Juggling Act

For me, this is the toughest time of year to keep a consistent training schedule together. The winter and early spring months are traditionally the busiest at work… the boys transition from basketball to baseball seasons… volunteer activities are in full gear… daylight is limited and outdoor training conditions are pretty nasty… and racing season seems SO far away! It takes a pretty serious commitment to remain disciplined. It probably wouldn’t be possible to stay consistent if I didn’t truly enjoy exercise or have such a passion for the sport.

But consistency is the key. There’s a good quotation in the book “Going Long” (Friel and Byrn) by former IM world champ, Scott Molina; “Little and often fills the purse.” My interpretation - Getting some exercise every day is far better than making excuses some days and loading others up.

There will come a period this year (beginning of May through Father’s Day) when training for Ironman becomes my main focus. Until then it’s about effective time management as I juggle a bunch of priorities.

I bump into a number of folks who think this training regimen is downright selfish. I must be sacrificing my family or my vocation (career), right? Wrong! In fact, nothing has taught me how to focus on what’s most important in life, or given me a better sense of perspective, or given me a deeper thankfulness, than participating in life so fully. Taking time and energy to focus on destructive speech and action simply is not an option. What channel is “American Idol” on, anyway? I hear so much about it… Sure seems like it exudes a lot of negative energy. I’d rather talk to my kids or do some sit-ups.