The athelte life, not so glamourous after all, the hidden truth!
Photo by: Delly Carr
So often I have friends and people in my network comment about how easy I have it living the athlete life! Don't get me wrong I absolutely love what I do and wouldn't change anything but I think there are many myths, perceptions & perceived ideas about this #athletelife which need to be … clarified, because it's not all glitz and glamour!
Active wear is worn for a purpose, to be active, and get all hot, sweaty and dirty! So when you see an athlete in active wear, chances are they have a hard session on the cards in the near future & aren't just it to get coffee with friends
Early morning training starts never really feel great, I'm sorry but 4.30 am is 4.30am, you should be asleep, so No, it does not feel great to hear your alarm going off at 4.15 am 6 days a week to get to training in the dark, that wonderful early start feeling comes when the session is done!
Im sorry but no matter how fitspo you are, chocolate, donuts, sweets, ice cream, pizza, chips and all those glorious nasty foods still taste delicious! No carrot or celery stick will ever beat it, but the fact is fueling the body with healthy food is part of the job!
Which brings me to my next point- just because we exercise a whole lot doesn't mean we get to eat more of these foods, the rule still applies- everything in moderation! No matter how unmoderated the exercise hours are!
What comes alongside the 4.30am starts, is early nights! And for a young 20-something year old, that puts you on nearly the opposite time zone to your friends, while they're out partying, having a ball on the town, causing havoc and downing plenty of refreshing alcoholic beverages, you're sound asleep, resting & hyrated on the good old H20 ready to hit it at tomorrow's training! Part of the job!
There is no such thing as 9-5, for me I love the fact I'm living my dream job, there's no office or desk in site, no commute & no 9-5 ritual, I’m outdoors & moving, but with that means no defined working hours, most days the first session will kick off by 5am and the last session for the day may only start at 6 or 7pm, onto of training up to 6 or 7 hours a day, you can forget things like physio, massage & specialists who help keep my “workplace” in shape, great gig, but there's some long days, rest days aren't all that common place & and there's no such thing as weekends off, that's when the long rides and run happen!
Just when you've finished a great set, time to refuel, eat, rest, recover, nap? In a dream world, in reality there's probably 20 emails in the inbox needing answers, calls to be made, meal prep to be done, appointments to book, training diarys to fill out, metrics to record & recovery work to be done. We are our own business & our body's are the tool, you need to maintain the best care of that tool & it's not a something you can take shortcuts on, or they'll catch up to you!
Recovery is essential, and put plain and simple, one of the key tools we can use is a foal roller, works well, hurts like a Bitch!! What a way to end the day, on the roller with a bit of TV on for distraction!
Finally, training plain & simple isn't a walk in the part, you turn up to sessions switched on, with objectives to achieve, goals to execute & striving to get the most out of yourself!! Daily training, hard intensity vomit worthy sessions aside even, is hard work! Not for the faint hearted!
I say this all with a pitch or 2 of salt, I love what I do, it's my passion, i love ripping into a days work & getting the absolute best out of myself, but it sure isn't the glamourous #athletelife it can be portrayed to be on social media and in people's perception! You've seen the myths busted now, Its a lot of hard work, time, plus blood, sweat & tears!