Life doesn’t always listen to your schedule or training plan. A sick child, car problems, unexpected meetings at the office…all of these things can quickly derail the plan that you’ve made for yourself.

My workout started about 30-40 minutes later than I’d planned today. Instead of scrapping the workout altogether, which is usually the knee-jerk reaction, I turned this morning’s workout into two sprint workouts, instead of the intended longer brick.

Since I had less time, I worked harder. When I saw a hill, I went up it. I also tried to chart a course that gave multiple stretches riding uphill, even if only a little. On a fixie, anything that isn’t flat or downhill gives a pretty good workout.

I attacked the run part of the brick the same way: went out hard, and tried not to slow up much the whole way through.

In the end, the 40-minute workout was shorter than I’d hoped, but much longer than if I’d just skipped the workout. Every moment on the bike or on the road or in the pool helps. Every single one.

And you know what else…? You can always tack extra time onto a workout when you’re not pressed.