Commitment is Prompted by Love

This is something I heard over the weekend at church and it really stuck with me. It is so true when you consider anything that requires some form of discipline. Job, spouse, kids, friends, triathlon, (fill in the blank)- in order to be effective and committed in any of these, you have to love it/him/her/them/sport/ _____first.  I really started breaking it down with my training -and I encourage you to do the same. The biggest excuse I hear from people that don't devote proper commitment to something is time. Nobody ever has time to do/experience the things they love. I think the real excuse is the lack of love for it. With simple time management techniques (like I described in this post), you can make ample time to do what you love to do.



Little waterfall at the end of my 2.5 hr MTB ride

 The reason I am able to train 10-20 hours a week with a full time job, a wife, two kids and 3 hours of commuting time is because I love swimming, biking and running. That is it. That is the secret. I'm not out to prove anything or feel obligated to workout. I just love to train and race so I work my schedule out very carefully each week so that I'm able to attend to everything in my life with a high level of commitment.  I see Amy do the same thing. A lot of people think being a stay-at-home mom is easy and that they have too much time on their hands. You should see what that women gets done in a week! Amazing.

Usually with the high level of commitment comes great results, that is why I train so hard. So how do I work my schedule to get training in? I'll just give you a look at my last weeks schedule:

Monday
5:00am -wake up, little Bfast & coffee, pack my bags/lunch for the day, head to the pool
5:30-6:15 - Swim workout
6:20-7:00 - Get ready for work, Bfast #2, hi/bye to fam
6:45/7ish - 8-8:30 - Commute to SD. Seems I am either early or late each day, can never predict traffic!
8-4:30 -Work. I will eat 4-6 meals/snacks during the course of the day
4:30-5 - Drive over to Rehab United
5:00-6 - Bike spin/workout
6:00-7pm -Rehab United Strength & Conditioning session
7:00-8pm - Commute home
8:00-9 - Visit with wife (kids are already in bed), eat dinner, shower #2
9:00 Bed

Tuesday
6:00am -Sleep in, no workout scheduled
6-7 -play with kids, get ready for work
6:45/7ish - 8-8:30 - Commute to SD
8-5pm -Work
5-5:30 - Drive over to track workout
5:30-7 - Track workout
7:00-8 Commute home
8:00-9 - Visit with wife (kids are already in bed), eat dinner, shower #2
9:00 -  Bed

Wednesday
5:00am -wake up, little Bfast & coffee, pack my bags/lunch for the day, head to the pool
5:30-6:15 - Swim workout
6:20-7:00 - Get ready for work, Bfast #2, hi/bye to fam
6:45/7ish - 8-8:30 - Commute to SD.
8-4:30 -Work
4:30-5:45ish -Commute home
5:45-9 -Play w/kids, cook dinner, spend time w/the wifey, read
9:00 -Bed

Thursday
4:30am - wake up, little Bfast & coffee
4:45-6:15 -90 min mid-week Long run
6:15-7 -play with kids, get ready for work
6:45/7ish - 8-8:30 - Commute to SD
8-5pm -Work
4:30-5:45ish -Commute home
5:45-9 -Play w/kids, cook dinner, spend time w/the wifey, read
9:00 -Bed

Friday
5:00am -wake up, little Bfast & coffee, pack my bags/lunch for the day, head to the pool
5:30-6:15 - Swim workout
6:20-7:00 - Get ready for work, Bfast #2, hi/bye to fam
6:45/7ish - 8-8:30 - Commute to SD.
8-4:30 -Work
4:30-5:45ish -Commute home
5:45-10 -Play w/kids, cook dinner, watch a movie
10:00pm -Bed

Saturday
7:00-8am -sleep in, bfast & coffee, play with kids
8:00-11:00 - 3hr Bike ride
11:00-11:30 - 30 min run (brick)
11:30-12:30 - recovery, lunch, nap
12:30-3 -play w/the kids, hang out with wifey
3:00-4:30 -commute to Ramona for bros bday
4:30-9pm -Hang out with family/friends
9:00 Bed

Sunday
7:00-7:30am -sleep in, bfast & coffee
7:30-10:00 - 2.5 hr MTB ride up Black Mountain & back
10:30-12pm - Church
12:00-7pm -Hang out w/friends and family -Superbowl
7-8:30 -Commute home
9:00 - Bed

Total training hours: 13hrs.

As my hours continue to creep up to 18hrs/week, I'll be doing double workout days each day of the week (some during my lunch hour at work) and I'll have to be even more careful of scheduling each of my commitments. I think the biggest common denominator in my schedule is that there is no TV. Amy and I will usually watch one movie a week and maybe a few shows like SNL or 30 Rock on netflix -but that is it. We have very little time commitment to TV which is why we are able to accomplish so much each week. I figure if I wanted to watch more, I'd have to sacrifice my training time or even worse, my limited time with the fam! I'll have to be even more careful with this when baseball season starts since I like to follow the Padres.

I encourage each of you to map out what you do in a typical week and see where most of your time is spent. Could you spend a little more or a little less on certain things? Are you struggling with committing to certain things? Do you love it deep down inside? Maybe if you are having problems getting in the gym, accept the fact that you don't love it and try something else like running, rock climbing, yoga ---keep searching for that one activity that promotes an active lifestyle and you might discover your new love and the commitment that you have been searching for will follow suite.

Oh yea, and for those of you that thought I was going to be racing at the USATF Cross Country Championships, I backed out a few days prior. I had originally thought that BSK was going to be racing and once I found out that they weren't - I checked out registration and it had already jumped to $95 to race! No thanks, so I just took the opportunity to get some good training in. I'm all registered for the Desert Classic Duathlon in a few weeks and ready to rock.

Sorry for the long-drawn out post. I'll leave you with a very cool quote:

"When work, commitment, and pleasure all become one and you reach that deep well where passion lives, nothing is impossible." ~Nancy Coey