This Sunday, I am going to be a speaker in a panel called “Try the Tri”. One of the questions asks “how do you balance training with work and the rest of your life?”. To that question, I say there are many different priorities that people have.

Training/exercise is a pretty important important part of my life. I am not a professional athlete or a fast age grouper, I just happen to be a middle-of-the-pack-ster who really enjoys the sport.

So, I have taken certain steps in my life so that my life situation is conducive to training and an active lifestyle.

Family: I married an endurance athlete. He pushes me to train and vice versa - obviously, he is supportive (and that is also why he sought a partner similar to himself) so the more I train and race, the more he does and the happier we both are. Thankfully, in our marriage, there’s no such thing as “lockdown” (ie “oh you’re training way too much and not spending enough time with me”) because we spend a lot of time together in our hobby. We are not having children, but instead we adopted a doggie named Louie who we love very much and who loves to run with us (he does 14 mile runs with us and isn’t even tired!). Also, my brother is a fast age-grouper triathlete and we make family trips out of racing which is great.

Work: I got a job that is conducive to training. I’m a graphic designer and the first three and a half years I did triathlon, I was self-employed so my schedule was flexible and I could train and travel whenever I wanted to - plus, I could work from wherever. Now I am employed full-time, but I made sure it was in an environment that would not interfere with my training.

I am not too “work-driven”…I basically work so that it covers expenses to eat healthily, live in a nice area, train, travel, and shop. It is not important to me whether I have a mansion or amass millions of dollars. Obviously, it is important that I enjoy what I am doing, which I do, however, there needs to be a balance and I think that in our culture here in the U.S., too much importance is placed on work/career/money/power and it sacrifices other aspects of life that make it enjoyable.

My organization encourages employees to be healthy and active (not that I need that type of motivation, but it is a good indicator of their values). The work-week is 35 hours and lunch is a full hour, but is flexible with training (ie if I take longer, I just work a little later which is no big deal). There is almost-free access to their state-of-the art gyms and I get a lot of vacation time to travel to my races and training camps. They appreciate that while I am there, I work very hard, but they are really good about respecting their employee’s time and that they have a life outside of work, so they don’t make people work ridiculous hours.

Furthermore, there is a group of employees who are triathletes and/or runners and often we train together at lunch. It’s also nice to see my department head at a race because I know that being active and having a balanced life is a priority for her too and will reflect upon the culture at work.

One thing, though, is the gym where the pool is is a little old and ratty. Not dirty, just that it was built in the 40’s. Swimming is my weakest sport, and I need to do it a lot. I go swimming at lunch, sometimes with a friend, but usually by myself, so I really don’t push myself much. I just signed up for a master’s swim class at a really nice gym - but - it is EARLY. For those of you who know me, I am not a big morning person, but I suppose that paying a few hundred dollars to go to these classes encourages me to “maximize my investment” by sucking it up and waking up at 5am. The workouts are very challenging, but hopefully that will make me faster. I am hoping that I get used to the schedule, especially with the time change, because I am a bit tired all the time now. I do feel a good sense of accomplishement having been awake for 4 hours before starting work, though. I just need to turn into a “Morning Person” like my mom and probably a lot of triathletes.