View Full Version : Employment and training conflicts
Does anyone else here work a lot of hours each week .... like 52-60 hours a week, or more? If so, are some of those days long days ... like 16 straight hours of work?
I work 9 hours a day, 5 days a week, Monday to Friday at one job, then another 8 hours most Saturdays at another job which is very physically active. And Tuesdays are 16 hour days - I go right from my day job to my physically active job - I leave home at about 7:30 am, and return around midnight. Then I'm up again ready to leave home at about 7:30 am on Wednesday to continue working at my day job.
Basically ... I'm exhausted half the week, and just can't seem to get the mileage in that I want.
If you're in this situation ... how do you fit cycling in?
VosBike
05-31-06, 08:13 PM
I'm about to start working 60 hours a week and I can't figure out where I'll fit the miles in. Hope somebody's got a miracle solution
I dunno but I guess you can do all your reading on a trainer.
I dunno but I guess you can do all your reading on a trainer.
What reading??
I dont have quite as many hours a week as you, nor is my job physical. But lack of time affects everyone. Commuting is the only solution to the time management problem i've found so far.
I dont have quite as many hours a week as you, nor is my job physical. But lack of time affects everyone. Commuting is the only solution to the time management problem i've found so far.
I'm trying to commute as much as possible, but it isn't easy. On Mondays I'm exhausted from Sunday's ride. Tuesdays I can't commute because I don't have enough time to get from one job to the other by bicycle, plus it would mean I would get home closer to 1 am rather than midnight. Wednesdays I'm too tired to want to get up the half an hour early (after an already very short night) to cycle to work. And then I try to commute on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
What reading??
Bikeforum reading? :) Put a stair stepper by the kitchen sink?
Dunno but I sorta know how you feel. For 10 years I worked in a kitchen 7am until 8-9pm at least five days a week. Then I quit, had a kid, and got even fatter.
HAMMER MAN
06-01-06, 05:09 AM
time management always sucks especially revolving around something you enjoy.
I use to average 55 hour work weeks, this included Sat. until about 1:00. in the afternoon.
now I alternated my schedule and work every other saturday 5:00 A. M. until 4:30 in the afternoon. even though I still put in 50 hrs a week on the alternate weeks this gives me a little extra time for riding.
I squeeze in usuallly 100 miles a week sometimes 120 or more, scheduling my time does get difficult but i find a way to make it work.
yes the wife bit$hes, but I still get the time in.
I get up @ 3:45 A. M. everyday and leave for work by 4:15, it is a 45 minute drive from my home.
I leave work @ 3:30 every afternoon get home by 4:30 then I usually go on a 20-23 mile ride
three to 4 days a week every sunday is a long ride of 55-75 miles.
So far this has worked.
You guys know when she goes on a bike ride it means 100 miles right?
Work: 9 hours
Commute: 1 hour
Eat: 1 hour
Shower: 1/2 hour
Chores: 1 hour
Sleep: 7 hours
Bikeforum: 1/2 hour
That still leaves 4 hours :) Sure you can get 100k in under four!
I have the TIME to do quite a few miles (provided I do nothing else but ride and work) ..... it's the ENERGY I'm lacking. I'm so tired!!
At some point, you gotta say, hey... I can't do it all. I can't have two jobs and work 60 hours a week and still have a life.
Maybe what you need to do is get some more training, invest in yourself, and get ONE job that pays more?
Life is too short to be working all of the time !
Machka,
I suspect you aren't getting enough sleep and the sleep debt is building up. If so, I suggest setting aside some time and getting a good long uninterrupted sleep once a week to help recover. Working long hours, even when they aren't physically demanding, takes a mental toll that requires sleep.
Most people who have problems with "low energy" really have mental fatigue caused by poor or insufficient sleep. We tend to compensate by using caffeine, which works quite well to a point. But the sleep debt still accumulates until we get some good deep sleep time to reset the clock.
