Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Balance in sport.

Mike Wasserman has been my athlete for over 4 years now and it has been awesome to work for him. He's easy to coach. Great feedback, a great sense of his fatigue levels, meticulous with the details. He raced the 5430 Half Ironman here in Boulder this past Sunday and he completely knocked my socks off. It wasn't his fastest race by a long shot (although he did the race at the same pace he used to race sprint tris). The thing that knocked my socks off is that Mike spent the entire week on his feet for 16-19 hours every day helping his daughters realize their dream. Mike's daughters, 18 and 22, came up with and idea for a television show, wrote a script, and are co-directing and shooting 2 episodes. Mom is the producer and Mike jumped in last week to foot a hefty load of work to help. Pretty cool.
5 days of getting crushed under the load of 16-19 hour days and then he races a 1/2 Ironman. What knocks my socks off is the support he's giving to his kids. Many, MANY times in triathlon I have seen people get quite wrapped up and self absorbed in their training and racing. Mike is a huge inspiration to me as a father and athlete... he gets it. He hasn't lost sight of what is truly important. Our kids and our spouses. I love it when I go in to Mikes training logs to plan workouts and I see a note from him saying "Saturday- day with my wife", or "Sunday- wife's birthday". These are days that I have learned to leave blank.
In my opinion Sunday was his best race ever.

6 comments:

cdnhollywood said...

That's great to see. I often think that the leaders in sport give up almost everything to get to the top. And while that is amazing, it's equally amazing (to me) to see what the regular Joe's can do with the 9-5 jobs, wife, dog, average 2.2 kids/family, and all the other stuff. And they don't get enough credit for it.

As for me, I take great pride in being a regular Joe.

Lucho said...

Cdnh- When I was training for Ironman Hawaii as a professional- it was all consuming. Thankfully I didn't have children and my wife was incredibly supportive. Once my first son was born I knew I would never be the father I wanted or needed to be if I continued. I think Ironman is certainly different in the time requirement. I think the family guys (not Peter Griffen) that find that balance between being a good parent and being a good role model for their children by staying fit and strong and healthy are far from the average Joe or Jane.
T

Brett said...

Reminds me of several things I have learned from this blog:
1) Family comes first.
2) Did you read #1? If not, please read again.
3) A strong aerobic base is critical
4) There is a man named Renato Canova.
5) There is a band named Disturbed.
6) Mustaches are cool.
7) Dressing retro saves you minutes...cowboy hats are a bonus. (The #87 dude on the left just got 5th at the 50 mile trail national championships).
8) I forgot what 8 is for
9) Heart Rate is very important.
10) Heart Rate is not very important.

I am sure I have forgotten many more...

Wassdoc said...

Thanks for the really nice comments! What you didn't mention is the value and importance of having a coach to remind you not to do too much or extend too far, like I used to do! While I did zero training for the 6 days before the race, I had no guilt because I knew what you would say! While we all think we can do it ourselves, it is helpful to have the support to take some of the pressure off. There is no way that my triathlon performances would be where they are today without your coaching; I also have to admit that you've helped make me a better father, by supporting me in the family comes first arena. Finally, you are a great dad yourself, and you need to know how inspirational that is!

I have to make a plug for my daughter's television pilot! The website is www.littleblossomtheseries.com. There is also a facebook page as well!

Lucho said...

Brett- That is the Lucho manifesto for sure... I couldn't have worded it any better. Thanks man!

GZ said...

I fully intend to rip this off. Comment of the year.