My Life as a Fulltime Triathlete ;-)

Well it is back down to earth this week, after having a full week off work I am now back into the normality of daily routine!

For one week, I have been living up the coast, no work, lots of training, relaxation and just total time out. It made me think about the demographics of triathletes and the commitments and sacrifices each put in to pursuing personal goals.

The week of training, relaxing, eating, sleeping, (OK and a fair bit of drinking!) more training and not having to get up too early because there was no work to come after training - made me feel like I was living the life of a pro-athlete :-). But then I was reminded of the realities - unless you really are top of your game, then there's not much money to be made in racing for a living, and you still have the expense of it all (bar a bit of kit sponsorship) - supplements, good food, massage, physio, living in general - all without a regular income. The plus side is that you life becomes a training, recovery, training cycle; you can sleep when you need to and not worry about the fatigue from training 20+ hrs a week and holding down a full time job; oh, and that you have the best opportunity to fulfil your athletic potential!

Compare it with the life of a wanna be full time triathlete:
Up at anywhere between 4am and 5am for a training session of 1-3 hours, grab breakfast on the go or get to work and have breakfast at the desk. Work for 8hrs, feel like falling asleep mid morning, feel like falling asleep again at about 3pm, go to another training session of 1-2hrs, get home about 8pm, cook, eat, pack bags to repeat the day again tomorrow, sleep....
But, earn money, have great training buddies who also will have a drink now and again; still have to pay for kit, physio, massage, supplements etc....but have money to do it. The negatives; constant fatigue, prone to injury, always striving to reach potential but in reality unless you are some kind of physical freak (Scott, Natalie and Charlie spring to mind!)- you will never quite fulfil your athletic potential.

However, we'll all have a great time trying!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy New Year! Happy racing, Happy socialising! And keep it all in perspective!

Faye
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