One to Fifteen Scale

I was recently watching the “Science of Triathlon – Lecture Series.” It is a pretty informative series in that it stresses the intangibles of sports training. Time is spent on goal setting and nutrition in addition to swim techniques and drills. One point that stood out for me is a question Wes Hobson asks his athletes as they begin a coaching program, “On a scale of 1 to 15, where does triathlon rank in your life?”

This forced the question in my mind as to what I would consider most important in my life and do my actions reflect that mental ranking. The intent in the video series is to make a commitment by clarifying the importance of triathlon. An athlete proclaiming a 12 would be coached with the intent that he or she would for example skip social functions to train or compete whereas an athlete proclaiming a 7 would get a pass from a bike workout to go waterskiing.

This past week I put in 2800/15/10.8 with one session of weights. Some items that gained priority were swim workouts, cleaning up around the house, cooking meals and taking care of my daughter for a long weekend. Some items that lost priority were relaxing in front of the television and a trip to the mountains to play cards. My professional responsibilities stayed constant.

In my mind family does take precedence over most everything else. I rank health and work high also. Then I start to consider my interests and hobbies, which seem to be constantly shifting in relevance. I would currently rank these as triathlon, poker and then coin collecting. Home care and socializing tend to be my lowest priority items and are most often undertaken in the interest of maintaining a happy family.

Unfortunately my actions in the form of time allocated and zealousness do not reflect these mental choices.