1. The Plan
The intention was to keep the plan simple:
- Intentional Discipleship
- To keep to my daily Quiet Time with the Lord - to spend at least 30 mins daily on prayer and 30 mins on Bible Study. I believe that a balanced walk with the Lord requires equal focus on both.
- To continue serving as Care Group leader and in the Toddler's Playgroup every week.
- To continue to make myself available to the Lord as prompted by the Holy Spirit. - Training for Sprint Triathlon
- To commit to the "2 X Weekly Plan" - i.e. bike, run and swim twice a week. Perhaps build to 3 X swim a week since this seems my weakest event.
- To keep it simple: Will not followed a structured plan as my schedule is kinda hard to predict with business travels and family appointments.
2. Time is a rare commodity
I must admit that I under-estimated how hard it would be to make time for both pursuits. Being a parent of young boys mean that I have time to myself only when they are either napping/sleeping, eating, or otherwise pre-disposed, so finding the extra hour has been very challenging. The "tri" idea being new (and still exciting), I am afraid I have been cutting back on my Quiet Time (prayer or bible study time) to go running, biking or swimming. Have decided that I need to set and KEEP TO some ground rules, and to keep to it SIMPLE:
- Top priority must always be time for the Lord! If something has to "give", then it has to be either training time or time with the kids. If I am not right with God, everything falls apart anyway. "He will dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1 - I can only find rest and peace in Him when I continue to put Him as the Most High in my life.
- Bible Study: Commit to spend at least 30 mins on Bible Study daily either in the mornings before work starts or over lunch-time at work. Weekends/Holidays, I commit to NOT doing any training until my Bible Study is done. If I work out first thing in the morning, there must be a realistic plan for me to make time for Bible Study later in the day.
- Prayer: Commit to spend at least 30 mins in prayer nightly before I sleep. I tried praying while running the other way, and was amazed that it actually helps me to (1) focus on the prayer, and (2) forget about the "pain" of running. :) PRAISE GOD! I guess it works for me because I tend to be easily distracted, but running forces me to concentrate on just one thing, which is perfect for prayer. Will continue to practise this as a way to be more time-efficient and hopefully improve my prayer life as well!
- Training:
- The swim is probably my weakest event - goal is to move to 3 X swim a week.
- Run is okay but slow - I should be able to consistently do 2 short runs a week (approx 4 km), but the goal is to go for at least one long run (> 5km) a week.
- Slow on the bike too. Goal is to go for at least 2 X 30km rides weekly and to build to an average speed of 30km/hr (currently about 26-27km/hr). - Making better use of time - To try harder to find ways to combine activities. Prayer while running is one example. Another is to bring my kids cycling and run with them. Just got my older boy (4 yr old) a 16" bike and took him biking while I ran at the East Coast. It worked very well, except (1) we have to figure out what to do with my younger boy (2 yr old), and (2) he was too fast for me! :) Just a couple months ago, he was too slow for me on his 12" bike! Kids grow so fast. PRAISE GOD! All said, it was great fun, good for building my son's fitness and confidence, and a great way to motivate me to run faster (otherwise he has to keep waiting for me to catch up). I strongly recommend this to any parent struggling to find time to run.
3. The Finances
I already have a post on Finances and will use the comments to add additional $$$$ spent as I go along, but it sure is easy to get sucked into spending a lot on "tri" stuff. E.g. decent cyling shorts cost SGD$50, but I can't seem to find "tri" shorts for less than SGD$90. There are also many hidden costs - some examples:
- Bike glasses - I may need them soon as the trucks along Changi Coastal Road kick up a lot of sand when they zoom past. Coolest brands are no doubt Rudy Project and Oakleys, but oh so expensive!
- Bike Pump - Trying to re-use my old ones but nowadays the road bikes need fearsome pressure in the tyres. The rubber washers on my old pumps are brittle... Wonder if I should get them replaced and if they can hit the high presures even with new washers?
- Cycling gloves - decided not to get them for now, but they are good protection in case of falls, and probably improve riding comfort.
- Heart Rate Monitor - Have not gotten one yet but heard a lot about the benefits of using one from my buddies who are more "serious" runners. To me, this is a really very cool toy which can come in handy when motivation gets low. :) Have my eye on the Polar S625X - this baby has got bike monitors (for bike speed, distance, cadence) and can even tell running speed and distance! Some think the bike computer should ideally be seperate form the heart rate monitor, but me being me, combining it means one less device to lose or damage.
- Tri Gear - Do I really need tri shorts or suits just to do a Sprint Triathlon? Will try to get just one pair of "cheapo" tri shorts from Australia (courtesy of a very kind sis-in-law), and decide after I have tried them.
- Tri Bike - Probably the single most expensive item will be a decent Tri or Road bike. Been looking at Giant bicycles because it seem to offer the most bang for the buck. But.... Even then we are looking at between SGD$3-4K for a Giant TCR Composite 3 or a TCR Aero 1! This will have to be a very carefully rationalised decision. So far my trusty old (15 yr old) Centrurion Ironman is doing fine and I am having good fun riding it, so this is one investment that I will want to postpone for as long as possible. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment