Attempt #2 – Family Unit

AJ_TRI 2007Originally uploaded by scottkmcmillan

Here was AJ, hanging out about a week before his dad (Aleck) raced Clearwater World Championship 70.3.  That is as much as I got posted before our power went out.  Last night a wind storm started and kept blowing for most of the day.  Our power went out around 9am and I was unplugged till 4pm.  What stress! AND we lost the lid to our garbage can!!!  It is probably in Okanagan lake along with everything else.

Here is the rest I had to say:

Aleck had a really good season and no doubt it was largely due to having his family’s support.  Many times throughout the year he mentioned how important it was to him to have such great support from his wife and young boy.  This always has to go both ways.  There is always a give and take in a family but when you can find a good balance between your racing, work and family life then all three stand to benefit.  If something is out of whack then you should really step back, be proactive and try to fix the situation.  You will be happier and you will race better as a result.  My parents always felt family was far and away their #1 priority.  As their son, I benefited from that commitment and I hope to stay true to it as well. 

Although Sarah and I do not have kids (yet).  A family of two can be challenging at times, especially in the early years.  I am lucky to have picked a geat match but there are definetly times when we get on each others nerves.  Sometimes we have to step back and lighten our training or we have to make specific efforts outside of training to contribute to our relationship.

For me, I can start to see when I am training too hard.  We start to get on each other’s nerves.  Irritability is big sign that I (and most people) are starting to over train and if I keep going at the same rate for more weeks that I will eventually burn out.  Sarah is the same way (although I never said that).  On the flip side, it is really fun to go mountain biking, trail running, and to do races together.  Sarah really likes racing Ironman’s together.  I am not so crazy about it.  I actually like it better when we do different races.  Then I get to watch, relax and give support.  When it is my turn to race thne I get the support from her which is nice.  When we both race, things are a little carzy since we are so focused on getting ourselves ready, it is hard to give support to the other.  In both situations, we are getting better at it.

You have to read Aleck’s race report, it is quite inspiring.  He was able to push himself very hard on race day and I think a big part of that is because of his family support and balance he has in his life.  A big part of that balance now means that he is going to really back off training for a few months since work gets really busy and he wants to maintain his family life.

Another athlete I coach makes triathlon racing into a team sport.  Although he does the racing, his family happily helps him out.  Similiar to NASCAR, he is the driver and his family is the pit crew.  When he succeeds, the whole team celebrates as it is a team victory.  And at during other times, I am sure he is the pit crew while his family drives.  Give and take.

Did you watch Clearwater?  It was quite the race!  Once again, the guys who focus on shorter distance racing, came through in the end.  Andy Potts put in a very strong swim and held his own on the bike.  He eventually ran down the race leader and they ran side by side until about 400m was left to go.  Potts put  in a surge that went unanswered.  He won by 4 seconds.  It was a super fast course with fast times.  Bjorn Andersson went under 2hrs for the bike section.  He got the bike prime ($2500, enough to pay for his trip) but clearly went to hard on the bike to run well.  Sometimes you have to gamble.

Carfrae ran away with the women’s race.  She hauled ass on the run.  McGlone ran through the field but could not catch Miranda.  2^nd place though, after a stellar 2^nd place in Kona, is not too shabby. 

We will not talk about the drafting.

I have not heard much about Silveman.  We are in the middle of a wind storm here.  Luckily it is not snowing!   It started last night and the power just went off.  I think everything from town is now in the lake. 

–Scott