Consistency

I am consistently inconsistent.

I had some momentum and newness excitement when I started but once things got hectic, logging in was the first thing I dropped.

So, thanks Chaser. I'd probably slacked off a few more days, which very easily snow balls into longer periods off if not for you comment. Time management is NOT my strength. My daily schedule is in a constant state of change and re-evaluated hourly. My wife is finishing her Bachelor's degree online, taking 6-8 hrs a day to keep up; my 6yr old is in school 1/2 day and my 12yr old is in school all day. The crux is getting everyone where they need to be with one car. Luckily I work close to home, but some days are just crazy, trying to get to the gym, pool, or spin class, back to work and the kids to and from school, and still put in an honest 8hr work day and hopefully still have some time to relax with the family.
A few weeks ago I started really tracking my workouts, w/ time and distance. I've always tracked my weight lifting routines, hitting everything based on the goals at the time. I religiously followed my marathon training workout last year and it worked real well until I was injured. But now, I've been getting much more focused on the triathlon training, dropping my weightlifting from 2x/day, 4days/wk to just 2-3x/week and adding in the swim and bike in it's place. I was surprised to see how little time I was actually working out, barely 8hrs/wk even though it felt like I was gone "training" all the time. It wouldn't matter much but while defending my time away from home to my wife, I realized the disparity between my perceived time versus actual training time is in the travel to and from the gym, changing before and after the workout and the inevitable socializing I do while at the gym. Now I've been accused, correctly sometimes, of over-training and being too work-out obsessed. Over the years, I've gotten pretty big into weight-lifting and crazy cardio workouts, going through 6 month phases of 2 and 3-a-day workouts, 5x/week getting up to 190 pounds while maintaining minimal body fat. But I feel like I've really matured over the last couple years as I've tried to get into endurance sports and realizing the bigger I am, the slower I am. Not to mention how much more I enjoy my family time as the kids get older. So now that I've been ramping up my time away from home again, the old complaints have re-surfaced but now I feel justified in arguing that real triathlon training takes a certain amount of time. It's not just weightlifting for vanity anymore. So there I am adding up the time and it's only 8hrs of actual training. Add in all the intangibles of getting there, changing and stretching and the time I'm gone is more like 12hrs/week. Luckily my wife is very supportive and is helping me find ways to fit it all in.
I imagine it will always be an effort to keep it all balanced, but I'm getting a little better every year. The biggest thing I've learned over the last couple years is how far the little things go in helping everyone. Just making the bed every now and then, making dinner for the family, doing the shopping late at night when everyone else is asleep, or taking the kids on a bike ride or to the store w/ me so my wife can do homework. All these things help keep the family running smooth; my wife is less stressed, I get to bond w/ the kids and it feels good contributing, being part of the team.
I've read so much about training; weight lifting routines for bulking up or getting toned, running workouts, cycling gear reviews, diet and nutrition strategies relating to the different sports and types of workouts but very little of it touches on how much time it takes and how to juggle the rest of your life with it. What difference does it make how good an athlete I am if my family thinks I'm a selfish a-hole that never sees me?
Smile, life is good. They do know me, they support me, I value how much my contribution to them is and it feels good when my world is in balance.
I smile today because I can, knowing that balance is fleeting. I think it was IronWil that compared it to the swing of a pendulum on clock. Life IS going to swing, accept it. The goal is not letting it swing too far out of whack, keeping the swing manageable.