Competing against Life
When it comes to running (or swimming and biking), we’re in a constant state of competition. Competing against the clock. Our Garmin. Mother Nature – heat, humidity, wind, rain. Self-doubt. Nerves. The person next to us. Ourselves.
During the last 2 weeks, I’ve been competing against life.
You may have noticed I haven’t shared my last 2 weeks of half Ironman training (weeks #11 and #12) with you. That’s because they’ve been mediocre at best as I’ve competed against prior commitments, hectic travel schedules, a nasty head cold and family vacation. Fitting in training around the obstacles of life has been a real challenge recently. And no matter who you are or how long you’ve been training and racing, it always will be.
Whether you’re training for your first 5K or your fifth Ironman, life is always going to be the one factor that gets in your way. And you should let it (at least sometimes). Because if you choose triathlon training over an epic race experience like the Hood to Coast Relay or your dad’s 60th surprise birthday party in Key West or getting to see friends you only see once a year, you’re losing a lot more than a few workouts on the bike or speed sessions in the pool. You’re missing out on what’s most important in life: memories with the people you love most, moments you can’t rewind or take back.
When life gets hectic, just keep doing the best you can do. Fit in the most you can fit in and keep moving forward. Don’t dwell on the long ride you had to miss because your plane was delayed and you spent 10 hours traveling to get home (yes, that happened last week). Get over the fact that you were sick for 5 days and took 2 rest days instead of one and chose to sleep extra to get better (yes, that happened last week). Be grateful for the workouts you did get in while on vacation, like an 8-mile run on the beach (yes, that happened last week) or the brick you squeezed in at 5 a.m. before you left (yes, that happened last week).
When life comes calling and messes with your training schedule, keep working hard, do the best you can, stay committed. But don’t forget to enjoy the moments outside your training, take breaks to experience something more important, and every once in a while, just give in to life.
And then get back at it.
Do you constantly find yourself in a battle between training and life? How do you balance it all?
Comments
When I was in school, I found it difficult to train and deal with school at the same time. Exam time usually led me to neglect training and indulging in poor eating habits. Though running has also helped me deal with stress, and I learned to use my running time as a time in the day to de-stress and refocus.
I LOVE this! We are our own worst enemies and I think it’s so common in our society to try and fit to a strict schedule. If I’ve learned anything in the last year, things don’t go according to YOUR plan. Life ALWAYS gets in the way. I think your message about missing out on LIFE if you choose a workout over actually living is so so true. Great post.
I’m impressed with what you did fit in in those busy times! I’d never have done it I’m sure.
I do find myself letting life get in the way but a lot of the time I find I make it a bigger deal than it needs to be – for one reason or another. It’s something I’m trying to address at the moment.
x
Totally agree with this post! I do struggle with this but I have gotten better about letting myself be ok with missing workouts or taking several rest days during vacation, etc. I am going on my honeymoon in October for 2 weeks and probably won’t run a single step but that’s ok – I purposely don’t have any big races on the schedule for this reason and even if I did, it’s my freaking honeymoon and clearly that’s more important than any race!
Yes, enjoy your honeymoon Nicole!!! I think my hubby and I worked out once or twice on ours, but it was VERY minimal 🙂 Hope it is wonderful!
Thank you for this…as someone who considers myself “average”, and blame my fallback weeks on that, I like knowing that people I really look up to athletically also have those weeks. Sometimes life trumps training. And then we get back to it.
I feel like competing against life is a really common thing for me, So I understand where you are at. I actually dealt with it a lot this late spring/early summer while I was training for my first half iron- My training weeks were either awesome or just really blah because of work and life. But you are an incredibly strong athlete and know you are still going to get back on track and get to the finish line of 70.3 in an incredible time.
I’ve started realizing and accepting this year that life happens, and as much as I love everything I do….training, working, life in general can create a hectic mess- but its’ better than the alternative and sometimes you just have to take things as they come!
Great advice. Somtimes it’s hard to break your plans or schedule but memories with people you love are just as (if not way more) important than a perfect training session. Accepting life happens has definitely helped keep me sane in college.
Georgie
This post was exactly what I needed today. I have been giving myself a hard time for missing a couple workouts earlier this week and this reminded that I just need to let that be okay!
I was beating myself up for slacking on my workouts this week so this post was perfect! Life happens 🙂
So true. It can be hard to fit in everything, but you just have to do your best with the time you have. Right now I feel like I’m competing against my sick body. I really haven’t rested like I should and so this cold is dragging out much longer than it should if I simply rested.
I hope you feel better soon, Sarah! Working out while sick is the worst! Try to get some rest! xo
I’m always battling it out with life and my training schedule. I haven’t gone out for a run in a few days and it is looking like tonight might be a big “maybe” as well. Now that I have to commute for the next couple of weeks – the 2 hrs I have to spend in the car kills my time to train (I do not run in the dark). I’m hoping to get back to a more regular schedule afterwards.
What a great post! I think everyone struggles with the issue, and you addressed it perfectly. You will NEVER get back those precious moments with your Dad and family at Key West, and that race you did in Oregon is something you will NEVER forget! Unless you are a professional triathlete who gets paid to work out 8 hours a day, life is going to get in the way of your training schedule and all you can do is to realize that you are doing the best you can. I have three little kids at home and if I can’t get a scheduled workout in, oh well, life goes on. I always try to remember that the reward is in the training to get to the big race, and I feel success when I show up to the race and know I did the best I could to get the training in to get there. Congrats to you to realizing that although training is important, family and friends always must come first. You will still do AMAZING at your race!
Great post, Jesica! I agree that it is so important to sometimes just enjoy life and not worry so much about training. You need to have the fun times with your family and friends.
Training now for my first half marathon, and trying to find the balance between getting out super early (for me – 5:15) and getting my runs in before my husband leaves for work, and then being home with 3 kids during the day. Hard not to get tired and crabby, but I don’t want to skip any runs. And since the hubster doesn’t get home until around bedtime, I can’t go to bed super early or I won’t talk to him until October!! I’m sure it will work out, but it’s nice hearing that we all struggle with the balance sometimes.
I love this post. It is so true. Life is important and all those people that we are excluding during our training are the ones that support us the most. We gotta give back to them (and to ourselves)!
[…] Competing Against Life. Ever have to make the choice between your training and your non-athletic life? We all do. Jesica […]
Great post Jesica. This reminds me of a quote I saw recently:
“Successful training is 70% time management and 30% commitment. More than half the battle is intentionally protecting your training time.” – Mike Logan
Of course, sometimes you have to adjust. I’m doing that this weekend for a weekend family getaway to the mountains.
I love that quote, Tom. Thanks so much for sharing it! Very, very true! Good luck with your training on your weekend away.