I work in finance/accounting, so there are quarterly periods for about 7-10 days when work is particularly busy and extra stressful. I’m sure folks in any number of industries can relate!
As an example, last Monday I knocked out an endurance ride with the lowest RPE/HR for the power in months. On Tuesday I had 2x22 Threshold scheduled but I tacked on a few extra minutes at threshold and could have easily gone longer if I had the time. Work stuff (as usual for this time of the quarter) was ramping up so I didn’t ride Wed/Thurs, struggled with an easy ride on Fri, and I couldn’t get through 15 mins of sweetspot on Sat
How would you adjust your training to account for this? Even if I significantly reduced the volume, this period isn’t particularly restful so I have a hard time calling it a rest week. I don’t have any more events this year so I’m not too worried about some training interruptions right now, but it’s a struggle in April/July when I don’t want to get too far behind for event prep.
I haven’t figured this out yet so any tips are appreciated!
Uh, certainly can relate to this – I am software developer in small team with world wide service and DevOps model i.e. need to be every 4th-6th week on-call for 24x7 to handle unexpected issues. I try to substitute shifts in a way it falls to training recovery weeks.
I do very high volume low Z2 and 1-2 high intensity workouts per week during loading period. Usually pushing final week before recovery even higher, so I would really need and welcome recovery week. During recovery/on-call week I ride 1-2h Z1 every day, choosing routes near home in city i.e. it enforces me to be slow plus I am near computer when alert comes. To make it interesting, I use wandrer.earth to discover new places. Should call arrive at night, I have slightly less stress knowing that it would not affect any key workouts next day and I can easily skip easy day if got too little sleep.
I like @svens approach to try and substitute a training week for a Recovery Week. This would require manually updating the plan, but it can be a good way to have this very stressful time land on recovery days rather than trying to do it all and actually hurt your training.
Shoot me a DM, and I’ll help you set it up!
You might also think about what your schedule looks like during non quarter end and YE.
Everyone’s work and life schedule is different, but I’m also in accounting and am the global controller for the company I work for. I stopped having to keep a timesheet after leaving public accounting 12 years ago, but I’m more than confident I average around 45-50 hours and then am definitely above 55-60 for quarters. My training doesn’t change drastically and I’m around 15-20 training hours a week split between bike, pool, and running.
I don’t know what your out of work schedule looks like, but what helped me is I forced myself to start getting up at 4-4:30, regardless of whether it’s QE or not, so when the time comes that I don’t have the option of putting some of my workout after work I’m already comfortable waking up early and getting rolling. I think I recall this taking around 5-6 weeks to get completely comfortable with, and that includes getting up on the weekend between 4:30 and 6.
It’ll suck for a bit, but assuming you’re in the northern hemisphere then this is an ideal time to integrate a schedule adjustment into your life and you’ll be ready and rolling whenever hard workouts roll around again.
Also - I’ve not read all of the responses but making a call on your workout doesn’t have to be done until you actually start moving. When you look at your week, you have what, 2 hard rides at most per week? You can have it in your mind that Tuesday is one of those days but if you start rolling and feel terrible just spin easy and push the hard ride to Wednesday, and so on.
I started my career in public accounting and don’t miss the hours/travel! Most of the year now is probably in a similar ~45 hour range like you mentioned, but I have a decent amount of flexibility. I’ve been very lucky that in my current role (for most of the year) I can often get away for 60-90 mins during the day or start work early to ride outside after 5ish in the summer.
I am in the northeast US, so it’s probably a good time to step back and consider offseason planning. I think that’s great advice about moving the workouts to early morning although I’m dreading the adjustment period to be honest. I appreciate the advice!
I’ve always been a morning person and always did my most important workouts first thing. If you’re married have an honest discussion with your wife. As we’ve gotten older my wife is more prone to being awaken early and can’t seem to fall back asleep as easily. We’re working through me waking up a little later so she can get some more rest. Anyway, just have the discussion.
I am a tax partner at a large public accounting firm with a family and a spouse with a similar career. I train 10-12 hours/week all year, and the only way this is possible for me in my circumstances is by getting up at 3:45 every training day to get my session in before the rest of the world starts up.
You can control when your day starts, not when it ends, or how hungry, tired, and distracted you’ll be by the time you shut down for the day.
If i had a very busy/stressfull week ahead i would take it day by day…
If you have time, just look at what you think is doable, if it’s only 1h endurance, that is fine, you don’t need to do threshold or SST every week…
Just find balance. between workstress and workouts…
Load is load, whether work/life demands or training demands. Keep in mind everyone has things that intrude on their training. Some folks’ day jobs are more physically demanding, some folks have super active kids to keep up with, and some work weeks are just too full to fit in the full intended volume.
For me, I try to be consistent when I can, and listen to what my body says it can absorb. When I’m depleted and really feel like laying on the couch, rest is probably my best training for that day.
But if you are getting up at 3.45am, what time are you needing to go to sleep the night before? 3.45am is basically shift work hours which must have some negative impacts?
In the past I have been invited to ride early mornings, like finishing at 6am on workdays. One of the guys had little kids that went to bed early, and a wife that taught school and woke early. Accordingly they went to bed rather early and could handle those early bird rides.
My household schedule has never been like that. I went a time or two, but it’s just not a good fit for this night owl.
Getting to work remote a few days per week is huge. Makes a big difference in work/life balance, especially during QE.
