The (im)possible equation
I work 40 to 60 hours per week, and train 15 to 25 hours. That is 55 to 85 hours of structured, non-negotiable commitment before you even account for grocery shopping, commuting, maintaining a relationship, or the occasional moment of stillness.
On paper, this seems unsustainable, and most of us would rather… do nothing?
In practice, however, this becomes sustainable. In my city I’ve met many athletes and high-performing professionals who prove it every day. For most of my short career, I’ve been balancing demanding work and studies, with both gym and cycling training, and I have learned that the secret isn’t simply “grinding harder”. If you try to power through this lifestyle on willpower alone, you will fail. What has worked for me has been structure. It is about treating your life as a system where your professional ambition and your athletic goals are partners rather than competitors.
This isn’t a guide; it is a look at how I structure my life so that I can perform in two demanding domains simultaneously without sacrificing my health or my sanity.
The foundation: why this matters
Before we get into the logistics of nutrition, work plan or sleep hygiene, we have to address the underlying “why”. Why take this on? Why not just be a good engineer and a casual cyclist, or a professional-wannabe cyclist and a part-time freelancer?
The answer lies in the cognitive interaction between the two domains. Research confirms that regular, structured physical training does not just build fitness; it sharpens your focus, helps manage emotions, and boosts creative problem-solving skills. When combined correctly, these two pillars of your life act as force multipliers. The training (riding in my case) clears the mental fog from work.
Strategic time architecture
The first step in solving the equation is accepting that not all hours are created equal. A common mistake is trying to smash training into the early morning simply because that’s what Instagram self-made gurus do. But fighting your biology is a losing strategy. You have to design a schedule that respects your specific natural energy rhythms and the specific demands of your job.
In my case, I’ve always preferred waking up early, as I also tend to have dinner early and go to bed not much later. This allows me to start working early and get on the bike around midday, when the temperature is perfect, especially in winter. During summer, unless I’ve been properly acclimated, I may go out a couple of hours earlier, to avoid getting cooked at 40 degrees.
An overview of my schedule is:
- Wake up at 7:00. I don’t rush out the door or check Slack from bed. I take my time to wake up, play with the cats, and usually stretch. From 8:00 to 11:00, I make the most demanding decisions and work on complex logic or tasks that require a fresh brain. It is also when my teammates are offline, so there are hardly any meetings or distractions. I protect this time fiercely because I know my mental state is highest here.
- From 11:00 to roughly 13:00 or 15:00 (depending on the duration of the session), I train. This midday split serves a crucial psychological function and breaks the sedentary cycle of desk work. It allows me to disconnect entirely from work (even though this is sometimes easier said than done), so that when I come back, I’m fresh. I also practice avoiding thoughts about work and focusing purely on the goal of the workout.
- I then work a second shift until 20:00. The company I work for is based in San Francisco, so that’s when most of my meetings are held.
- The day ends with a hard stop: I enjoy dinner with my partner and read before bed. For the last 2 years, I’ve been trying to minimize screen time at night. I get ready for sleep by 22:30. This isn’t flexible.
This schedule works because it acknowledges a brutal truth: eight hours of coding in a row rarely yields eight hours of value, just as riding for five hours without fueling yields diminishing returns. Stopping and switching contexts allow me to remove the cognitive load that builds up during the first session.
Being able to adjust
It is important to understand that the schedule is not meant to be rigid. Some days require more attention at work, which limits the time you can train. Sometimes, you simply spend more time at a coffee stop, or the workout is longer than expected. What helps me is staying focused on what I’m doing: if I’m working, I work. If I’m training, I train. This mental clarity allows me to make the most of the time I have, without stressing about what I’m not doing. I will have time to do both, eventually.
Nutrition means performance
If time is the framework, nutrition is the fuel that keeps the engine running. Training 15 to 25 hours weekly while working full-time creates a massive energy demand, especially in endurance athletes. Underfueling is the silent killer in this lifestyle. If you do not eat enough, the first thing to go won’t be your legs; it will be your brain.
I base my nutrition mostly on meal prep, because my schedule is especially tight during the workweek. This allows me to have an overview of the nutrition per day, so I can avoid being in too much of a deficit, or too much of a surplus. Each day, the nutrition is decided around the workout. My diet centers primarily around carbohydrates and protein, filling the rest with healthy fats. However, I don’t follow a rigid, set-in-stone menu. I want to reiterate that I have been “counting” calories for more than a decade now, so I’m really used to it; but it’s not for everyone.
I generally categorize my training sessions into three distinct types, each with a unique fueling protocol.
The endurance engine (aerobic volume)
These are the long rides, usually 3 to 5 hours, characterized by low-to-moderate intensity. The primary physiological concern here is glycogen depletion. You are burning a mix of fat and sugar, but over four or five hours, the energy reserves will run dry.
These make up most of the days, when the workout focuses on adding volume to the week. It doesn’t have to be a hard workout, but it tends to be over 2 hours, so the calorie burn is high. Most of my nutrition on these days comes from carbohydrates, which make up around 65% of my intake (at 3,500 kcal, that’s roughly 570–600 g of carbs). I eat most of the carbs during the workout, aiming for 90–110 g/h depending on the workout. Breakfast and lunch are also quite heavy, since I need the energy to get through the long ride, while dinner depends on the upcoming workout: the more demanding it is, the more I increase the calorie and carb intake.
