Life comes first

Life comes first.

Not sure how many times I have said that to my athletes (hint: it is a lot), however, it is a message I continue to not take on for myself.

What I mean by life comes first is that sometimes, no matter how much you want to, training doesn't work out the way you had planned, life gets in the way, and when that happens it is okay. Training consistency is the aim, but sometimes life has other plans.

At the moment life seems to have other plans for me about once a week. My training load is currently solidish, about what I used to do when training for 70.3, however, the amount of time I have to fit that training in isn't what it used to be. Therefore, I am struggling to have the same consistency I used to. On average I am missing about one of my planned sessions per week. Not that bad, but if I am honest, it is enough to frustrate me, I have fairly high expectations of myself. This week full program compliance isn't completely out of the question, but it is a little shaky.

However, the reasons for this lower program compliance is simply life. Last week work got a bit crazy and this week I have had some pretty poor sleep. This has made fitting in the planned training kind of tough. While these missed sessions annoy me, if I am to practice what I preach, I need to learn to let them go and move on. Full compliance with training is great and beneficial, but in the bigger picture sport is meant to be a form of stress relief, not stress creation and so if it isn't doing that, then you need to examine your approach.

Sport should enhance life. However, in the end, life comes first.