The life of an Ironman Age-Grouper

 

Everyone has their own set of challenges, be they the beggar trying to figure out where his next meal comes from or the businessman juggling an overfull diary to squeeze in a vital meeting, but for me the average age-grouper training for Ironman faces some of the toughest, particularly with reference to balancing work, family and training.

A little over a year ago I was presented with the idea of doing Ironman South Africa and while it was an ambitious undertaking, the fact that I came from a competitive cycling background allowed me to believe that it would not be an insurmountable task.

Like many of you out there I have a family consisting of a wife and two young children, a job that entails long commutes and an unexplainable desire to push my body to the limits in what can only be described as one of the most gruelling single day events around, Ironman.

So how does one balance all these time consuming factors and still manage to put in a reasonable performance? Well it is never going to be easy but with a little support from the loved ones, an aggressive approach to getting work done and plenty of early mornings and late nights you can do it, if only just!

During a recent work team building exercise we were asked to describe a typical day in our lives and then compare it to everyone else’s to determine how we could improve our own time management skills. I immediately, and somewhat reluctantly, became the model for everyone to follow. I say reluctantly because I believe there is still room for improvement. Until every minute of the day is filled with a specific task, including rest, I have not achieved perfection but then again it’s exactly this kind of statement that speaks volumes about my mentality and the way that I approach life.

So what drives me to get up at 4am to go training for 2 hours in the dark? Simply put the fact that I need to be home by 6:30am to take my eldest son to school on the way to work. Its the same reason I work single minded, oblivious of the goings on around me, in order that I can leave at 5pm and drive to the gym and swim for an hour before going home. I only have 2-3 hours per day to train in and that simply has to be enough, no excuses, no lies, just get it done and make it count.

Come weekends I don’t take it any easier, in fact it gets even harder because there are more important family responsibilities to be taken care of. That means getting up at the same time and making your training fit around taking the kids to sporting events, doing the shopping, fixing things round the house and probably most importantly, spending quality time with loved ones whose support in unwavering in times of need.

I try and instil this same mentality in my children, one where anything is possible as long as you are passionate about your goal and are prepared to do the hard work to get there.

So am I unique, most definitely not, we the age-groupers out there far outnumber the pro athletes (whose lives are equally as difficult and whom I do not envy as its certainly easier not being part of their ranks) and I am sure that all the above applies to the majority of our lives. We all experience the same challenges and how you deal with them, along with a good dose of genetics, determine how you successful you are come race day.

There are two quotes that keep me motivated and speak volumes about the way that I approach my training;

• “Somewhere in the world someone is training when you are not. When you race him, he will win.” - Tom Fleming
• “Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.” - Lance Armstrong

To all of you out there, live to the full but don’t lose sight of what is most important to you. You have one chance in life; make sure that at the end of it you don’t have reason to look back with regret.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 10th, 2007 at 8:17 am and is filed under 2006, Frankland Robin, Lance Armstrong, Tom Fleming, blog, blogging, blogs, culture, diary, family, inspiration, love, motivation, triathlon, work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.