It’s also important to note that I never go over 2g/kg of protein, since eating more is not necessary for endurance athletes.
The power builder (high intensity)
These tend to be short sessions, often 90 minutes to 2 hours, involving work above threshold or anaerobic efforts. The metabolic cost is high because glycogen consumption is high, but the mechanical stress on the muscles is even higher. The more anaerobic the work is, the more stress there is.
For these days, I keep carbohydrates high to fuel the intensity, but the nutritional priority shifts slightly toward protein. I ensure a high protein intake immediately post-workout to support muscular repair. I also keep the evening meal protein-heavy to support overnight recovery, ensuring I can wake up the next day without heavy legs. I may increase my intake to 2.2 g/kg of protein on these days.
The hybrid demand (fatigue resistance)
These are the “monster” days. These are long rides (4+ hours) that also contain mid-to-high intensity efforts, such as tempo blocks, sweetspot work, or resistance intervals at the end of a long duration. This is where the impossible equation is truly tested.
There are only a few days like this, usually involving very specific workouts. After riding for many years, I’ve been able to train my gut and know myself well enough that I aim for 120 g to 150 g of carbohydrates per hour during the workout. This requires training; you cannot just decide to do this one day, or you will get sick. But once adapted, this level of fueling really does help you perform and recover better. On these days, the mental stress is also high, so you will most likely want to balance work and training in a healthy way.
Sleep is the platform
There is a tendency in tech culture to view sleep as optional—to hack it with supplements or caffeine, or to skip it altogether. In athletic culture, however, there is no performance without proper sleep.
No supplement, cold shower, or massage gun can substitute for adequate sleep. If you are training 20 hours a week and working a high-stress job, 6 hours of sleep is not “getting by.” It is self-sabotage.
After trying many things, what works best for me is sleep consistency. Not only has it been proven to be one of the key aspects of good sleep, but I also feel better because it aligns with my schedule. Knowing when I’m going to bed and waking up has specific benefits for my circadian rhythm, which in turn helps with hormonal regulation, mood, and overall sleep quality.
I usually aim to go to sleep between 22:30 and 23:00. Around 30 to 45 minutes before then, I avoid screens and spend time reading. It works so well for me that I even use it as a sleep placebo. We need to create a pattern that our body recognizes as “time to sleep”.
The mental game: presence over perfection
Perhaps the most difficult part of this equation isn’t the physical fatigue, but the mental “context switching.” Having to stop thinking about a problem that’s been blocking you for hours and focus on the bike is easier said than done. The same applies when you don’t perform as expected and then have to get back to work.
The danger is what I call “half-presence”, which is when you are on the bike thinking about a bug in the code, or sitting at your desk worrying about your power numbers. This state of limbo is exhausting and ineffective. You end up with a mediocre workout and mediocre work output.
The goal is to be able to separate concerns and focus on what matters, at that moment. When I sit down to start working, I am an engineer. I am not an athlete. I do not look at training platforms; I look at the IDE. When I get ready to go out, I leave the engineer at the desk. I am an athlete. The bug doesn’t exist; only the interval exists.
It’s funny because the more I disconnect from work during the workout, the more I end up finding solutions to the problems I couldn’t solve for hours.
The necessity of time off: embracing recovery
The final and most counterintuitive element of sustainable high performance is the acceptance of downtime. You cannot redline the engine every single day.
There is a false sense of security that comes with constant work and training—the idea that if you stop, you’ll fall behind. The opposite is true. Time off, managed correctly, acts as a performance accelerant for both your work and your fitness.
The physical break: letting the body catch up
Structured training mandates rest weeks. These are built into the cycle in which training volume is typically dropped by 30-40% every third or fourth week. This isn’t just about recovering muscles; it’s about letting the body absorb all the fitness gains. At the same time, once or twice a year, I will take one or two full weeks off.
The mental break: stepping away from the screen
The same logic applies to work. You need days when your brain is actively discouraged from solving complex problems. This isn’t just about vacation; it’s about active mental disconnection. For me, that mostly means not coding at all, as it’s something I do even in my spare time (work or not, I love to code). Just as you can burn out from training, you can burn out from work.
Sustainability and the long game
Finally, it is vital to view this not as a six-week boot camp, but as a long-term lifestyle. You cannot redline the engine every single day.
I build flexibility into the system. If I have anything that requires a lot of time at the desktop, training volume drops or adapts. I don’t stress about it; I simply shift to maintenance mode. At the same time, if I have a training camp or a race block, I try to keep the work demands steady and avoid taking on new things, so I can enjoy the time on the bike.
Relationships also need to be factored into this equation. If you don’t communicate your schedule clearly, your dedication will look like neglect to the people around you.
Balancing this life is genuinely difficult. There will be days when you are tired, days when you question why you are doing this, and days when you fail to hit the mark in both domains. That is part of the process. But the attempt itself develops abilities that serve you in every area of existence: discipline, time management, stress tolerance, and what I value most, self-knowledge.
You can do this. Not perfectly, not every week, but consistently enough to thrive. The goal isn’t to be a machine; the goal is to be a human being who has realized just how much capacity they actually have.