My Training Routine Had To Change. So Did How I Run MyBusiness.
A few years ago my training routine fell apart, and when I rebuilt it, I didn't try to recreate what it used to look like. I built something that actually fit the life I have now.
I compete in HYROX, in the Women's Pro category, which is a different beast entirely from the standard division. The goal is the World Championships, and to get there I need to be running under four minutes per kilometre, which is properly fast. I've done three HYROX Pro races already this season, with more on the calendar: Gdańsk in Poland, and Dublin in November, where I'm doing Mixed Doubles with my partner, who competes too.
None of that training happens in a purpose-built way. These days it means a bike and a rower at home, a treadmill at my parents' house when I'm there, strength work wherever I can fit it in around the working day, and the odd proper gym session when the timing lines up. None of it is glamorous. All of it happens, because it's built around real life rather than a version of my week that doesn't exist.
Earlier this year that meant working around an injury too, a few weeks where training had to stop almost entirely and I had to be patient about building back up properly rather than rushing it. It's a different kind of constraint to school pickups or a busy client week, but the same principle applies: adapt the plan to reality, don't wait for reality to become convenient.
Right now that also means training in France for a few weeks, with yet another different setup. The equipment changes constantly. The commitment doesn't.
I run my business the same way. I don't believe in systems that only work if everything goes perfectly, because nothing ever does. The businesses I help tend to get into trouble not because they lack ambition, but because their systems were built for an ideal week that never actually turns up, the one with no school pickups, no client emergencies, no injuries, no travel.