Machka,
I suspect you aren't getting enough sleep and the sleep debt is building up. If so, I suggest setting aside some time and getting a good long uninterrupted sleep once a week to help recover. Working long hours, even when they aren't physically demanding, takes a mental toll that requires sleep.
Most people who have problems with "low energy" really have mental fatigue caused by poor or insufficient sleep. We tend to compensate by using caffeine, which works quite well to a point. But the sleep debt still accumulates until we get some good deep sleep time to reset the clock.
I KNOW I'm not getting enough sleep. The most I'm managing per night is about 6.5 hours, and many nights each week I'm getting more like 4.5 to 5.5 hours. I'm still badly sleep deprived from that 400K last weekend. I got 7 hours of sleep when I got home, after being awake for 32 hours, and then went right to work, and haven't gotten anything over 6 hours a night since.
Trouble is ... the way my work schedule is set up, and my training schedule, and my current living situation .... I can't get a good long uninterrupted sleep. It's incredibly frustrating .... I miss peace and quiet and sleep so much!! :(
However, I'll be at my current jobs till the beginning of August. And I'll be training till the beginning of September. And I'll be in my current living situation till January. Then, finally, I might be able to get more sleep!!
What about vitamins and minerals?
At some point, you gotta say, hey... I can't do it all. I can't have two jobs and work 60 hours a week and still have a life.
Maybe what you need to do is get some more training, invest in yourself, and get ONE job that pays more?
Life is too short to be working all of the time !
Unfortunately I have to do what I'm doing right now. See ... I'm a student in University (fullfilling a seemingly unattainable goal finally). This is my summer ... and in order to afford my next year of University I have to work my butt off. I'd like to get a job that pays more, but they don't give those sorts of jobs to temps.
Just make this the rest part of your training cycle. :)
Shoot that's my excuse, my rest months occur twice a year and last for two months!
Just make this the rest part of your training cycle. :)
Shoot that's my excuse, my rest months occur twice a year and last for two months!
Yeah, but I've got two major events coming up - one in the middle of August, and one at the beginning of September. Then I'll likely be pretty much off the bicycle from there till Christmas.
I need the energy now to train for these events.
Yeah, but I've got two major events coming up - one in the middle of August, and one at the beginning of September. Then I'll likely be pretty much off the bicycle from there till Christmas.
I need the energy now to train for these events.
I read an article in running magazine a few months ago about running a marathon on three runs a week. The criteria of course is first you have to be able to run ten miles. The silent assumption is that if you're fit then you should be able to do it. You may not improve your times that much but you can get by with a far lesser workload.
I also just read in the latest issue of running magazine about this girl who had bronchitis and was off for a month. She came back, trained at a lesser load for a month and did her personal best in two out of three events.
I guess what this means is since you're already pretty fit, you won't lose that much fitness and you can actually use the downtime to your advantage. But riding is so much more fun than work....
Get a job that pays enough so you dont need 2 jobs :)
Machka,
As much as we would like, we can't have it all. Sometimes, something has to give. You have to make a choice. It can be sleep, cycling, work, your health, school or whatever it is. I'm sorry to break it to you, but you've got to cut something back.
Get through the phase of life that you are in and meet that big goal (if you choose) and let something go for awhile. Once completed, whatever it is you've left off will still be there.
Good luck.
I KNOW I'm not getting enough sleep. The most I'm managing per night is about 6.5 hours, and many nights each week I'm getting more like 4.5 to 5.5 hours. I'm still badly sleep deprived from that 400K last weekend. I got 7 hours of sleep when I got home, after being awake for 32 hours, and then went right to work, and haven't gotten anything over 6 hours a night since.
Trouble is ... the way my work schedule is set up, and my training schedule, and my current living situation .... I can't get a good long uninterrupted sleep. It's incredibly frustrating .... I miss peace and quiet and sleep so much!! :(
However, I'll be at my current jobs till the beginning of August. And I'll be training till the beginning of September. And I'll be in my current living situation till January. Then, finally, I might be able to get more sleep!!
