It Takes A Village

Last week's workouts:

Wed:  Run 4.7 miles

Sat:  Run 10.0 miles (second long-ish Saturday run in a row where I felt better than I have for at least a year - good pace, low heart rate, physically comfortable, etc.)

Reached 10,000 steps each day, and sprinkled core workouts here and there

My wife went out of town last weekend to run a race with some friends, so I was thrust into the role of single parent.  My kids are 14 (almost) and 9 now, so this is hardly the job that it was when they were 6 and 1.  That said, I was done at the end of the day between a full-time job, homework, dinner, laundry, the dog, sporting events, etc.  I don't know how I would manage to have a full time job, be a good parent, AND get a quality workout in each day, although I know people who do it, and I admire them!

Because of my “other duties as assigned," I only got 2 workouts done last week.  I made a conscious decision to bag a few workouts in order to go to a band concert, attend the monthly STL Tri Club meeting, play catch/kickball with my son, shoot baskets with my daughter, and to take the kids out to dinner after their final basketball games of the winter season.  I don’t regret those decisions one bit, because I’m their Dad and it’s my job.  Plus, I’m still in the “off-season” and I’m not always going to have the time to do all of these things come summer.  Some of the sights from last week:

Festival of Bands 

Busy day at the NG playground for some hot kickball action 

Shooting baskets with Emily 

Torturing the kids by making them drink a green juice with their dinner

Spending time with my puppers 

KJBL action (Adam's #33)

Emily's last game EVER with the Running Rebels - next stop KHS

So last week got me thinking - while I am the one who has to put in the quality training sessions to successfully complete Ironman Louisville this summer, the journey to the finish line requires help from an entire village of people (but not The Village People). 

This was something I thought about before registering for the race, and having the support of my wife was critical.  She was extremely supportive and told me to go for it.  The fact that she is a marathoner and aspiring triathlete certainly helps, because she knows what it is like to train.  She's also a realist - she knows there will be times where my training schedule is annoying, and she plans to 'get over it."  Perhaps some well timed laundry, date nights, or pedicures, or trips to Europe will help smooth things out.

Certainly there will be times where I will come home from work, eat dinner, go ride/run, and then pass out only to wake up and be out of the house by 5am the next day.  There will be baseball games that I cannot be at or miss part of due to an 80-mile ride + run brick that needs to get done.  There will be Sunday afternoon long runs to acclimate to the heat.  There will be a few weekends of tune-up races that will interfere with our summer plans.

The inconvenience of Ironman will also impact the kids.  They know their Dad will be gone or missing parts of their activities.  They also will have to deal with me trying to drag them out of the house for part of a run (for their own good!) although I'm not sure if they realize this part yet.  My friends and coworkers will have to hear endless babble about swim intervals, brick workouts, mechanical failures, races, etc. because it will be all consuming for the next 6 months.  My boss will be impacted as my schedule flexes to accommodate weather, pool, and training schedules.  My training partners will have to deal with swerving to avoid the gallons of sweat I will produce.  This doesn't take into account the bike techs, shoe fitters, dietitians, members of my triathlon club, friends in Floyds Knobs, and others who may be helping me to achieve my goal.

So as the beginning of the training calendar nears, I am cognizant of the stress this journey will place on those around me, and I am appreciative of their support and sacrifice.  I pledge to honor them by crossing that finish line on August 24th sometime short of 17:00:00 with my arms held high, a smile on my face, and hopefully I'll be singing this song (one of my new favorites):