Stood on top of the podium, I couldn't have been happier, but was it worth the cost?Yes of course it was!
I'm not just talking about the money to get out there and do the event, or the hotel bill before we left for the airport (my prize money just about covered that), I'm talking about shaping my whole life around the sport in order to arrive on the start line in the best possible shape!
Until a few days ago it hadn't really occurred to me what my life looks like to the non athlete, then I was asked to explain a little about a typical week in my life. The new sales manager at the leisure centre where I work part time had heard I'd been away at a competition in Ibiza and wanted to know more! After explaining that it wasn't a DJing competition in a night club (as she had first assumed), I went through what a Quadrathlon is made up of, and how my 20+hrs of training is split throughout the week to cover all the areas. She was already aware that I teach swimming at the centre for 20hrs each week, so her next question was "do you have a social life?" Well yes, of course, but like most sports people it's in perspective, and doesn't really involve a lot of late nights and booze! I started thinking about my friends: pro cyclists, Ironman triathletes, runners, swimmers, climbers. All people with a commitment to their sport that has shaped their lifestyle..... She went on "do you have to pay to enter these events?" PAY!!!!!! Are you kidding, every penny I earn goes towards racing, anything I don't use or don't need goes up for sale on ebay, and where possible every penny I can save is saved. "By the way, are you paying for these coffees?" I'm lucky enough to have some great product sponsors, but the finance help is much harder to come by. It was interesting to listen to her reaction as a non athlete, and what you might term a normal person, she summed me up as "someone who had put their life on hold to follow the dream of turning professional at his chosen sport"! Personally I'd say I've created the perfect life, following and living my dream, and on a daily basis too). . . . Train / Eat / Train / Sleep. . . .REPEAT! . . . That's on the whole how it goes!
Now, with 15days until the European championships in Germany, I'm doing everything possible and stepping up my game in anyway I can, in order to bring back the Gold!