What about vitamins and minerals?
Sorry, but vitamins, minerals cannot replace sleep. Sleep is a mental process, not physical, and there is no substitute.
As hard as it may seem to fit it in, rest (and sleep) is an integral part of training. My suggestion is to make room for it even if it means reducing your training volume. Getting an uninterrupted 8-10 hours of sleep once a week will almost certainly improve your performance on other days even if it means cutting a few hours off a trainng ride on that one day. Your brain needs rest as much as your muscles.
You asked what others do when the rest of life intrudes on cycling. Sometimes cycling has to give way.
Get a job that pays enough so you dont need 2 jobs :)
As I already mentioned .... I'm a University student who is working temporarily through the summer. They don't give the $75,000 a year jobs to people who are only going to be there for three months. :rolleyes:
The main job I currently have pays me the same as the job I had when I worked full time ... and it is a wage I can live on VERY comfortably. IF I were working the whole year, I would not need a second job at all ... but as it happens I've got to live a whole year, and pay tuition, on what I make in 3-4 months. So I've got to try to earn as much as I possibly can in that time.
The quantity of work has to remain what it is, and it's only for another 10 weeks. But I really want to have the energy to train during the remaining 10 weeks too!!
Getting an uninterrupted 8-10 hours of sleep once a week will almost certainly improve your performance on other days even if it means cutting a few hours off a trainng ride on that one day. Your brain needs rest as much as your muscles.
Getting an uninterrupted 8-10 hours of sleep once a week would be HEAVEN!!
If it were me, these would be my priorities:
#1 Personal health; nutrition. rest. enough cycling to be healthy (base miles)
#2 Relationships with others. Spiritual pursuits.
#3 School - graduate as quickly as possible, get as good grades as possible, get that $75,000 job
#4 Work to support myself; "a day without work is a day without eating"
#5 Extra athletics above and beyond #1
If you're putting #4 and #5 at the top, you're messing around with your life... in my opinion.
Albany-12303
06-02-06, 08:19 AM
Maybe a non addictive stimulant like Provigil (modafinil) - used for narcolepsy. If you can get a doc to prescribe it!
Are there any others out there who are trying to log a decent amount of miles, or train for events later in the summer, while still holding down fulltime+ jobs and maybe other commitments as well? It's that group of people I would like to hear from!! How do you do it? How do you feel?
If it were me, these would be my priorities:
#1 Personal health; nutrition. rest. enough cycling to be healthy (base miles)
#2 Relationships with others. Spiritual pursuits.
#3 School - graduate as quickly as possible, get as good grades as possible, get that $75,000 job
#4 Work to support myself; "a day without work is a day without eating"
#5 Extra athletics above and beyond #1
If you're putting #4 and #5 at the top, you're messing around with your life... in my opinion.
First, you've obviously missed the part where I mentioned that I NEED to work in order to pay for school. :)
Second, if those are your priorities, that's nice and I assume you're happy with that ........ but I'm afraid I personally would find that living my life in that order incredibly boring and unfulfilling. But that might be just me.
I'm DEFINITELY messing around with my life!! :D :D :D I made the decision to do that almost 10 years ago, and everything I've done since has been with that goal in mind! The last thing in the world I want to do is to settle down somewhere with a $75,000 job for the rest of my life. I prefer to live my life with the idea in mind that we're all going to die sooner or later (it will likely be sooner for me) and there are a million things I want to see and do all over the world before I go. :D
I'm going to school to get my Bachelor of Education so that I can travel (and cycle) all over the world and pick up teaching jobs here and there to pay the bills as necessary. Meanwhile ... I have to work hard, but at the same time I don't want to give up my travels and my cycling! Which leads me to my original question.
I just need to find a way to try to fit it all in. :)
linux_author
06-02-06, 12:36 PM
- any sleep apnea issues?
- last checkup was when?
