Balance

I didn't go for a run tonight. It had been my plan, but I had a meeting go rather late and by the time I got home it was 6:30pm and my urge to go running was pretty low (plus it wasn't really practical). In the end I was sort of happy to give the run a miss, so no big stress, but it bring to mind the topic of work/life balance.

This isn't so much a post about priorities and getting out of work early and spending more time training and with family etc. I think deep down we all want that and know it is better for us, but sometimes the reality is that we can't get out of work as early as we want, we can't fit that session in when we would like.

This post is more about the importance of realistic expectations and planning.

Every working athlete I know is faced with the same dilemma, they can't always train as much as they would like. For sports that reward time commitment with improvement (like Triathlon), it can be very frustrating knowing that you aren't training as much as you feel you could or as much as you want too. For most of my working career I have been very lucky, flexible work and an understanding family has meant that I have been able to get in a lot of training. But even I struggle to train to the plan on some days (today being an example). That is not a bad thing, and it isn't something to be frustrated about, it is simply called life.

For most athletes, what I feel is more important is that we look at what their capacity is in our planning and make a realistic plan taking that capacity into account. There are few things more annoying for an athlete than having a planned session that they can't get too because of work/study/life. With my athletes, if we know that work (or study) is going to be very busy for a period, we will instead plan to lighten off training, plan for a realistic load. This means we can plan a program built around the lighter load (perhaps use it as a recovery period) and it also means that the athlete isn't dealing with the frustration of missing a programmed session. This in turn reduces the stress on the athlete as they aren't trying to cram training in and they also aren't dealing with the guilt of missed sessions.

This concept also holds true if the busy period is extended.

If the period of heavy commitment is a bit longer, say a month or two then we will try and take that into account in the race schedule, planning races into a period where there is more time available, reducing the frustration associated with the busy period.

If the heavy work period is extended, as in months, or even years, then we will reset our goals and our priorities to account for that time commitment. An example of that is a couple of athletes where we shifted their goals from 70.3 to marathon running. A marathon is still am massive personal achievement and a great challenge, but generally requires less training hours than a 70.3 or an Ironman, making it easier to fit in.

In the end having a busy work schedule can be a frustration, but it shouldn't be a barrier to exercise and having a fulfilling and enjoyable time doing it. Sometimes it just take a bit of planning.