When my kids were babies, the big theme on blogs, parenting books and general advice I received from other moms was: Get your baby on a schedule and stick to it. So naturally, that’s exactly what I set out to do with both of my girls. As infants, neither one of them seemed to want to follow the schedule I wanted them to follow and when I finally got them on a good schedule we had activities/events that would fall during their usual nap time. As someone who loves schedules, I quickly learned we would have to be flexible and balance what worked best for the girls with our other commitments/activities.
This is a lesson that I was slow to apply to my triathlon training. As a working mom and two very active kids, I live by our planned calendar. So when there is a large wrench thrown into my perfectly planned schedule it is frustrating. Earlier in the year when I was starting to train for my 2019 races, I let those wrenches (usually bad weather) derail my training plans. I would move around kid activities/plans to accommodate the bad weather (or what ever else came up), at the cost of my training. The result was me feeling horrible during the run part of the first triathlon of the season.
Part of this is remembering to make myself a priority. Something many of us mom’s have heard from different places, but something that I have always found so hard to do in practice. How can I put something I want to do for myself ahead of something my kids might need? There are three key things I have done since that first race that have helped me generally keep to my training schedule since then (and helped me produce a better overall race in my second triathlon this year).
First, I took a look at what my kids really need against what I need. I realized there were enough hours in the day if we just adjusted a few things and if I was not afraid to ask for help. While all the moms I know are super moms, none of us can do this all on our own (especially if you have more than one kid). We all need a little help sometimes. I’ve noticed that since I’ve started to do this, my girls have realized how much we do for them. They are a lot more appreciative of the things we do for them, as they start to realize what is needed from us to get them to their practices, lessons and other activities.
Second, since my husband and I both compete in races, we have gotten our kids involved. They are old enough to actually compete in events themselves (or in some cases as a team with us). So on days when I need to do a swim in the evening, I take the kids along and they play in the pool. Recently, I was proud to see that since they saw me swimming laps they wanted to practice their own strokes to improve their swim skills (without me having to “force” them to practice). We’ve also gone on family runs and bike rides. It motivates the girls, is exciting for me and my husband to see them make progress and is a fun family activity where we get to spend time together while training.
Finally, on my training plan I highlighted the key workouts (the ones I cannot miss/skip) and evaluate the results. If I can’t get to the pool on Monday for my key swim workout, I reschedule it for Tuesday and adjust my other training accordingly. When I know a storm is coming, I move my key bike rides to other days or switch it to our indoor trainer. In June, I did quite a few runs in the rain (something it turns out I enjoyed more than I thought I would). It’s against my nature (as I love my schedule), so this one is still a work in progress.
Additionally, I sit down at the end of the week and evaluate my progress. If I think my swimming is lacking or I’m not spending enough time on the bike, then I adjust the schedule for the next week accordingly. I’ve learned that not all of the sports within a triathlon have a 1:1 correlation between time spent training and improvement. Given my limited training time, I need to constantly evaluate the results of the training and decide if I have to refocus my training the following week vs blindly following the plan I put in place a month earlier.
Triathlon, and more importantly the training, continues to be a great learning experience – where lessons learned can be applied across other areas of my life. And as with life – the balancing act is truly a team effort!
Happy racing!
- Working Mother Triathlete
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