3 Struggles

God, family, relationships, work, chores, house work, etc all take lots of time; precious time; good time. Trying to squeeze triathlon training into the mix hasn't been much of an issue for me until recently. The magnitude of Ironman training is a whole new beast. Sprint triathlon training and even half-ironman training is fairly doable but wow, ironman training takes a good portion out of your day. There are several things that I am currently struggling with. Let me explain...

 

  First of all you are all well aware at this point that I am a Christian. I strongly feel that the greatest work to be done on this earth is to prepare others and myself for "Home". I definitely have hope for something way better beyond this life on earth. My beliefs, my hope in a better life, my faith in a loving, forgiving God is what gives me the courage to keep going. This world is ugly, cruel, and down right despicable. So, where am I going with this spiritual stuff? What in the world does it have to do with the Ironman? It actually has alot to do with Ironman. Training can take so much of your time, your energy and your thoughts. If you're not careful it will take away from your relationship with God. I have made a pact that if my training negatively effects my spiritual life I have to stop. I have to be done!!! I am determined to stick to this pact. Life isn't about training and doing an ironman. Life is about relationships. 

 

My second struggle is trying to stay one step ahead of exhaustion. I find myself just barreling into the week-end; stop just enough to breathe and then start all over again. I feel like exhaustion is knocking at my door and just waiting to come in. I fight it but sometimes I lose. It's a fear of mine because several years ago I experienced overtraining which resulted in taking four years off from the triathlon sport. After four years of focusing more on hiking and backpacking I came back to triathlons feeling refreshed and ready to go. I do not ever want to experience overtraining again; it was horrible (I will devote an entire post to that experience in the future).  Anyway, I am definitely finding it hard to keep up with part-time jobs, being a full-time mama and keeping up with all the house duties. BUT I'm not going to give up!!! I'm going to take a look at my schedule again and see what I can do differently in order to get a little more sleep. :-) It's going to be even more important to get my rest/recovery when my training picks up this spring/summer.

 

 My third struggle is just simply trying to stay balanced with all things. Haha!!! Impossible!!! I'm joking with myself to even think I am capable of doing such a thing. It feels good to list it here; at least I acknowledge that balance is needed. Do I get some credit for that? In most area's of my life I can be very balanced but in some area's of my life I like to go extreme one way or the other. My mom always said I was/am a swinging pendulum. This unbalanced approach in several area's of my life can not only take away from my spiritual life but can also leave me exhausted.

 

So as you can see my top 3 struggles are all related and intertwined. I just have to do something about it....now!!!

 

 

Smiles.