How To Balance FAMILY – WORK – Training & Racing
January 4, 2019 BY JOSEPH DABBS
Balance – an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady. A state in which different things occur in equal or proper amounts with proper or equal amounts of importance.
Hi – J. Dabbs here and I’m starring as the guest blogger for Coach Jerry. For those who don’t know me, here is Just a tiny bit of “rider” background info on me, broken down in bullet points:
- Been racing since 1998 and 2018 marked my first year as a Masters.
- Cat 1 CX and XC – cat 4 roadie lol
- Been racing with Jerry since he was 6
- Racing for Infinity Cycling now
When Jerry asked me to share what my approach is to balance my training, racing and life - I thought it would be important to define “balance” first. There is nothing more important to me than my family, so when I start talking about “balance” it’s important to note that my family (including kids’ ballgames and practices) share no equal in the amount of love and dedication I have for them over riding and racing. The older my kids get the more precious each moment has become, and the more important it is to my wife and I to be with them – for mornings, school activities, after school stuff, homework, sports, practices, one on one time, dinner, movie time, Church, game nights, and other stuff that randomly comes up…you know, just be present as much as possible. So, balance might not be the best word to use…a better combination of words to describe how I “balance” things might be plan and communicate.
- Been racing since 1998 and 2018 marked my first year as a Masters.
- Cat 1 CX and XC – cat 4 roadie lol
- Been racing with Jerry since he was 6
- Racing for Infinity Cycling now
When Jerry asked me to share what my approach is to balance my training, racing and life - I thought it would be important to define “balance” first. There is nothing more important to me than my family, so when I start talking about “balance” it’s important to note that my family (including kids’ ballgames and practices) share no equal in the amount of love and dedication I have for them over riding and racing. The older my kids get the more precious each moment has become, and the more important it is to my wife and I to be with them – for mornings, school activities, after school stuff, homework, sports, practices, one on one time, dinner, movie time, Church, game nights, and other stuff that randomly comes up…you know, just be present as much as possible. So, balance might not be the best word to use…a better combination of words to describe how I “balance” things might be plan and communicate.
Joseph through the sand at National Championships
|
So let’s break things down like that, into 3 key categories – PLAN, COMMUNICATE and BALANCE.
PLAN…PLANNING for me is the where everything begins. I love to live in the moment and try to relish the minutes of each day because I know how fast they tick by and once they’re gone, they’re gone. So, in my opinion PLANNING is key for busy lifestyles and that’s what I live. My wife works in Real Estate and we have 3 kids ages 14, 11 and 10. Each of them are involved in at least two after school activities during the school months and during those times, we will have 8-12 activities occurring during any typical week. As for me, I work in digital advertising and cover the southeast (7 states) which keeps me moving, and on any given week, I might be on the road 3 days. As you might imagine, that type of schedule can make having a consistent riding and training plan very difficult.
|
Top Step
|
Part of my planning process is to is prioritize what’s important to me as a racer. For me, that process begins now, in January…deciding what my goals are and which races I want to do. What series do I want to compete in and what events do I want to do just for fun? Cyclocross has been my priority for the last several years and because of that, my training “calendar” is totally different than most others and can make group riding challenging. For me, I like to break my season into 4 parts…
1. Off Season: 2-4 weeks (Jan) of unstructured training but staying active while getting plenty of rest.
2. Spring Season: 3 months (Feb-April) of base/building type rides on gravel and mtb races sprinkled in for motivation and fun.
3. Base/Build Season: 4 months (May-August) of volume and tempo riding.
4. Race Season: 3 months of awesomeness – race and recovery.
2. Spring Season: 3 months (Feb-April) of base/building type rides on gravel and mtb races sprinkled in for motivation and fun.
3. Base/Build Season: 4 months (May-August) of volume and tempo riding.
4. Race Season: 3 months of awesomeness – race and recovery.
COMMUNICATION might be equally as important when it comes to balance. This is actually more difficult than the “planning” part of things and depending on the person you are trying to communicate with could prove to be THE most difficult part of anything you’ll do. I really find that I need to communicate with all 3 sub-groups in my life…. family – work – coach…let’s start with family first.
Family communication is HUGE – let me say that again…H.U.G.E!! Without it, resentment and minimal support will come from the family and that’s no good. My Wife is first! I plan with her…I talk about my goals and racing. She doesn’t always like what she hears but I work with her on those things. We discuss which goals/races make sense and which ones don’t and which one’s conflict with things she wants to do…and then I make a lot of sacrifices on selecting which races that fit into her schedule. Kids (second)…I pull practice, game and school schedules out and plan around them first. This helps me prioritize their activities, first but inevitably there are always conflicts, so I scratch out some conflicting events and for the ones that are both important and conflicting, I just openly discuss those things with them and if there is something that is important to them that conflicts, they win always! Most of the time, they don’t mind a bit if I miss a game or practice…it’s really all about the up-front communication with them. One major rule of thumb for me is that there will always be another race – so family always comes first.
Work for me is much easier but something I still do diligently and frequently. For example, I am racing the Pisgah Stage Race this spring and that’s a full week off my job. So, starting in January, I will be communicating with them often and making the necessary arrangements during my expected absence.
Training wouldn’t be much without my communicating with Coach. Because my schedule changes day to day, week to week, I tend to try and over communicate with Coach about everything to help him stay in the know about what’s up with me. By keeping Training Peaks updated with my races, travel schedule and daily notes from my training rides, it provides clear lines of communication between us. With my ever-changing schedule, having a fluid training plan is a must, and since working with Coach Jerry, he has helped me take that flexibility to the next level. Jerry works with me on a weekly to bi-weekly basis to design my training plan for that week based on my work and family work load. We plan it and then fit it into the day’s schedule. I would call it routine, but days are anything but routine. Working with Jerry has been great for me – once we lay out a plan, he helps me stay focused on that while I work through things day to day.
Shouldering through the mud
Now the BALANCE…that’s a long-winded way to say there’s a LOT to go into balancing being a husband – father - weekend warrior bike racer and still finding time to chill. I like to chill too, ya know! There are a LOT of words that come to mind when I think of balance, but one key word is sacrifice. During life, we go through seasons and throughout each season, life seasons that is, there will always be things that have to be removed or put on hold but it’s up to you to personally decide what those things will be. I have friends who put bike racing on the side during certain seasons of life only to pick it back up later. I’m a cyclist – not a racer… so for me, I ride to live and will always ride. I’ve had some ‘big volume busy race’ years and some ‘no race/low volume' years, but I am always riding!
So BALANCE…I think it’s is what you make of it! I try to balance the things I love…Family, Work, Bike and Travel…a lot of other things that I enjoy get reduced in a major way like backpacking, fishing, canoeing…all things I love – but not nearly as much as I love riding and racing.
So BALANCE…I think it’s is what you make of it! I try to balance the things I love…Family, Work, Bike and Travel…a lot of other things that I enjoy get reduced in a major way like backpacking, fishing, canoeing…all things I love – but not nearly as much as I love riding and racing.
