My lack of meaningful posts lately doesn't mean that I don't have an interesting life (that's exactly what it means). But I've been working on coming up with something more worthwhile than music to share and training updates. Time for something more philosophical and possibly quite meaningless.
I'll be finishing up undergrad in a few weeks, and looking back it has been an interesting time in my life, unfortunately not the same kind of interesting as most UWO students experience. I started triathlon the summer before my first year, and I've come a long way during my four years at school. Not academically, intellectually, or socially of course. Just the athlete part.
Being a student-athlete is hard enough. I was in competitive track for a while and it was far too easy to let four workouts a week take over all my studying time. But working toward a career in triathlon through university is a whole other story. It is the exact opposite of an ideal training environment - late nights, bad nutrition, ever-changing schedules - and it takes a hell of a lot of dedication and sacrifice to turn up the usual university life (I believe some refer to the term as "fun") and dare to commit to a goal.
When you finish university you realize that the valuable things you take away from school have nothing to do with what you actually studied. All the things that filled your brain and stressed you to no end were just the hoops you jump through.
During the school year I have 15-19 hours/week of training with almost as much time dedicated to proper recovery (stretching, rolling, core, motor control, physio). On top of that I've been coaching twice a week, working a couple shifts and, oh yeah, about 50 thousand pages of reading a week...often done in compression socks. In second year when I was training for AG Worlds I learned how to manage my time, and make every minute of the day count. Not in the pretentious "live your life to the fullest" kind of way, I just mean having a purpose with what I do. There's nothing I hate more than feeling like what I'm doing has no purpose. Even when I stare into space for a few minutes or write a rambling blog post, I'm destressing, refocusing and enjoying a little mental break before getting back at things.
The essence of university life is learning how to deal with stupidity, meaningless bureaucracy and social annoyances. You are purposely given less time for things than you need, and expected to succeed. This has definitely had a positive impact on my attitude toward training as well as school by allowing me to appreciate the bigger picture. It has taught me to set priorities, question what I'm capable of, and gotten me hopelessly addicted to caffeine.
Yes, prioritizing means having to skip the odd workout to finish assignments. Taking a day off training to finish a paper is not a difficult decision, especially considering that the workout probably isn't going to go well. It also means that I've spent my share of Saturday nights on the trainer or treadmill, and been to far too many 6am swims so I can get in my workout before class. Or even something as simple as forcing myself to get on the bike when I can't stand the thought of training because life sucks. There are definitely times that I feel that I've missed out on what university students are supposed to experience, but its a product of figuring out my priorities early. In the end its worth it, and I'm a better person for learning to put up with that stuff. I'll take professional triathlete over mediocre university party animal any day.
I'm the first person to admit I'm not a naturally gifted athlete, but I decided I wanted to see how far I can take this sport and in four years I went from the slowest swimmer in the UWO tri club to a first year pro on the ITU circuit. At times its been tough, but I don't question that it has been worth the effort and sacrifices.
So now I'm just about done school, what now? Well despite what is generally assumed university in no way prepares you for the real world. But I've stuck with my goals in triathlon and have become successful enough to put off getting a real job while I see how far I can take it. My goals are to race on the World Cup circuit, win a 70.3 and one day race in Kona. Lofty goals, sure. But if nothing else university has given me the work ethic and appreciation for what counts.
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