It is a great time to think ahead and get excited about all the potential opportunities that lie in those 12 open months ahead. After a Christmas, hopefully fully enjoyed with family and friends, it is a great time to consider your priorities, goals and objectives and put in train the plans required to get to Christmas next year, feeling really good about how the currently new and shiny 2012 calender filled out.
For us, 2012 is going to be another big year in our household. We are now in France for the long haul. Although we are not sure how long that really is, we are no longer a transitory family, as we had been, just here for a year or two of extended leave from our "real lives" in Sydney. Rob starts work in a new organisation in Europe in February, and with that we have the ability and confidence to know our home is now here in the Alps. The change will however involve another transition period for the whole team Hemphill.
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| Transitions can be challenging moments |
Like well trained triathletes I think our family is well drilled and prepared for transitions, however just like in a race, there is still going to be a period in which it feels like all the blood is in the wrong place and the muscles just don't respond as they do once you are settled in. Rob will have the biggest adjustment to make, so as his support crew we need to make sure he has all he needs to feel happy and settled into his new routine and role back in a corporate environment. Besides losing some time with Rob, the boys and I will need to become a lot more self sufficient as we have relied heavily on him in the past 18 months to keep us all where we need to be, on time and in good order. I will have to wear a watch again and re-learn how to fit my training into much more clearly defined and segmented parts of my week. I have had the luxury over the past 2 seasons of being able to train in the afternoons after school is finished and on Wednesdays (there is no school at Primary level in France on Wednesdays). Before we came here I managed to train for triathlon, work 4 days a week in a corporate management role and look after two kids, often alone as Rob travelled to Melbourne a lot. So I know I have the ability, I just have to get the blood back into my more time disciplined parts of my brain!
Despite the challenge of the major transition heading our way, I am actually really excited with the opportunities that this year brings for all of us. For Rob, the work and travel will be demanding, however I hope he will thrive within the new community and challenge of being back in what appears to be a really interesting job and team. As we are now here longer term it makes all the focus and effort learning French and building a lovely community around us here more important. Ok, particularly for me. The boys are pretty well fluent now and Rob is improving rapidly too. I really must get my French learning back into each day as I was a bit frustrated with some missed conversations when I was helping out at the school today for nordic skiing. 5 yo language can be relatively simple, but sometimes instead I find it simply incomprehensible at the pace and pitch that it arrives.
On the triathlon front I have committed to another year in the pro ranks. My key races in the first half of the season will be Ironman Lanzarote and Ironman Switzerland with a good range of lead up races including some local favourites with my team, TMT Annecy. With Rob back at work travel will be harder, so local races will form a larger part of my schedule this year. After a lovely break following the World Championships I am now back in base load training to ensure I make the most of the opportunity ahead. With our house well above the snow line I am using skate skiing to rebuild a good aerobic base with each of the disciplines still ticking away as appropriate. The need for all bike sessions to be on the HT is keeping Amazon video orders at pre recessionary levels! Coaching will also take up a bigger portion of my time and effort I hope as I complete my next level of coach training with the BTF and develop my skills, mentored by my coach, Dave.
So, the new year therefore offers us a great opportunity to plan for the transition about to come and hopefully by next Christmas we will feel we have all settled well into our next phase. As with tri transitions, it also pays to focus on where you are in the race at any point in time and not look too far forward or back. So having done some planning, it must be time to enjoy this stage, and go ski up some hills to rebuild my fitness in a lovely way. Then for some French homework and school pickup. Better stick the watch on today!
Meilleur voeux / Wishing you a great 2012
Christine
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