Until I can make a living from triathlon, my professional career is as a software engineer. Currently, I’m the engineering manager for Carter’s, where my team oversees the consumer website.
Most weekdays start with swimming, biking, and/or running. Then I spend the rest of the day helping to sell tiny pants on the internet. Carter’s is based in Atlanta, but I work remotely from up here in Nashville. However, once a quarter, I travel to the Peach State for on-site meetings.
The biggest challenge of these trips? I have to tuck my shirt in. 😆 Not only that, I can’t procrastinate on the post-workout shower. Chlorine and B.O. are not really acceptable in an office.
But in all seriousness, I really struggled with those trips as a triathlete in 2024. It is HARD to be a successful triathlete on the road.
I (obviously) love going back to ATL and seeing everyone. But on the diet side, it’s a dang challenge! Don’t get me wrong. This is a wonderful problem that I have a job that takes me to a city where I know so many people! But whew, keeping all those boxes green in TrainingPeaks and Lose It is so much harder down there. There are temptations and distractions everywhere.
I literally have a lifelong beer discount at Taco Macs across the city.
This trip was my fifth time making this trek for work. As I drove down, I felt like I was finally prepared for what awaited me. I’m not even kidding that I planned out every meal for the entire trip in Lose It.
I literally scheduled this beer with Connor at the Braves game.
On the training side of things, being in ATL is hard too. I’m away from my usual pool. My bike stays behind in Nashville. And I don’t have my familiar running routes.
Until November of last year, my gym membership was just to our county rec centers in Nashville. When I was in Georgia, I’d be on my own to find places to train. It didn’t go well, even when I tried to plan ahead. Once, I went to a pool I found on Google that said it was open to the public. What I didn’t realize was this pool had a water temperature of >90º and was used for rehab with senior citizens. 🤦♂️
One of the reasons I signed up for a Life Time membership is because they have a location directly across the street from the office and the hotel I stay at. So instead of hunting around for a place to swim, now I can just walk across the street.
The Life Time here in Nashville is very nice. But wow, the one in Buckhead is ridiculous. The pool is ON THE ROOF.
But seriously, even with that level of gym convenience, it was harder than I expected to stay disciplined and get over there each day. There are always more things I want to do and more people I want to see than I have time for.
If I’m training before or after work, that’s time lost from doing something else. It’s hard.
When I started writing, I didn’t intend to spend the whole monthly recap talking about this one trip, but it’s probably worth reflecting on.
These are the days that can ultimately make the difference between a meh race and a PR. It’s easy to just say you’re taking a couple of days off, giving yourself a pass because you’re traveling, and to get back to it on the other side. I’m guilty of doing that on all four trips last year!
That said, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with doing this! It’s truly a gift that I get to travel for work to a place where I can see so many people that I wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to see as often.
But I’d really like to make 2025 a special year when it comes to triathlon. That’s going to take some additional sacrifice, some days more than others.
All in all, it was still a great trip. I had a couple of productive days at the office, got to a Braves game, and didn’t blow off my training or food plans. I just underestimated how much focus and discipline it would take to be able to say that!
