First of all, it’s been really long that I wrote anything.Part being lazy and part being busy.

There has been an addition to my family. Blessed with a sweet angel 10 days back, and since then my wife and I are having very special moments with our cute girl. One of those moments being that I am right now lying on the kids mat and writing this blog post.
With any life changing event, comes the struggle or rather the challenge of continuing to lead an endurance athlete’s life. The challenge is even more if you have three sports to balance and a full time job (you definitely need this with your growing family).

So the last 2 weeks had been fun. Being sleep deprived, wandering as if you are jet lagged, and still managing to log miles on the foot and the bike.

Here are few points that I have scribbled, I will welcome any advice and more points-

• Revisit your training goals from the time- your wife is in the last few weeks of pregnancy upto the first 3 months of the baby. I do not see a point in planning further, because I have no idea how the first 3 months are going to be.
• Prioritize your time for your wife and baby, and de-prioritize your long workouts. Remember our spouses are the reason that we are still able to ‘tri’ and remain happily married, and also have a paid job. Now is the time they need you.
• Get your sleep at whatever hours you can get, do not do exhaustive workouts. Ill and exhausted dad is not healthy for the new mom and the baby.
• Contrary to the above point, I go out for a short run, to feel fresh. Use your own judgment.
• Triathlon has taught us the act of balancing trades, I use that.
• Triathlon has also taught us how to finish our workouts even being exhausted and sleep deprived. Most of us hardly get any sleep before the race. [NOTE: Again, use your own judgment]
• Talk to your partner about your everyday workout timings. Just don’t be stubborn, if your partner asks you to change the diaper and have tummy time with the baby. Instead of going out for 10 miles, go for a 3-4 miles fast run.
• Indoor bike trainer is super useful, to maintain and improve your cycling efficiency. Get one if you don’t have. I get good 1-2 hrs of bike work done at any hour of the day.
• I get my workouts done when the mom and the baby are both sleeping during the day. If I am going out for a run or bike, I let my wife know for how long I will be gone. Otherwise, I train indoors on the bike.
• Throw in some 30 mins of body weight strength and stability workout, if you cannot find any time to run or bike or swim.

To be candid, I don’t know how I am going to balance it out with my baby girl, but who said Triathlon was easy. Easy ain’t fun. I already have two Half-Ironman races scheduled for next year.