- building recovery time into the ride schedule? (i'm sure you have this one covered)
jprfolts
06-03-06, 03:22 AM
I can definitely relate to the long days. I used to work 10 hours a day while in college and went to school for 5 hours a day with weekends off. I guess it paid off in the job department financially. Bad part is I work 12-15 hour days (@ night) depending on project load. I usually get 2-3 days off which 1 of them is spent recuperating from the 4-5 hours of sleep I get daily (if I'm lucky). I definitely fall of the wagon of eating good and exercise (currently being dragged behind wagon). SO basically I'm not getting miles in. :(
I've been doing this for the past 6 years to pay off a school loan and have a "higher standard" of living. Of course my health suffered greatly. I've gained close to 60lbs since I've started this job. My doctor recently put me on ambien CR to get more sleep. But I can't and don't like to take it every day. I have also been put on Lisinopril for high blood pressure.
I seriously need to change jobs and try to work on health more. Bad part is I will loose 12% of my pay just going to 12 hour "days". But sitting @ 306lbs @ 6 foot tall is not healthy. Just wish I had the motivation and energy to wake up and head to the gym before work.
...Still trying to figure out how to balance all this. I got 1200 dollars worth of entry level bike sitting in my computer room and I feel horrible for letting it sit. On top of that I'm thinking of going back to college for more to change job fields once again.
I ride 150-200 miles per week; I have a fulltime job, three little children and I feel great. I normally sleep 9 hours, plus some sleep on weekend day.
Maybe I should mention here that I did manage to cycle 883 miles in May, while putting in an average of about 56 hours a week of work, and trying to have a bit of a life outside cycling and work.
I'd like to aim for 1000+ miles a month though, like I usually do in the summer. I need to log approx. 5000 miles before my August event ... that's the recommended training quantity.
Same here. Add three children, the youngest is 7 days old. If I do not sleep enough I'd waste my work time and training.
I can definitely relate to the long days. I used to work 10 hours a day while in college and went to school for 5 hours a day with weekends off. I guess it paid off in the job department financially. Bad part is I work 12-15 hour days (@ night) depending on project load. I usually get 2-3 days off which 1 of them is spent recuperating from the 4-5 hours of sleep I get daily (if I'm lucky). I definitely fall of the wagon of eating good and exercise (currently being dragged behind wagon). SO basically I'm not getting miles in. :(
I've been doing this for the past 6 years to pay off a school loan and have a "higher standard" of living. Of course my health suffered greatly. I've gained close to 60lbs since I've started this job. My doctor recently put me on ambien CR to get more sleep. But I can't and don't like to take it every day. I have also been put on Lisinopril for high blood pressure.
I seriously need to change jobs and try to work on health more. Bad part is I will loose 12% of my pay just going to 12 hour "days". But sitting @ 306lbs @ 6 foot tall is not healthy. Just wish I had the motivation and energy to wake up and head to the gym before work.
...Still trying to figure out how to balance all this. I got 1200 dollars worth of entry level bike sitting in my computer room and I feel horrible for letting it sit. On top of that I'm thinking of going back to college for more to change job fields once again.
Enjoy Yourself ! It's later than you think.
You work and work for years and years, you're always on the go
You never take a minute off, too busy makin' dough
Someday, you say, you'll have your fun, when you're a millionaire
Imagine all the fun you'll have in your old rockin' chair
Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think!
Enjoy yourself. While you're still in the pink!
The years go by, As quickly as a wink.
Enjoy yourself. Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think.
You're gonna take that ocean trip, no matter, come what may
You've got your reservations made, but you just can't get away
Next year for sure, you'll see the world, you'll really get around
But how far can you travel when you're six feet underground?
Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think!
Enjoy yourself. While you're still in the pink!
The years go by, As quickly as a wink.
Enjoy yourself. Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think.
You never go to campgrounds (*nightclubs) and you just don't care to hike (*dance).
You don't have time for silly things like campfires (*moonlight) and a bike (*romance).
