Part of Life

There was a period in my life where every thing I did revolved around the sport of triathlon. I was studying Human Movement, coaching individual athletes and squads, working in a sports store and competing. Even what I ate and how I spent any spare time was all somehow geared towards the sport. Gradually reality caught up with me and I realised I wasn't fast enough to make money as an athlete. Then came the realisation I was no longer enjoying what I was doing. Too much of a good thing perhaps.


So I made the decision to add more to my life. As a result I've changed careers more than once. Played around a bit with endurance sports. Importantly I've also found plenty of enjoyment in things unrelated to sport.


Determination, discipline and passion have been things I've been told I have. This can depend on your viewpoint. It is easy to put in the work if you enjoy what you are doing. I have also been told I am obsessive or too single-minded. So while I have a history of planning every minute of training and putting in countless hours, I also can be extremely lazy, or forgetful in other areas.


Now my focus has changed yet again. From a training and racing perspective my main goal is to get the most out of a limited time commitment. This I put at 6-10 hours per week. Instead of working towards one big race, I simply aim to work on an ever increasing fitness and performance level. A level that I can race off at short notice. Mixed into all of this I also wish to enhance other areas of fitness. Move away a bit from the specificity of my previous training.


The training should enhance my life. Enable me to better participate in all other areas instead of take over, or take me away them. While I have many reasons to make these decisions, there is one key factor. My wife and I are expecting our daughter to be born in September this year. I turn my passions towards being the best I can be for her and my wife.

Comments

  1. Ewen31 May 2008 at 08:53

    That's great news Jason - congratulations! I can't think of a better thing to turn your passion towards than being a great parent.

    Re doing well on minimal training - I'm always inspired by Southy from our group who trains minimal (intense) hours and is amongst best for her age in Australia.

    Garmins are good fun - I find mine most useful for checking training distances. Nice work on the half - 1:28:10 is a time many runners dream about.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike1 June 2008 at 04:34

    Congratulations!!! ... good luck on getting 6-10 hrs training in come September :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. ace4 June 2008 at 13:43

    Congrats on both the upcoming birth of your daughter and a very, very insightful viewpoint about the balance of training and life, and the enjoyment of both. Train well...

    ReplyDelete

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