Managing Work and Training Load

Everytime I feel that there's too much work to do, I pause and tell myself "work and making a living are blessings". And each time I feel too lazy to train, I find motivation in realizing that this isn't going to be foreover. And that I should enjoy running and triathlon while it lasts...while I can.

My work load has increased exponentially over the past few weeks given brand activations, new ad campaigns, profit improvement projects, etc. Whatever it is, I am finding myself coming to work a bit earlier and leaving for home a little later than I used to. My teaching load at the Ateneo Graduate School - Center for Continuing Education whether on campus or off site has stepped up as well. These plus some work needed in my small businesses all compete for time and energy with the training needed for the upcoming Century Tuna 5i50 Standard Distance Tri and the Cobra 70.3 Half Ironman in August.

One of the "A-Races" of the Year.

Training Load

To get an appreciation of my training workload, this is what I did last week lifted directly from my training log book as actual workouts:

Sunday - Long Brick. 100k ride + 8k run in 3:45 hours
Monday - 1 hour easy recovery run
Tuesday - 50k ride with hill repeats
Wednesday - 12 X 1,000m run intervals,
Thursday - 40k easy ride
Friday - 15k easy run in the morning, 2k easy swim at night
Saturday - Easy run in the morning.

I usually train at night at least twice or three times a week. These are usually swim sessions or an easy run or time on the saddle using a bike trainer (stationary bike). However, last week I taught classes at the Ateneo CCE on Wednesday and Thursday eve and the whole day of Saturday. Nevertheless, total time spent training was 12 hours. This week's load is roughly 14 hours.



Racing and Training to stay competitive.

Work Load

It's usually best to be at work early to allow time to get work organized before meetings start. I try to get all the admin and routinary tasks out of the way within the first hour at the office. However, I also have a full month plan of all the goals, objectives, tasks and major projects I need to accomplish cut into weekly and daily deliverables. These are usually sorted out in the following order of priority:

1. Brand Health and Competitiveness (advertising, PR, price competitiveness, new product development, distribution, etc)
2. Revenue Generating Activities (projects to keep sales and market share soaring high).
3. Profit Improvement Projects (growing the bottom line)
4. Organizational Health and People Development
5. Innovations

I stay focused at work until the daily, weekly or even monthly deliverables are accomplished before I goof off or attend to unplanned tasks.

I find that by having a structured and discipline approach to running the business, I don't waste time working on things that don't add value. And the time spent in the office is usually all high impact and very productive.

I keep meetings to a bare minimum and usually set time limits to each one. I also try to keep discussions in meetings only to what's relevant.

Focus on the most important matters.

Finally, there are some sacrifices such as keeping my lunch breaks very short - most days I eat in the office and can turnaround for lunch in less than 30 minutes.

This frees up time to take on my teaching load at the Ateneo CCE or other speaking engagements that come by from time to time.

Teaching Load

I teach courses such as Strategic Marketing, Crisis Management and Brand Turnaround, Marketing Warfare, New Market Development and some topics on Sales and Distribution.

These are usually at night and Saturdays.

Grading Sheets and Course Brochures

Close up of the Grading Sheet...the power to Grade!

Ateneo CCE Students working on a case study.

There are some days though that can be a killer. Last Wednesday and Thursday, I was training by 5AM, at work by 8:45am at Ateneo by 6PM and finish by 9:30. Those are the rare 16 hour workdays.

Daily Routine

To handle the load, I usually make it a point to wake up at around 4:45 and be training as early as 5am. This allows me to finish my morning workout by 6:45am and still get to work early.

If I am lucky and get off work by 6pm, I still have a 45 min window to squeeze in either a swim or run at night just before dinner.

But the heaviest training load is on Saturdays and Sundays, early morning.

Putting it all together is always a challenge but it's all a matter of being proactive and organized.