Training - The Hardest Part

Yesterday saw me ending a six (6) week aerobic base training period.  Due to a winter of little physical activity (work and a sports injury) I was 20 lbs overweight and in poor fitness. 

From this point I will be ramping up the time and intensity of my training.  I have set several target cycling events in each of the next five months.  This anchors my training plans.  But `time' and `intensity' have a cost: there is only so much juice in an orange.  That is, I must be careful not to unbalance the rest of my life: family, work, friends. 

I think I got involved in athleticism as a way to modulate a certain `manic' aspect of my personality, a tendency to become overinvolved.  I notice this partly because of a self-reflective bent of mind and partly because of my profession (clinical psychologist).  I'm sure that many of us have such a `manic' propensity, though it may take a different form (job, sports, cooking, etc).

It is `easy' to push aside the more complex and anxiety producing issues associated with maintaining a balance in life.  Other person's needs are complex and require maintaining a disciplined sensitivity from me.  Not so with training.  `Training' can take on an addictive quality: wake up, train, rest/sleep, do it all over again. 

So now training has entered the `hardest' part: maintaining a civil balance in life.