{"id":6580,"date":"2020-11-11T13:00:42","date_gmt":"2020-11-11T13:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsnewsforyou.com\/?p=6580"},"modified":"2020-11-11T13:00:42","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T13:00:42","slug":"how-to-survive-lockdown-as-a-tri-couple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/?p=6580","title":{"rendered":"How to survive lockdown as a tri couple"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having lived and worked together for the past 15 years, Helen, an Olympian and world champion triathlete, and Marc, coach and property entrepreneur, are also juggling a family with two young children. But how do they do it, and keep a smile on their face? Here\u2019s their advice\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Separate work and \u2018normal life\u2019<\/p>\n

Helen: \u201cWhile triathlon is our main job and makes up a big part of our lives, we try to \u2018leave it at the door\u2019 and not bring it into the house, even though it all happens under the one roof. Marc stops being the coach, training partner (whatever other role he plays in supporting me in my training) and I try to stop being the athlete and we become \u2018normal people\u2019 \u2013 whatever normal is anyway!<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to have a switch of mindset and carry on with daily life, especially now during the Covid-19 situation. This is more easily said than done but now we have kids it\u2019s less of a choice and more of a necessity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Have a combined goal and focus<\/p>\n

Helen: \u201cSetting and workings towards a mutual goal has meant Marc and I are always striving towards the same things and on the same page, even if we\u2019re working on things separately.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether this be setting goals for my training, or the managing of the properties that Marc does or Marc\u2019s other coaching, we do it together. Doing this together means we jointly plan time to accomplish each goal, including managing the family and household around them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis brings both positives and negatives \u00ad when it\u2019s good we\u2019re both happy but, when things start going badly, it can get to both of us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen things aren\u2019t going so well, we find that we need to focus on distractions or a secondary goal together, that brings us both back up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Find common ground in what you love<\/p>\n

Marc: \u201cWe like to do the same things. We would swim, bike and run regardless, and we enjoy doing this together and it\u2019s more fun when we\u2019re both fit. That common drive and interest brings us together. In the past we thought of training as a job, but now we consider it a privilege.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat said, with kids, sharing this common ground is more about enabling each other to keep up with what they love. We make plans and create schedules to help each other manage all the elements and ensure the kids are engaged by the other. There is a lot of tag-team wrestling so to speak on the family, and we \u2018tag\u2019 each other in multiple times a day to enable sport, training and work.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake some time to plan a schedule that you both stick to. It needs to create the time each need, but also balance time together and, if you have kids, allow for spending quality time with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Be aware of who and what you are to each other<\/p>\n

Helen: \u201cAfter 2012 we were challenged on how we worked together so we could become more effective. Marc and I had never planned to be \u2018coach and athlete\u2019 in addition to husband and wife, and now mum and dad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe elements of support that come with being athlete\/coach were spilling over and impacting on being husband and wife, which made sense. Being aware of this and how it impacts on our environment has helped us mange our lives more harmoniously.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was something we\u2019d never really thought of, but it\u2019s helped us find the best way of managing work and life that creates the right environment for both.\u201d<\/p>\n

Make sure to have time apart<\/p>\n

Mark: \u201cRight now, no doubt everyone is getting a little bit more irritable with the person next to them, and this is probably doubled or tripled if there are kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake time for yourself and, when you can, get up an hour or so earlier and get your exercise done (or whatever is your own personal passion and joy) and similarly later when the kids or your adult housemate have gone to bed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cAlso, when planning your schedule, make time for each other, to be able to spend time catching up with the friends and family you\u2019d each normally individually or combined catch up with that help enrich your life, or even let you vent about the others in the house!<\/p>\n

\u201cTime for yourself and time with others is key to a healthy balance when living under the same roof.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For Marc and Helen, the current situation of spending 24\/7 together is something that is now normal, but it\u2019s also something they had to work on over the years to make work smoothly. For everyone else, it\u2019s a crash course, but hopefully their advice can be a helpful starting point for others who now find themselves in the same situation. Rather than see this as a challenge, Helen and Mark hope that using these simple points can help bring families closer together.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having lived and worked together for the past 15 years, Helen, an Olympian and world champion triathlete, and Marc, coach and property entrepreneur, are also juggling a family with two young children. But how do they do it, and keep a smile on their face? Here\u2019s their advice\u2026 Advertisement Separate work and \u2018normal life\u2019 Helen:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6580\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}