Finding Balance

One of the hardest things that I face everyday is how to find balance in my life. If I'm focused on my family, my my web development/business, work, coaching and training lose their focus, and vice versa. I can always find some way to justify myself that where I am at is right. My focus is usually driven by motivation, not necessarily what is the right decision at the time. Obviously my priorities are family, coaching/business, training, and work. Yep, work is last, though very much needed to support my family. Often I justify that if I can get the business/coaching off the ground now, I will have more time for family. Suffer now and reap the awards later - not necessarily the case, but I certainly hope so. My logic is I want to put 100% into everything I do an dedicate myself to it 100%, but in reality, I can put 100% into it 30% of the time. Wouldn't change what I have for the world - I love the challenge and the fulfillment I have going to bed completely spent. How do you find balance?

Steelhead 70.3 Race Report

Woke up at 5:00 AM, loaded up my Perpetuem and aero drink, and ate my PB and J before making the 1/2 mile trek down to the transistion area. I had an hour and a half before the transition closed so I had plenty of time. I stepped out into the cool morning breeze and walked down to the race site. I heard some rumors that the lake was pretty choppy, but I put those thoughts in the back of my mind as I set up my area and sipped on my Gatorade. As the sun came up I headed down to the lake. WOW, they weren't kidding, there were 2-3 foot swells and the boats were having a hard time moving through the water. Oh well I thought, it is what it is and it should be a good challenge as I began the 1 mile walk down the beach to the start line. Just as I reached to race start the race director had decided to cancel the swim and replace it with a 2.1 mile run. I was a little disappointed because the swim was going to be challenging, but relieved for those who have little open water experience.

2.1 mile run - After an hour delay, the run was on. I was in wave 12 and there were 4 minutes between wave starts. The run was a hilly run and I decided to take it easy and not go all out, especially because I had about 69 miles ahead of me. I did see a lot of people going all out which I didn't understand at all. Toward the end of the run we had to run through about 50-100 yards of sand which makes things much more difficult. Time - 16:35

Bike - I was impressed with the bike course overall, a few of the roads were a little rough, but had great scenery. I felt really solid through the bike course and kept the effort at a 5-6 RPE and focused on a smooth pedal stroke and kept the nutrition and hydration plan. I do thing the course was short by about 2 miles, but beat my previous time by about 15 minutes - time - 2:52

Run - I think I may have pushed too hard on the bike or wasn't in the condition I wanted to be for the run because I really struggled here. I started running for the first mile then walked/ran for the next 12 trying to get my bearings. The legs were really tight and aching at this point. After running the first loop I decided to suck it up and cranked out 4 miles at a 9:00 minute pace - after that I knew I only had 3-4 miles left. The last few miles were a combination of a walk/run and a battle to get to the finish line. The last 100 yards of running in the sand was brutal, but on the horizon was the finish line. As I crossed the finish line I felt relieved. The course was hillier than expected. Time - 2:35.

Overall - 5:50, PR'd by 45 minutes!! (of course there was no swim so that would factor into this)

Much improvement from last year, but still more to go. Overall it was a great race and one I will consider doing in the future.