Have you ever wondered how we manage to do this full time job part time athlete thing. Last night as I was motoring away at one of many things that need to be done around my place I started to wonder how do I mange to train while still maintaining a house.
It's interesting to see how each person manages to do it. Not all of us have the ability to not work and only worry about training. That's because most of us have never showed the talent to even consider that. So how do you do it? After talking with the coach next season my peak week of training will be around the 20hour mark. I only do that once or twice at that length but add that to a 40-50 hour work week. I do have someone of a perk of running a business that I can get out of work a little early some days but I also have a very physical job that really isn't a great recovery time. Some get a bonus of a desk job where the legs get time to recover, some are worst of working in construction etc.
Now we work hard to make money so that we can ride bikes lots but more of that money goes to living expense. Some in an apartment as for me well I have half an acre to take care of let alone a big old house. How do you do it. I look at the leaves in the front yard that I have yet had a chance to rake as I've been working hard in the evenings on the new shop for the business. Of course none of us want to be THAT neighbour that lets the grass grow for a month. I like to live in a nice house with a nice yard but sometimes wonder if it would be easier to be in a condo. Do they make condo's big enough for 8 bikes and a dog?? Oh wait they would get their own condo. Of course that would kill me as I love having my yard.
I'm not trying to complain but I'm asking for examples. What has to be compromised? I'm looking at all I've been doing the last couple weeks and the one big thing that changed is that I'm not riding my bike. Wow, had would I have had time. Now add in the factor of doing all the work yourself as I currently live alone. Some of us do, some do not. Molly does not pull her fair share of the weight around the house. She is great at making a mess but sucks at cleaning up, she normally just sleeps and moans when I need her to move to vacuum.
A continued thing would be the relationship side of things, how would there still be time for it. There are only 24 hours in a day and with work and chores where would that fit in. My lady friend has the timing right of us starting in the off season. This gives me all winter to ramp her up to the words "bye dear, going riding, back in about 5-6 hours" "followed bye those comments "no I don't want to go out late tonight, I'm tired can we just stare at that tree while my legs recover" My lady friend does get it and she does understand, which is hard for some. I got lucky.
So how do you do it? I'd love to hear how everyone else does it. The why part for me is easy. I love riding, I love racing, I love training (most times) and with all of the things I've just listed I do all of those things and still will make the time to ride a bike. The energy it brings me gives me energy to do other things. I do find that I have to compromise on the big projects that need to be done. I could pay someone else to build that deck or repaint the storm windows but it's things I can do myself. Why would I do it. Why would I pay someone huge money to landscape the yard when I would rather do it myself. This gives me more money for racing/riding/bike stuff but it does slow the process down.
That said, the new shop is coming along great. A few more things that need to be done before the snow flies then I'll be inside building walls and cutting down walls. I'm planning on riding this weekend, hoping mother nature will be nice and give me some half decent conditions.
Tell me your stories or your reasons why you do this. Time for that work thing!
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4 comments:
I make it work by living in squalor in the batcave and shirking all responsibility.
Not necessarily recommended but it works for me. Oh and as for relationships, it helps if they are smitten with bikes too.
Good Luck Matt!
If and when you figure out the relationship thing let me know,
"When you figure out the relationship thing let Andrew know..."
Yeah, let Watson know so that he can move on and have a man crush on another guy.
Nice post!
Cleaning - rarely
House stuff - only what I enjoy (e.g. gardening)
Training - well, I have priorities and fun is higher on the list than good results, therefore it's: ride as much as time allows, rather than a structured plan.
Relationship - we train/ride together. Otherwise, we'd never get to see each other. (priorities, again).
On that last point, I should mention that we've always done lots of ride time together, even when I was a much crappier rider. Thank you, Mr. Monster for your patience! Without that, I probably wouldn't have become better. And thus more fun to ride with.
I recommend easing the lady friend into riding. Some nice rail trails, beautiful road rides, easy swoopy trails... Until she gets really confident on the bike, rule #1 (seriously - this was our rule for YEARS) is that she leads. (Rule 1.5 - don't "coach" more than once a ride.) That way you'll actually ride together and she won't feel lost and inadequate. You can still get a lot of training benefit from this. It improves your bike handling skills tremendously. You can work on power when going slowly. Keep it in the big ring even when she's in a granny up hills. Also improves your trackstand skills.
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