Ode to Steve

More than a few things are taking a backseat to Ironman training this spring. (Yes, the kitchen floor still needs mopping.) And as my training sessions get longer and harder, the backseat is getting pretty full. As necessary as this may be to fit training into my already full life, I refuse to put certain things in the backseat. These, primarily, are my relationships. Do I have as much time to spend with friends and loved ones? No. Can I nuture these relationships just the same? Yes.

And so I wanted to take a time-out from logging here my hours and mileage and other training-specific details to publicly exalt the one person who is most impacted by my crazy training schedule: my sweetie, Steve.

Let me bring you back to Monday, when Steve first mentioned a last-minute weekend getaway to the mountains. He's itching to get in as many days as possible on the snowboard before ski season turns to mud season. How about a weekend in Beaver Creek or Vail? he asked. Normally, this is not a tough decision for me. In fact, this is typically not a decision to be made at all but a no-brainer YES. This spring, as you know, is not typical for me. So, I can't believe I'm about to say this...I actually had to THINK about this, this super cool opportunity to visit a beautiful place and have a true getaway with my true love. Whaaa???!!

Seriously...I started to spin. I spun around How do I get my workouts in? What if we get snowed in and I can't get home to my bike? What if I can't find a treadmill?

And then came...What, really, is the worst that could happen? What are my priorities? How can I prioritize both our relationship AND training? Need they be mutually exclusive?

Once I shared my dilemma with Steve, he immediately started helping me problem-solve. He empathized with my concerns about completing my training sessions. He Googled gyms and workout facilities in the area. He helped me brainstorm options. And he totally understood when I said that I need to leave at 7 am Sunday to get back home. My hero. (Cue Luke's theme.)

I have training partners who swim, bike, and run with me, who have done and are currently training for Ironman. These are the people who truly "get" it. Yet Steve is my most important training partner. Even though many of my friends and family are feeling the side effects of my training schedule (thank you), Steve is the one person who lives this schedule every day. I'm gone in the morning well before he gets up and I'm asleep well before he is. In the evening, he may not get my best because I often don't have much left in the tank. And my weekends are full of activities we don't share.

And through all of this, he's always there to listen to me, to ask me, to talk with me, to commiserate with me, and to celebrate with me. He needn't have done Ironman to also "get" it.

As I plow ahead with an increasingly intense training regimen, two things have become crystal clear for me: how serious I am about preparing for Ironman the right way, and how serious I am about not letting our relationship suffer in the meantime. No, rather, I'm determined that we'll become stronger for it.

Mountains, here I come!!