ISO Cycling/Family Man Mentor...
This is my open letter to those who have ridden farther, for more years, and have more knowledge than I do on how to balance biking and this thing called life:
Question: How the $@#$ do you guys/gals do it? Minus leaving the house at 3:30 in the morning to get 5 to 6 hours in, I don't see any other way. If you have a significant other, kids, jobs, etc...how do you make the time and how do you keep the household from exploding?
As an example, I love the 10:00 am Saturday ride from Rock Creak...love it. It's one of those measuring stick rides that allows you to see where you're at against some of the top local riders. Problem is, to do that ride I have to leave the house at aprox 9:00 am to ride up there and I usually don't get back till just before 2:00 pm. That's 5 hours of peak "getting stuff done time" on a Saturday...Brunch, trips to Frager's, cleaning around the house, etc...and I don't have kids either. I started the ride this past Saturday, but had to duck out early as my time to use my "go out and play" pass was quickly expiring.
Thing is, I understand both sides. I like to ride the bike, especially when I'm feeling fit. I also really like group rides (I can't motivate myself to ride by myself...it's a problem). So biking is a priority and I make time to do it. On the other hand, I wouldn't want to spend a week suffering at working and then, once the weekend comes around, not get to spend any time with the person I love. Having to wait till 2pm to say good morning to your significant other sucks. That clicked Saturday, so I stayed home on Sunday and had a great day hanging with Kari and getting stuff done. The fitness may have suffered a little, but the enjoyment of the day more than made up for it.
Anyway, the big question is how do you do both? How do you get in your training (especially the long rides) and also keep the homestead in a peaceful state? How do you explain to someone, "look, i need to go out and ride my bicycle for 5 hours once a week"? Can you help a brother out?
Cheers.
6 comments:
Jesse,
Whatever you do, don't take advice from Harry, or you'll never be able to ride again.
He's a good example of how family life and work prevent him from riding a lot more than he'd like.
http://donttrainlikeme.blogspot.com/
Good to see you coming down Anglers on Sat. I did x3 intervals up Anglers, and then x6 intervals up GF Park before heading home.
Missed ya on the ride yesterday, but rode with a bunch of your Rt1 peeps.
Tell your boys, I'll work with them in any race.
I was a little bummed about missing the 8:30 ride yesterday...I knew a bunch of them were going. Would have been fun.
I was racing home when I saw you to try to get back before 1:00...next time I might join you for some intervalls (I know I need them).
Jesse. I know this is a tough one for a lot of guys. I'm lucky in the sense that my Wife totally supports my riding. I can offer these thoughts though. All off season, I've been doing group rides, 70 mile hill rides in Frederick, double Sat morning rides. The way Roberta and I handle it is, she does things around the house, some shopping, or other "me" stuff. When I get off my ride, we have a stnading date to meet for lunch at Tyson's, do a little shopping, pick up some movies and stuff, then spend the rest of the day / evening together. On rainy days, we go to spin class together. We have settled into a rythym where I can "own" my time on the bike without any guilt at all. For me, that's the only way I can throw down the way I want. I happily give back in other ways, like doing all the grocery shopping after rides, and scheduling quality time together. She knows riding hard is critical to me; and I know that being best friends and doing stuff together is important to both of us. When the weather gets good, we will ride together at least once a week. Lastly, Bert goes to races with me all the time, so she meets people and gets to see some results (hopefully) from all that saddle time. We have fun with it.
Jesse.
Karen here, and new to blogging. Get a coach, saves you time in the long run in the sense that they can create a program that fits your needs and goals. It has helped me train smarter (by not overtraining) and it takes the guess work out of what to do on certain days of the week. You review the race season pick which races are your 'A' races etc. and work a schedule.
BTW you won't lose any fitness by 'resting' a day!! Oh and don't forget how lucky you are to have met someone who loves and supports you no matter what!
Cheers, Karen
Karen is right about one thing...I am very luck to have Kari.
I think I might be too into riding with group rides and other people to be able to follow a coaching program. What happens on the "easy day" but everyone else is ready to rock on the shop ride?? I wouldn't have the discepline to hold back (even though its probably what's best).
Congrats on the blog!
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