How to Maintain Training and Balance When Life Gets in the Way

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Excerpted from “Run Like a Champion: An Olympian’s Approach For Every Runner” by Alan Culpepper. Copyright © 2015 by Alan Culpepper. Published by VeloPress and reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Several years ago I had a business meeting with the then mayor of Tempe, Ariz., Hugh Hallman. At the time we met, he was training to run a marathon and was leading a charity organization that had raised a lot of money through a race. He had only been running for five years but had come to fully embrace the essence of running and the freedom, clarity of thought, and daily satisfaction of accomplishment it brought to his life.

As we concluded our meeting, he told me he was going to meet his wife for an evening run together. I was amazed that he still had plans to run after what had surely been an exhausting day, but it was a good example of how he found balance in his life. He shared that he absolutely had to run, not only for his sanity but also because it was his time to connect with his wife and talk about their days. After they ran, he would go home and eat, shower and work a few more hours before going to bed.

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What’s the point of that story? As long as you schedule for it and make it a priority, running can fit into any schedule. Sure, plenty of things will get in the way—the biggest variables for most runners, regardless of ability or experience level, are weather, illness, travel, and family or work commitments—the key is knowing how to manage those situations. Sometimes compromise is in order. The key question you have to ask yourself is whether the workout or run will set you back more than it will be of benefit.

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