No tips today, instead I’m going to tell you a story.
It begins with calendarizing. We all do it, right? Gotta plan races around family activities, local and travelling alike. This year I planned a Spring Break road trip with 3 families exploring central Florida, making sure to avoid all theme parks. Fun, right? Well…spring break was 2 weeks from my first race of the season, and this race just so happens to be one of my “A” races. Is this wise?
So, the dirty details: 31+ hours of driving in a week’s time, traveling with a 4-year old in addition to the six pre-teen and teen boys, switching hotels daily with the exception of one 2-night stay. I planned ahead and brought my wetsuit and goggles for the springs and beaches; I also packed running clothes. What could go wrong? ß my thought the morning of the trip.
I take full responsibility for the lounging around and partaking of adult beverages. I take full responsibility for sitting on the beach because the water was too cold. I own the sleeping in and the occasional afternoon beer by the pool. I dressed in running shoes a couple of times (didn’t run), packed my goggles when we parked at a beach, I even swam 49 yards while swimming with the manatees – and the 4 year old. Ha!
As we always tell our athletes though, families come first. We love to train and race, but for 99% of us it’s for fun, NOT our job. We do this crazy sport for the health and enjoyment benefits but never at the sacrifice of our families. Kids are only young once and spouses will only be patient with you for so long if you put sport before family. Now I’m not saying this was extremely smart or proper planning of my race calendar with the family calendar, but in order to maintain you must learn how to roll with the punches and adapt on the fly…just like what is required in racing.
So, you may be asking yourself, how did it work out? Stay tuned and next month I’ll give you a race report and let you know how bad the damage is…the race is Sunday ;)