Watching professionals, many amateur athletes say that pros have it easy since their whole day is just about training and getting their bodies ready for the effort.
That’s true, but even with the challenges of every day, you can be a top athlete. It’s just about finding the right balance and sacrificing a few things.
Borja Jelič is proof of that. He determined what was really important for him and what he could live without. This has helped him to establish himself as one of the best amateur cyclists in the world, with five national championships and a world vice-champion title to his name.
Borja Jelič is used to the top step of the podium.
He admits that there are often not enough hours in the day to do everything he wants to do. Between the job and training, there’s little time for anything else.
“Cycling is a very time-consuming thing. You need to train, but those 2 or 3 hours on a bike are the least. You have to prepare before and sort yourself up after the training. You are tired, and you have to rest,” says Borja, stressing that compared to the pros, you do everything yourself.
“Just the other day, I punctured the tire in the race when I rode over some glass. It’s me who has to go and buy a new tire and then replace it. You’re on your own for everything.”
“If that is something you enjoy and you have the skills and ability to do most of it yourself, then that’s fine,” adds Borja and points out that it’s good to learn how to fix as many things as possible yourself, otherwise the bike is in the repair shop for a long time, which kills your training and costs money.
Flexible job is the key
For most people, a job and a family are two of the biggest time-consumers besides the training. It is difficult to balance all three without at least one suffering.
Sitting in an office until the late afternoon takes time away from the bike. Doing all your training sessions late in the day is hard, if not impossible, especially in winter.
The solution is a job that doesn’t require you to be physically present in the office.
Borja is lucky to have a flexible job, most of which is remote. It allows him to do training in the morning between meetings or during lunchtime.
“Luckily, I have a job where I have a lot of flexibility. I know that’s a luxury I have. I don’t sit in the office for hours. I work mostly from home because I work for foreign companies. I do everything remotely,” he says and explains that he usually trains when the others have gone to lunch.
He often trains during breaks in work time or participates in meetings from his bike.
“I’m a leader of the development team. It allows me to be on a bike even during work hours. Often, when I see that I have two hours free or when others are going out to eat, I get on my bike and go. They eat for about an hour, and I stay a bit longer and do my training.”
If you ever see a cyclist talking on headphones while eating gels and suffering on a climb, it’s probably Borja. He often has meetings during training, especially those in which he doesn’t have to participate actively.
“There have been many times when I have done meetings in my cycling jersey or even on my bike. I put my headphones on, turn off the camera, and am present. There are a lot of meetings where you just have to listen. I’m on a climb, for example, listening, and if I’m asked a question, I take a little breath, answer it, and move on.”
"I am lucky to be able to function in such a way. If you have a full-time job in a cubicle, it's extremely difficult. Especially if you have a family."
Not everyone has the flexibility of Borja. So, every individual who wants to achieve top results has to figure out for himself where the time gaps are that could be filled by training.
Social life becomes non-existent
Social life is another big piece of the puzzle that suffers if you go all in on training. Late nights and hours spent with friends transform into hours on a bike.
“Social life is the first thing you cut out or the one that suffers the most,” explains Borja, who spends most afternoons training or recovering from the morning sessions.
Most of the socializing is done on a bike or after the training.
However, it's not as if every free minute is dedicated to training. There is clearly some free time, but it's hard to devote it to socializing, which requires a certain amount of energy.
“Even when you have time, and you could go out for a drink, you are so tired that you skip it and go to bed instead,” he explains.
Amateur cycling at a high level requires total commitment and a lot of sacrifice. It's hard to be a top athlete who spends hours at work and is also an extremely social person.
You need to identify the areas most important to you and those you can give up. Every victory requires sacrifices.
Find out what makes you happy
We often think we will be worse off when we talk about giving up something. That's not true, it's about devoting time to what you really enjoy.
The most important thing is finding out what makes you happy and helps you maintain balance in your life.
Borja realized that life on a bike, the countless kilometers, and the difficult moments of suffering make him happy. He’s not sad because he doesn’t go for a drink that often, he rather spends time with friends on a bike.
He will still ride a bike even when his racing days are over. It’s what makes him happy and will continue to make him happy. Perhaps the frequency will reduce, and there will be more time for social life, but the bike will always stay close.
“I’ll ride the bike my whole life. I probably won’t race, but I’ll be riding all the time because it’s something I really enjoy.”
“For me, excluding racing, the bike represents a balance with my job. There, you are always sitting in front of a computer, at a desk, and you are locked inside. The bike is the opposite of that. So it goes well together,” he adds with a big smile on his face.
Conclusion
Becoming great at anything requires a lot of commitment and sacrifice. It is no different in amateur sports, where the demands of everyday life require even more sacrifice.
The job takes up most of our day, so it's ideal if it offers flexible working hours and the ability to adjust your working hours. This opens up opportunities for training when most people spend time in the office.
There is no success without sacrifice. Social life is one of the areas that suffers most. It is not essential for survival, and socializing can be done differently, say during training.
In the end, all that matters is what makes you happy. Some people want to keep their evenings with friends and family and, as a result, will spend less time training. Others will have no problem crossing hours of socializing off their calendar and will feel satisfaction in the victories that come from the time and effort they put into their training.