It's been just over 3 weeks since I finished off my 2017 triathlon season at Ironman Louisville. The race went fairly well, with a solid swim, a strong bike, which followed with a bit of a collapse on the run. The same theme that has plagued all of my long distance racing this season. Not that my running has been terrible, it has just not been at the level that it has been at before and the level that I believe I am capable of. Nonetheless, I finished 13th female pro. My race season this past year (from June to October) consisted of 2 Olympic distance races, 2 Long Course races, 2 half-Ironmans and 2 Ironmans. And it was largely a success. Highlights included being the Multisport Triathlon Series Elite winner, Ontario Provincial Long Course Champ and Elite Long Course Triathlete of the year. This past summer was also one of the most stressful of my life, with lots of other obstacles unrelated to triathlon to overcome. But, I persisted through it all, knowing that triathlon is what I love and nothing (and no one) can stand in the way of me doing what I love.
The next step in my triathlon journey is to try to find the best balance between training, recovery, work, family and everything else. This past summer I tried to do too much of everything. This may have worked out ok in the short term, but I know it won't in the long term. So, I've decided to take a step back from long course racing in 2018. This will allow me more time to work on my running and allow a bit more time for rest, since I won't be cramming in long rides in the morning before I am on my feet for 5hrs or more. While I'm not thrilled about the fact that I won't get to race an Ironman next year, I do believe that this will help me in the long term. Tim Hurson said "We tend to overestimate what we can do in the short term and underestimate what we can do in the long term." If this is true, then I hope that by focusing on the long term and not trying to achieve too much in the near future, I can achieve my goals. If this plan doesn't make me a better triathlete, it will definitely make for a better balanced life.
I will try to post a bit more regularly about how I am going about finding this more balanced life.
Miranda, congrats on your season, no doubt a great sense of just how competitive it is at the very top of the triathlon pyramid. "This more balanced life" has intrigued me for some time given the last 12+ years I have been racing in Triathlon, trying to maintain a successful career and trying to be a great dad and husband. I would observe that there is no such thing as a balanced life and the attempt to find "balance" creates frustration and disappointment. The better question, is how imbalanced am I prepared to be at points in time to accomplish the goals that I have in front of me? Family, business, and sport (x3) are almost universally important to triathletes. If balance is defined as a historical record of time, then these three are unlikely to ever be balanced, just as our training in the 3 sports is usually never balanced - focus is put on where we need most attention or creates the greatest improvement torward achieving our triathlon goal. I think the rest of our life operates in the same manner. Our business objectives might require our attention 24/7 and during the course of this, our family and sport will suffer. The demands of our families can become 24/7 and of course business and sport will suffer. To be perfectly balanced doesn't exist, in my opinion, because of the living, breathing dynamic of each of these pursuits. Of course, imbalance can be painful too as those around you try to deal with your pursuit of the other objectives you have in place. What is imperative is that you communicate A LOT with those around you, particularly your family, and create an understanding around the objectives that you are trying to achieve. The willingness to work through defined periods of time where you have pushed the scales in one direction or the other will then be tolerated, if not embraced. As I said to my wife when I thought about doing my first ironman, "I want to do this but I am not sure it is the best time to do it given we have three kids under 12". She said "there is never going to be a best time, so if this is important to you, we will make it work for all of us" and I think we did, but rest assured that next year couldn't be described as balanced but nor could the time previously, when the focus was career and family and I had gained about 40 pounds.
ReplyDeleteGood luck as you make these life transitions.
Qb