You only think of dollar bills tied neatly in a stack
But when you kiss a dollar bill it doesn't kiss you back.
Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think!
Enjoy yourself. While you're still in the pink!
The years go by, As quickly as a wink.
Enjoy yourself. Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think.
E.H. Morris & Co./Magidson Music Co. Inc. (ASCAP) Herb Magidson born, 7 January 1906, Braddock, Pennsylvania, USA, died, 5 January 1986, Beverly Hills, California, USA. A leading composer and lyricist in the '30s and '40s, particularly remembered for The Continental, which he wrote the lyric to Con Conrad's tune for the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers picture The Gay Divorcée. It became the first winner of the Best Song Academy Award in 1934. 1950 "Enjoy Yourself. It's Later Than You Think"
:D
jprfolts
06-03-06, 11:55 PM
So very true. :) I'm actually taking off a week and going up to Oregon to visit my friend and look at a relocation prospect.
bransom
06-05-06, 06:05 AM
Add me to the list of folks that works too much and travels way too much, and has trouble maintaining any sort of consistency in my training. 60 hour weeks are fairly normal for me, depending on project deadlines, etc. But the worst part is the travel. Trying to train at some hotel gym or, even worse, hotel "spa" where they charge you $40 to use a exercise bike, is just nuts. If my knees weren't in such bad shape, I'd try jogging when I'm out of town.
Anyhow, don't feel like you're alone! :(
Unfortunately I have to do what I'm doing right now. See ... I'm a student in University (fullfilling a seemingly unattainable goal finally). This is my summer ... and in order to afford my next year of University I have to work my butt off. I'd like to get a job that pays more, but they don't give those sorts of jobs to temps.
So it's a temporary situation. Just grind it out for the summer and ride when you can. In the fall, you can schedule your own week (I'm a student) and make time for riding. I can easily put aside 3 hours/day to ride right now and still get 18 hours of school in.
Add me to the list of folks that works too much and travels way too much, and has trouble maintaining any sort of consistency in my training. 60 hour weeks are fairly normal for me, depending on project deadlines, etc. But the worst part is the travel. Trying to train at some hotel gym or, even worse, hotel "spa" where they charge you $40 to use a exercise bike, is just nuts. If my knees weren't in such bad shape, I'd try jogging when I'm out of town.
Anyhow, don't feel like you're alone! :(
You should consider getting a folding bike that you can pack into a suitcase and take with you on travel.
canigetfixed
06-06-06, 03:45 AM
I feel your pain. I just got into riding, I total have fallen in love with it - I have weird work hours...I teach yoga and my first class is 5am every day. On top of that I am a single parent of a 4 year old....I have him 2 days a week and every other weekend. Any suggents for Mums?
Machka,
I feel your pain. While I'm not a student, I work full time and we own our own business on top of the day job. The day job is sedentary, the night business is physical. So, typically put in closer to 70 hours per week. I am a salaried employee with "comp time" benefits. I use my comp time off on nice days to get longer or harder rides in. Otherwise its just commute miles for me.
I'm sorry I don't have an answer for you. For me, I'm way behind my pace for the year. I'll be going to ride the Triple ByPass in July. That has served to get me motivated to ride even when I don't feel like it.
Good luck.
Pedal Wench
06-08-06, 12:00 PM
Are there any others out there who are trying to log a decent amount of miles, or train for events later in the summer, while still holding down fulltime+ jobs and maybe other commitments as well? It's that group of people I would like to hear from!! How do you do it? How do you feel?
Well, that's me. But, I do give up other things. I work two jobs and try to ride as often as possible, after fulltime job during the week, and two long rides on weekends. However, I don't do anything else. Social life is limited to cycling friends. My BF is in another city, so I don't spend any time with him, and no family around either. Housework, laundry, etc.,all suffer - they're really at the bottom of the list of priorities. So, it can work, but other things get neglected. The dog is pretty lucky I remember to walk him twice a day.
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