Bicycle Dreams: Albeit Not Always Easy!

Hello!

While race results are great, being a competitive female athlete who is trying to balance live outside of sport as a professional, mother (sometimes by choice and sometimes it's not), coach and business owner is not always easy!

I like the anology, a health care professional is a lot like inviting an 800 pound gorilla to be a permanent house guest. Gorillas are big, take up a lot of space, eat all your food and are not house trained … so there are messes to clean up every week.

Left to it's own devices it will:

-Take up every spare minute
-Use all your energy systems, patience, empathy and attention
-Mess up your other relationships by crowding them out or interrupting

I think the key to rebalancing is finding the ways to say no....which I'm not very good at. The gorilla requires firm boundaries and if you don't have a firm plan in place....the pretense to the balance will go out the window. It is a unfair fight, as working hard in this situation never works (endless patient needs and endless den of flu viruses). This is work in progress and if your not making and learning from your mistakes, you are not trying hard enough.

Here are a few ideas if your lost...wise words from the experts!

Embracing Your Potential by Canadian Terry Orlick. Steps to Self-discovery, Balance, and Success in Sports, Work and Life (only paper book). http://www.zoneofexcellence.ca/potential.html

Here is a great article by my coach Houshang Amiri Pacific Cycling Centre-
Learning to find the balance between too much and too little.
http://www.pacificcyclingcentre.ca/tips/default.html?d=trainingtips/2015/10/29/633/

"Your destiny is based on your character"

I guess this is proof, good things can come out of bad days, weeks or year(s)! The Horseshoe Hustle was an over the moon hard day on a bike. This was my 3rd Canadian National MTB Marathon race. Freezing cold, already wet, shivering at the start line (warmed up to as much heat as possible that day).