I'm not sure that I can comment on the question of whether "you" can be competitive not knowing your background or training history but I have found that I have become fairly competitive in my first year of triathlons with 10-12 hours of training per week.

As to the question on balance my wife came flat out and told me that if I was going to persue this sport that I was going to have to do it at times when it did not take away from the family. This has meant that I usually get up and train from 5:00 am to 6:30 am Tuesday-Friday and do at least one of my longer workouts on the weekends early. It has worked for me but each family situation is different, I decided that triathlons were more important to me than staying up late or sleeping in.

This thread is from a little over a year ago. Lots of good responses.

As for me, I'm not particularly competitive (started BOP Sprint, now MOP Sprint). But I'm proud of my accomplishments and really enjoy doing this. I balance my kids' needs (5 1/2 and 2 1/2), a full time job, my training and my husband's training schedule (he's running his second marathon in November).

This is a sport (Take a look around this board) that you can do for many years. So you can rock it when the kids are older. That's my plan at any rate.

Good luck!

Like mastromb said, I have no idea what it takes for YOU to be competitive. Depends on too many things. Training time alone will not translate. But I do have 4 kids (age 6 - 11)and I have been doing tris for two years. The first year, sprints only. My family barely noticed because it only required 4-6 hrs per week. The next year was Sprints, Duas, Olys. I trained 6-10 hours per week and had to start carefully working my training around the kid's schedules, my husbands travel, etc... but it was only complicated during my heavy training weeks. Not an issue the rest of the time.

Next year will be devoted to my first HIM. It will definitely affect my family. I told my husband about it ahead of time and said that I would need his help if I was going to do this. It won't affect my family during off season as I train, but during the heavy training weeks on my plan, my family will have to make sacrifices for me. I actually think that's a good thing. I do that for my husband when he goes hunting or travels, and my kids need to learn that mom has a life too. We will have a pow-wow with the kids when I start my training plan to let them know what it's going to look like and how long it will last. I think it can make your family stronger if you are proactive and you don't just start disappearing for hours and hours with no discussion. My .02.

Creativity is key. A couple things that I'm doing:
- Number 1 & 2 sons are soccer players... I volunteering for a lot of car pooling and can sneak in an hour run while waiting.
- Younger twins swim, and I am able to get a 45 minute swim in since there's an open lane.
- Dog has to go out early... I take her for an easy walk/jog, drop her off, and then go out for my run.
Between these I'm able to get in 5-6 hours a week while not impacting family or work.
- when there were a few co-workers who also ran, we didn't schedule meetings in the office... we chatted over a short lunch run.

Not sure if these work for you, but I think one key is to find when you can train WHILE dealing with family or work issues. It doesn't get me all the training hours I need, but it reduces some of the disruptions and trade-offs we all face.

(1) According to statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2003, the average American spent 1,745 hours watching television - which translates to 4:45 per day. I know, I know, you don't watch that much TV and when you do, it's only PBS and the news, that's all. But serioulsy, 1,745 hours a year? If you trained 1/6th of that (290 hours a year) you'd be way ahead of the game. So, turn off the TV and you'll find free time.

(2) I don't have kids nor am I married. Those were choices I made (which I may regret when I'm 80). My personal and professional life are (and have been) of higher priority. People with families made their own choices and I'm sure for them, they were the right choices. Neither is better than the other. If you are now choosing to try to do both, which I am sure is possible, I think an honest discussion with your family about your goals is in order. Also, look for ways to carve out time with them in place of the time you will spend training. I marvel at my training partners who can put in a 100-miler then go home and play in the yard with kids. And we're not really talking hours a day, every day, all-year-round. A few hours during the week, a few hours on the weekend. Not too different than a golfers schedule.

I've got a wife, two kids (4 & 6), a job, and a long commute. It's tough. I already get up at 5am just to get to work on time, so that leaves me doing my best to squeeze in 3 1-hour training sessions in the evenings during the week and then scrambling to get the rest in on the weekends. And even then, my wife is also a serious runner, so we compete for free mornings for our long runs/training rides. Frankly, I'm lucky when I can get 6-8 hours of training per week, and frankly, my wife has been LOVING this offseason. Hell, even I've been loving not having to scramble so much just to get on my bike at every free second of the day.

With that said, I did two Oly's last year and a Sprint as well as a pair of Duathlons, a bunch of little road races, and an open water swim race. Am I as fast as I could be? No way. But I ran okay in both the Duathlons, and I was legitimately HAPPY with the Sprint. I also learned that trying to do TWO Olys was too many, at least for me, but if I'd really focused on one of them--and been a little smarter with my preparation and racing strategy--then I'd probably be able to turn in a respectable performance.

Like the others said, what's competitive?

To me, being competitive is competing at the highest level that you can within the realistic constraints of the rest of your life.

Thanks a ton for each of your comments. The best part about these forums is that you get to hear from people of all different circumstances and ability levels. I've shown a few of these posts to my wife (to which she responded, "wow, you weirdos have your own little world don't you?") and I think it helped her to know others want to do this and I'm not just a delusional Olympic hopeful. She noted that my brother in law, an avid golfer, gets away with way more time away from family than I would need. Fair enough, I'm glad she's on board and I think I owe that to your collective insight. Thanks.

I agree with what what most other folks have said already. Being married and having a 2 year old I've seen my share of the best laid plans go up in smoke, but it happens. The thing I've learned is that missing a workout once in a while happens and to just go with the flow. The wife is understanding of the time I try to put in and I try to give her a heads up as to what my plans are for the week that may impact her (she can adjust her schedule OR I can adjust mine as needed). The communication piece is key. That being said, sleeping in has become a luxury (has anyone found anything on TV at 4 AM to watch during trainer rides besides infomercials?).

The best piece of advice I can give you is to buy a bike trainer if you don't already have one. I would get 1-2 rides per week in without it and with it I can easily maintain 3/week. I bought it right before my son was born and while the rides are boring as all get out, it does allow for great scheduling freedom.

Braden

+1 to all the above. Creativity and time management are key to making things work. This was my first season and I also am no way competative (yet ha,ha) but it is possible. I look at it this way. Things will not stay this way for the rest of my life. My kids will grow and responsiblities with change. I am not planning on stopping this lifestyle anytime soon so in the big picture what i can't do right now I will be able to do later. I just need to keep everything in perspective. Hope you can find a balance that works.

like maggiemeans, i like the side effects:
my 4yo son took off his training wheels at age three and is in an upper level swim class for his age...mostly because he's allowed himself to be interested in those things...mostly because he's seen my wife and i doing them. he can't play t-ball or kick a soccer ball very well yet but i suspect he'll want to do those things too at some point when his friends all want to play those things with him

and, like the others above, i get my workouts in early morning (5am) during the work week and try to schedule around family events on the weekend