The sport of triathlon is a slippery slope. The all-consuming ethos of forever-training does not work well with outside interests or family life. At a certain point a balance must be found in order to avoid constantly sacrificing other aspects of a fulfilling lifestyle. The alternative is ending up alone with a bunch of medals and solo memories but no one to share it all with.

Everyone is fully engaged with a shiny new thing. When someone starts training for triathlon, it becomes all-consuming very quickly. You can see it in newbies, that urge to eat, sleep, breath training and talk about it all the time and have no room for anything else in their lives. But this means sacrificing other aspects of their lives, of our lives, which for a while is tolerable. Many people do this and then move on to something else, and the monk-like existence is over before much damage can be done.

For others it is different. Training becomes a way of life, a part of the natural order that simply continues endlessly. Years can go by, and other things seem unimportant in the all-focused idea of training and racing. But strange as it may seem, balance is needed. That’s right, there has to be a time and a willingness to step away from training every so often, because life should be full of experiences, not just training.

My family pulls me out of my training tunnel vision, and for that I am grateful. Grateful that I can just do husband or dad things when I have finished my training. I don’t feel like my life solely revolves around this sport anymore, which is both good and bad. Sometimes I might lack motivation, lack the unthinking devotion to this sport of triathlon, but at other times I am happy to be living my life, experiencing life, outside of the narrow focus of power readings and lap times. I will not wake up one day and realize that I’ve trained my life away. And that is good.