Subject: RE: Spouse Approval My wife and I started competing together so the support system was built in from the get go. She has known of my desire to do an IM before the kids' lives take over ours for years. When the opportunity presented itself and we talked about training schedules and overall cost involved she was into it. I was nervous about a fade in support as time went on but it never happened. We communicated about workouts and expectations constantly. She kept me accountable and focused on the end goal. I am a lucky man to have the wife I do.
I also started working my long runs and rides into "Hey, why don't you meet me in San Diego (about 90 miles away from me ) and we will spend the day at the beach" or "I'll run down to XYZ Store and you pick me up there and we will do our grocery shopping". Even the kids got into it. They would drive by and cheer me on or my son would ride his bike with me on my runs between 5-10 miles.
By the time race day for IMAZ came around last year my 2 kids (5 & 3 ) helped me with my bike, my gear, check in, and anything else you can think of. They took ownership of the experience and loved it. They picked up that I was training for something big and we included them in it and they enjoyed every minute of it. I'm all about not taking time away from family time especially when logging those big weeks and training during "your time" not "their time", but also look at including them in the process. I think it helped in my case and my kids still talk about it.
|