For parents with demanding jobs, it can be easy to let personal fitness slip. Indeed, at some stages of parenting and careers, time for intensive exercise simply disappears. But one couple’s experience suggests that sports still beckon and can be satisfying, as a more flexible schedule returns in the middle years.

Mary Gwen Wheeler serves a large role in Louisville’s public sector, acting as the Mayor’s secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Making time for physical fitness is a priority in her life and career, as her cabinet’s mission is “to maximize the health and human potential of the Louisville metro community.” She makes time to stay active while completing a workweek that generally demands at least 55 hours of her time.

For her husband, venture capitalist David Jones, Jr., endurance training is a lot like his chosen career. Both involve a lot of work and pain, but sometimes lead to a pleasurable payoff. “It’s the thrill of victory, and sometimes the agony of defeat,” smiles Jones.

For Jones, founder and chairman of Chrysalis, a venture capital firm based in Louisville that oversees more than $200 million investments in over 40 companies, the steady dose of endurance-building workouts fits him well. The perseverance and discipline necessary to arise before sunrise for mind-clearing workouts before tackling hectic, deal-filled days go hand in hand with the mental fortitude needed to steadily weather the boom/bust cycle of venture capitalism. “Sometimes, it’s a wild ride,” admits Jones.

Was it mentioned that Jones and Wheeler are also raising two teenagers?

How do they do fit it all in? Two demanding careers, two busy teenagers, two people juggling workouts?

“It’s been easier as the children have gotten older,” admits Wheeler. “It’s only now that we feel comfortable leaving them in the morning to both fit a workout in.” Their children are athletic themselves, meaning that family vacations are active ones. Mountain biking in North Carolina is one of their favorites.

For Jones and Wheeler, the key to staying competitive athletically while building successful careers and nurturing two children involves setting the alarm clock at a rather early hour. Long-time swimmer Jones is a regular at the Lakeside Masters swim team’s Monday, Wednesday and Friday practices, which start at 5:50 and /files/storyimages/around 7:00. That’s a.m., as in morning. While most people are hitting the snooze button for an extra ten minutes of sleep, Jones is steadily churning out laps in Louisville’s landmark quarry pool, relishing the concentration on immediate, physical challenges that a demanding coach and lane mates require. Tuesday and Thursday mornings he can be found running four to five miles in Cherokee Park with friends. And on Saturday mornings, a time that some would reserve for a relaxing round of golf, Jones usually teams up with the other Louisville Bike Club members for a 60-mile speedy ride through the countryside.

Jones’ a.m. workouts offer him more than an increased heart rate, though. Ever since his days spent in China, when he would arise before dawn to enjoy some rare peaceful moments in a congested city, he’s learned to love the mornings. “There is something about the sun coming up over Baringer Hill during a run in Cherokee Park…or riding beside a pasture on a Saturday morning cycle to Eminence, and seeing the dew shimmering off of a spider web…that’s spectacular.”

While Wheeler’s passion lies more to interactive sports than to racing a clock, she has recently discovered the sport of dualthon. She’s done well at it, becoming an age group finalist in the first two of Kentuckiana Health Fitness’ recent duathlon series. “The duathlons have helped give me a goal,” explains Wheeler. “Finding friends to train with is key.”

A lifetime of running up and down the soccer and lacrosse fields has given Wheeler a foundation of endurance to build upon. She only gave up Masters soccer three years ago, a sport she picked up 15 years ago after a decade of playing varsity lacrosse on high school and college teams. “You never wanted to embarrass yourself on the field by being out of shape,” admits Wheeler. “That kept me running…to stay in shape for soccer season.” She, too, fits in workouts before work, with a long run or bike session on the weekend.

Jones’ three chosen workouts – swimming, biking and running – make for a natural fit for the sport of triathlon. And a triathlete he is, placing fifth in his age group twice this year, once before a hometown crowd in Louisville’s TriAmerica Olympic distance triathlon, and again in Nashville’s Music City Olympic distance tri. While his 8-10 hours of training per week don’t give him the mileage necessary to regularly compete in the longer races of half-Ironman and Ironman distances, he did achieve his goal of finishing the Atomic Man Half-Ironman in Tennessee last September. His time? A respectable five and a half hours. Not bad for someone who started in the sport a mere three years ago.

Since starting to cross-train six days a week, Jones has dropped 35 pounds. “Before I really started to endurance train, I was on the ‘add one-to-two-pounds-a-year’ program,” admits Jones. Looking at him now, a lean and fit figure, that’s hard to imagine. He and Wheeler admit they like the fact that regular training allows them to enjoy Louisville’s restaurant row without feeling the effects of a tight waistband.

Yet for being such a driven businessman, Jones’ goals in the athletic world don’t include lining up at the start of one of the punishing Ironman races. “I’d just like to continue to get better each year,” states Jones. “And I have plenty of room to do that.”

What would he really like to accomplish athletically? “Bicycle across the country,” smiles Jones. “That looks intriguing.”

For Wheeler, staying fit is important not only for her physical and mental well-being, but also because she serves as a role model to her children and her colleagues. While she is still searching for a sport that will replace soccer – one that she can play into her later years – she is enjoying racing the clock in duathlons and local 5Ks.

She is also searching for ways to help fellow Louisvillians stay fit and healthy, working with Mayor Jerry Abramson on his Healthy Hometown Movement. “Unfortunately, Kentucky is known for people having low levels of activity, combined with high rates of obesity,” warns Wheeler. As a member of the Mayor’s cabinet, she is working to combat this epidemic by organizing Metro Government leadership in this community-wide movement to challenge the cultural norms – encouraging all to engage in 30 minutes of physical activity five times a week. As part of the Healthy Hometown effort, the Health Department has organized the “Take Charge Challenge” that rewards metro employees who increase their physical activity and achieve their personal goals through an incentive program. Wheeler foresees Louisville’s corporate community becoming involved, as healthier workers are ultimately more productive ones. Metro Parks is doing its part by producing a “fitness” guide to Louisville’s park systems, with various trails and cycling and pedestrian routes marked (see www.metro-parks.org).

Jones and Wheeler are a sophisticated twosome – they met at Yale as undergraduates, completed graduate degrees while there, lived in Asia in their twenties (both taught English in China), and are a couple around which things happen. Yet for all of their world travels, they have a tremendous appreciation for Louisville’s first-class park system. “Louisville offers a big advantage for those who want to stay fit,” says Jones. “The Olmstead parks are fantastic, as is the River Walk. For those who work downtown, it’s easy to fit in a run or walk, or even head across the bridge to the Indiana side.”

An avid trail runner in the colder months, Jones also is a fan of the opportunities afforded by a large system of trails within a short drive of the city, be it Bernheim Forest, Jefferson Memorial Forest, the Knobstone Trail or even Cherokee Park. “There are glorious places to run and mountain bike around Louisville.” During the winter months, when the weather makes bicycle riding a frostbite fest, he and friends can be found on Saturday mornings taking a long, endurance-building run through the forests surrounding Louisville.

For Jones and Wheeler, living in Louisville provides excellent opportunities to stay active, with the city’s parks and multitude of week/files/storyimages/races, clubs and like-minded active adults. They strongly encourage others to take the steps necessary to incorporate fitness into their lives, whether that be setting the alarm clock earlier, fitting in a workout during the lunch hour, or using a physical activity at the /files/storyimages/of the work day as a stress reliever. Whatever the time, or workout, they are all for it. “Too many people say ‘I used to be an athlete,’” says Jones. “They should say ‘I am an athlete.’”

Laura Proctor is a local realtor who squeezes in writing assignments between real estate and workouts.