Balance--Part 1

Tackling one more "short" run with my favorite running buddies in our favorite running spot: I can barely believe we get to run in beautiful scenery like this. Go South Dakota!

Much of what we accomplish at our house has to do with balance. And this off season in particular feels like practice for what looks like a really busy summer in 2014. But first it means figuring out what we need to be doing now and then doing it.

Yesterday I talked to one of our experienced friends and a trainer--Mr. Ironman himself. He has completed a handful of Ironmans and qualified for the World Championship three different times. We call him Yoda (for obvious reasons). Here's what I learned:

Offseason looks a little different for Mr. T. and myself right now simply because we have had different on-seasons. Mr. T. completed four half ironman distance races (70.3 miles each), while I ran a marathon. In June. Let's just say my summer looked more like an offseason than a race season. My "base" just simply doesn't exist. 

So we have different goals right now: Mr. T. needs to dial down, take a break, and give his mind and body a chance to recover; I need to build a base, which, according to both Yoda and the other experienced people in my life, means frequent but short sessions biking and swimming with running and strength training mixed in. This means a high frequency of my weaknesses with a focus on technique the entire time versus just putting some junk mileage in. So instead of a few medium-length workouts, I changed my schedule to include several short-length workouts.

Nutrition makes up the fourth discipline of triathlon, or so the experienced athletes say. In the world of triathlon, when people say "nutrition," they're basically referring to two different things: what they consume during a race and training session, and what they consume in regular life. Race and training nutrition do not matter at this point in the season, and I wondered about everyday nutrition as well. At this point in the conversation, a melody like the hallelujah chorus came from Yoda's end of the phone: don't worry about it right now. Clean it up after Christmas.

It's nice to know that Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners won't suffer from our absence.

This doesn't mean that we shun vegetables and ingest all things batter-dipped-and-deep-fried. But it does mean we don't feel guilty for the occasional cookie (or Jason's seasonal kryptonite: corn candy). As with all of this lifestyle, this fourth discipline rests on the concept of balance.

Last weekend also illustrated most likely how we'll accomplish training in season come May. On Friday early afternoon, with a boatload of my income-earning work to do, I left home. I retreated for an evening and a day to a secret place where no small children could bother me, and I came home with the weight of the world off my shoulders and a smile on my face (and arguably a better mom and wife as a result). Jason, meanwhile, uncharacteristically let the kids take over the house. He had important things to do as well: Kona was happening. I came home so relaxed that the toy debris scattered from one end to the other did not unravel my nerves. I had accomplished some great things.

Additionally, taking a break away from home made pumpkin painting the next night that much more enjoyable with the little blessings. Family time definitely feeds us more when we have other things we've taken care of first, and I couldn't have taken care of the income-earning job without Mr. T.'s sacrifice of time as well.

I am pretty sure this kind of give-and-take relationship has brought us the success we've had so far as parents, spouses, and athletes. And I anticipate this give-and-take relationship will help us survive and conquer hard training days come next summer. At this point I cannot imagine tackling such a big dream alone. The added bonus is I get to share it with my best friend.