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Balancing Triathlon & Family...

Saturday, 24 October 2015 00:10

TriRock Philadelphia champions share advice on making triathlon and family relationships work.

By Jene' Shaw (triathlon.competitor.com)

The two-triathlete household
Pro Alicia Kaye is married to 2008 Olympian (and Rio 2016 hopeful) Jarrod Shoemaker. She gives this insight on what it’s like to be married to another athlete and how they help each other through the ups and downs of racing.

„“There are a lot of pros and cons to being married to another professional triathlete. One of the biggest pros is that we just get it. You get it on the days when you’re so tired, and you’re moody and you’re stressed over travel. You just look at the other person and realize, ‘Whoa, I’m making dinner tonight.’ You can kind of lean on each other a little bit.”

„“When one of us isn’t doing well but the other one is, it’s actually really nice and motivating. Because you almost care more about how the other person is doing than yourself. I’m more nervous for Jarrod to race than I am for myself to race. When I see him do well, it’s the best feeling in the world. And I think when he’s not doing well, he looks to me for motivation. So we kind of work off of each other and that’s what’s worked for us to stay happy as a husband and wife.” ...

„“We don’t try to coach each other—that’s what our coaches are for. We’ve been doing this long enough to where we both have that information dancing in our heads already, so [before a race], it’s more like that cheesy stuff your mom tells you, like ‘You’ll do great!’”

„“I’ve learned in the last few years to be his wife and not his training partner who would understand technically how he’s feeling. You never need to remind an athlete that they could’ve done something better—if anything, they’re too hard on themselves, and that’s definitely Jarrod. I just let him know I support him regardless of how poorly his race went, and [focus on] being a sounding board and listening, and just letting him process his performance whether it was good or bad.”  READ MORE