A Healthy Balance (Is it a Myth?)

Oh how I’ve missed blogging! I had some time this morning and got on the computer to catch my faithful readers up on where I’ve been lately. As I was typing, it dawned on me that my theme seemed to be how busy I’ve been lately and how I’ve been struggling to find that comfortable balance between being a working mother, training for a triathlon, half-marathon, etc, and attempting to have somewhat of a social life, all at the same time.

So what have I been doing? Well, a few days after my first triathlon, I went on vacation to Disney World with my 4-year old son, my good friend Allison, and her family. It was awesome. Ever I since I got back, though, it seems as if I have not slowed down. I’ve figured out in the last few months that I am a touch obsessive. When I started training for a sprint triathlon, I didn’t expect it to become such a huge part of my life. However, I find myself trying to find time to get training in and, let me assure you all, triathlon training is time consuming. Actually, ANY training program is time consuming. When I was training for my first half-marathon last year, I loved almost every minute of it, but I was glad to have it over with to take a rest. I told a lot of people that my training was so regimented that I felt like it took an enormous amount of time. Now that I’m training for another triathlon, I realize that trying to fit three sports in instead of one is every bit as time consuming and then some. It might not be for some except I’ve been kind of “winging it” as far as being on a program goes. I’ve read a lot and done plenty of research but when it comes down to it, I have to be pretty flexible.

If triathlon training was all I had to do, time might be a non-issue. However, I have more to do than train. First and foremost, I am a single mom. Part of the reason I jumped into running and now triathlons has been to kind of take the sting out of not having my son all the time, although I do have him quite a bit. I won’t go into the details of all that but it’s been a tough couple of years that has required a lot of acceptance and growth. That being said, I think for every thing I can’t control, I try to substitute something I can. Obviously, the formula for that does not compute. There are too many things that I can’t control to balance with things I can. But, my goodness, I try to do a lot. Oh yeah, and I work a full-time job.

Now I’m not telling you all this to say how awesome I am at juggling or anything like that. I love most things I do. I guess my point is to say that I’m discovering that it is hard to find that place between a healthy balance and an obsession for training. And really, isn’t it that way with anything? I’ve seen people try to balance their obsession with work, relationships, WoW, etc. and it’s hard for me to understand how someone can become obsessed with online gaming for crying out loud. But the online gamer might say that I’m a total freak for wanting to push my body to a new threshold of pain. I had a conversation with my friend Drew (an avid runner and a new triathlete) the other day about swimming and he said “You’re abs should be sore tomorrow” and I said “Gosh I hope so” and we talked about how crazy it is to wish for pain. So before this post gets too long or too off-topic, I guess I’m just sharing that I’m in a season of my life where I’m really trying to find that healthy balance to be and do all the things I want to be and to do. And I know it can be done. At least I think it can, right? Don’t other people find that?

So that’s where I’ve been. No time to blog but I’m about to change that and keep you all (and myself) up to date with triathlon training…and half-marathon training since I decided to go ahead and do the Montgomery Half. If anyone has any wisdom on how to find that Zen place of balance, please comment to this post. The world wants to know.