I take my training seriously but I enjoy it just as much. If I didn't train, I would probably have some weeks where I wouldn't leave the house, so its a bit of away time for me also.
Everyone's circumstances are different, its really just a matter of knowing what you want to achieve and setting aside some time that fits in with family life. No doubt my family comes first and yes I do get grumpy if I miss out on a few training sessions, but I know missing out on a few days training here and there is probably a good thing, because if I had the choice I would probably be out riding 8 hours every day. After a few days off, its amazing how fresh you feel when you jump back on the bike.
So Lettuce, my weeks vary. I try and ride six days a week, with a few runs and a couple of circuit sessions. Usually I don't manage to get that week in, week out, so it can be a little bit up and down. But I know from a previous running life, days off wont hurt you and is good recovery.
Sorry about the ramble, but its a good subject!