I’ve been going through a pretty major life transition recently and feel like I’m still working my way through it.
Because I see people trying to manage life so often and juggling life responsibilities and priorities feels like such a big part of my coaching practice, I thought I’d share a little of my experience going through this transition and how I’ve managed my running through it.
First, what have I been going through? It’s nothing top secret. My daughter, an only child, is off to college. There is a lot that goes into that. Transitioning from a full house to an empty house, trying to spend as much time with her over the summer as possible before my opportunities become much more limited, of course helping her move into her new “home”. Plus, with a daughter who also runs, helping her prepare for collegiate cross country and now planning trips to see her races.
So, how did I manage this and balance all of these things with my running? Well, I laid out a few ground rules for myself and then figured out what they mean for my running. In no specific order, the ground rules were:
Spend as much time as possible with my daughter while I can
This meant to me that I used a ton of vacation over the summer and we went on as many adventures as possible. Vacations to the beach and the mountains. A concert we both loved. Running with her whenever possible. I simply wanted us to have as much time and experiences together as possible before our time together would become much more limited.
What did this mean for my running? Well, it meant my training was very inconsistent over the summer. There were times when I was trying to get in my own training on top of hers and other times when we were hiking so much that basically no training was happening. For someone who thrives on consistency, this was difficult but I managed as well as possible and just accepted the inconsistency when necessary.
Do what I can to help her prepare to confidently walk on campus, knowing she will succeed
For the most part, this meant running with her, giving her a training partner for the hard training she did over the summer. There were other aspects but they largely didn’t affect my running.
Obviously, this meant that my running needed to be split. I had my own priorities but I could only do limited work toward them while also being ready for her training, which was my top priority.
Help her get to campus feeling safe and as comfortable as possible
As far as affecting my running, this wasn’t too bad. We made sure she had what she needed, then obviously I helped her move in and helped get her room set up, building some furniture and helping arrange her room.
This affected my training for a couple days but was a compromise I was happy to make.
Depending on what life throws at you, there could be a lot of things you have to consider. When you find yourself in situations like this, I would strongly suggest establishing your priorities as I did over the summer. Doing this helped me have a clear picture of where I could keep my training going as desired and made the choice of adjusting the training easy when the time was right to do so.