Balancing Life, Work, and Swimming

Chaos, are you buying? :lmao:

A friend of mine gave me some advice awhile back in regards to balancing my life. No matter what you do give it 100%. If you are spending time with your family, focus on your family. If you are at work, focus on work. We will never find time to fit everything in. Therefore, try and make the most of the time allowed for each activity. This is so very true. I all too often find myself waiting to do the next thing. If I'm at the kids' swim practice, I'm not all there as I'm wondering what we'll have for dinner and when I should pick up the Girl Scout cookies, and, and, and... That kind of thinking is SO overwhelming. I've really tried to just be in the moment that I'm in. It's a lot less stressful, and I don't feel as guilty b/c I am actually enjoying whatever I am doing instead of thinking about what I will be doing. I really like the saying that goes something like this: Yesterday is history Tomorrow a mystery Today is a gift, that's why we call it the present.

Katie, I struggled with your dilemma for a while, too. I have a 4, soon to be 5 year old at home and don't work out side of the house. My son goes to pre-school 3 days a week but it's not really enough time for me to get in a workout while he's in school. When we first moved here I was going to the pool at 5:30, when they opened to the public, and swimming on my own for 30 min before the masters got in. I'd swim until 6:30, get out and be home by 7. But that meant my husband was getting to work 30 min late on my swim days. Not good. So.. my solution was to ask the local age group team if I could swim with them. I now get up at 4am and swim from 4:45-6:05, I'm home by 6:30 and my husband can get to work on time. This is a way where I can still get in my swimming and yet no one in my house is affected. I do swim on Saturdays and my husband is home. It's my "mommy free time" as we call it. I figure after being home all week and Matthew, 3 hours on Sat for swimming is good for me :) If I worked out of the house, I don't know how my schedule would change, though. As for meets, I just make sure to ask my husband if it's okay that I go to a meet and make sure that he doesn't have any reason to be gone that day. So far that hasn't happened and he's been fine with me gone. I try to get him to come to my meets as well but to him, they aren't exactly fun. What ages are your kids? What time do you have to go to work? Can you work from home so you can swim more?

My daughter is away at college. Husband is a die-hard runner. We both work full-time. I am morning person, he is night person. I tried working out at night, but all I can think about is going to sleep. He can't get moving in the morning. Not the best of schedules, but I get up at 4:30 am for a 5:00 practice M-W-F. I shower at the pool, dress, drive to work and complete hair and make-up in the locker room at work. Tue and Thur I am at the gym (at work) at 5:00 am. Saturdays I swim at 6:00 am while Hubby is still sleeping. Hubby works out after work (we work at the same place). He usually gets home at 8:30 and I am sometimes in bed before he gets home. So we see each other on weekends, most of Saturday (I am currently taking a pottery throwing class after swimming Saturday mornings and don't get home until 1:00 p.m., he complains much more about the pottery than about my swimming (but my mom asked me to take the class with her and I could not refuse her)), and all day Sunday. We have different sports, different time schedules, but still make time for each other and really enjoy that time, even if it is doing chores and running errands together.

this is the big question for every Masters Swimmer and there is no one size fits all.The only thing I can add is that when I get irritable or in a funk my wife says"you need to go swimming." I agree that there is no one size fits all. I am just trying to see how other people try to make it work for them, hopefully to find something that works for me.

Anybody who figures this out should write a book--they'd make millions! I almost never achieve a good balance between work, family and swimming. Perversely, of the three it's almost never work that suffers. When I do pull off a good balance, I definitely feel the most satisfied with my life... I haven't been in a pool in over a month and I'm not a happy camper about that! :( Too bad I am not a writer, because if I figured it out, I would definitely want to share it.

I can only relate my experience. I am now 56 with 4 grown up kids. I am at the peak of my career and have attained most of my career goals. I am of good health and pretty good financially (but still unable to retire). I now swim nearly everyday. But it wasn't always like that. Like when I had 4 young kids and we were struggling to make ends meet. What I'm trying to say is take a deep breath. It won't alway be like this. At different ages you will have different priorities. That's just the way it is. I would make two suggestions: 1. Set realistic goals for your situation. 2. Swimming is time consuming (getting to the pool, the session itself,shower and driving back) and you are also time constrained by the pool. I would suggest something I have done in the past and still do - a body weight exercise circuit done at home. You need minimal or no equipment, it can be done in 20-30 minutes and will give you a great w/o. Go here to see what I mean: www.rosstraining.com Doing two bw sessions a week + 2 swimming sessions will keep you in great shape. Thanks for your very helpful tips. I appreciate your input.

Katie, I struggled with your dilemma for a while, too. I have a 4, soon to be 5 year old at home and don't work out side of the house. My son goes to pre-school 3 days a week but it's not really enough time for me to get in a workout while he's in school. When we first moved here I was going to the pool at 5:30, when they opened to the public, and swimming on my own for 30 min before the masters got in. I'd swim until 6:30, get out and be home by 7. But that meant my husband was getting to work 30 min late on my swim days. Not good. So.. my solution was to ask the local age group team if I could swim with them. I now get up at 4am and swim from 4:45-6:05, I'm home by 6:30 and my husband can get to work on time. This is a way where I can still get in my swimming and yet no one in my house is affected. I do swim on Saturdays and my husband is home. It's my "mommy free time" as we call it. I figure after being home all week and Matthew, 3 hours on Sat for swimming is good for me :) If I worked out of the house, I don't know how my schedule would change, though. As for meets, I just make sure to ask my husband if it's okay that I go to a meet and make sure that he doesn't have any reason to be gone that day. So far that hasn't happened and he's been fine with me gone. I try to get him to come to my meets as well but to him, they aren't exactly fun. What ages are your kids? What time do you have to go to work? Can you work from home so you can swim more? Alison, I like how you have been able to make everything work for you and your situation. It is good that you have a very understanding family! The main problem for me is that my work schedule is unpredictable. I work long hours, and working from home is not an option for the type of job that I do. How busy we are at work really dictates how much energy I have to devote to other things. I really feel that after work, I don't want to take time away from my family (no kids yet, but a husband and a dog) to spend swimming. I had been pretty good about going early and swimming, but my work schedule changed so that I was either going in to work early or working late. Something had to give, and it was swimming. I know that there is a better way to do it and I just want to know how other people are able to do.

For me work has to come first. if I don't put in the time to do a good job, then I might stress over what I didn't do while at home with my family. My swim and other training is scheduled around my kids (and wife's day) I swim at 8pm so my kids are either down for the night, or are in bed getting a bed time story. my wife then has two hours to do what ever she wants while I'm swimming. I also swim sunday mornings, which works out fine, because I'm home by 10am and have all day with the familiy. twice a week I go into work early, and I can either get in a lunch workout, or work an extra hr. meets are planned up to 1 yr in advance. if it's not on the family calendar it's most likely not going to happen, or it will cost me big time to negotiate an extra meet.

sell the kids. eat your pets. quit your job. buy a VW bus to live in and swim whenever you like. Best piece of advice yet. Too bad I can't get the husband to agree!