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 becames is sustainable. In my city I’ve met many athletes and high-performing professionals that 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 allows m to perform in two demanding domains simultaneously without sacrificing your health or your 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 managing emotions and boosts the 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 guru’s 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 tend to dinner also early, and not much later to bed. This allows me to start working early, and jumping on the bike around midday, where the temperature is perfect, specially 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 immediately out the door or check Slack from bed. I take my time to wake up, play with cats, and usually stretch. From 8:00 to 11:00. This is the time for the hardest thinking decisions, the complex logic, or the tasks that require a fresh brain. It is also when my teammates are off, so hardly any meetings, nor 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 mid-day split serves a crucial psychological function, and breaks the sedentary chain of the desk job. 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. It’s also an exercise I do: avoid thinking about work, and focusing purely in the workout’s goal.
- I then work a second shift until 20:00. The company I’m working in at the moment is based in San Francisco, so it’s the time in which most of my meetings are held.
- The day ends with a hard stop, enjoying dinner with my partner and reading before bed. For the last 2 years, I’ve been trying to minimize screen time during night-time. 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 context switching, allows me to referesh remove the cognitive load that the first session build up.
Being capable to adjust
It is important to understand that the schedule is not meant to be rigid. Some days work may require more attention and you are limiting the time you can train. Sometimes, you simply spend more time during the coffee stop, or simply the workout is long. What helps me is staying focused to 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, specially 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, as during the workweek my schedule is specially tight. 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 are the majority of the days, in which the workout focuses in adding volume to the week. It doesn’t have to be a hard workout, but the length tens to be over 2h, so the calorie burn is high. This most of the nutrition during these days is based in carbohydrats, around 65% of it (for 3500kcal, makes roughly 570-600g of carbs). Most of the carbs are eaten during the workout, for which I aim between 90-110g/h, based on the workout. Breakfast and lunch are also quite heavy, since I need the energy to get through the long ride; whilst for dinner it will depen on the upcoming workout: the more demanding, the more I will 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
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, as in the end glycogen consumption is really 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. Maybe I would embrace up to 2.2g/kg of protein for 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.
Few days like this, usually very specific workouts. After riding for many years, I’ve been able to train my gut and know myself enough, so for I aim for 120g to 150g of carbohydrates per hour intra-workout. This requires training; you cannot just decide to do this one day, or you will get sick. But once adapted, this level of fuelling does really help you perform better, and also to recover better. On these days, the mental stress is also high, so you will most likely want to leverage work and training in a healthy way.
Sleep is the platform
There is a tendency in tech culture to view sleep as something optional, something you hack with supplements or caffeine, or just simply not sleeping. In athletic culture, however, there is no performance without proper sleep.
There is no supplement, no cold shower, and no massage gun that substitutes 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 many things tried, for me what works best is sleep consistency. Not only it’s been proven to be one of the key aspects about good sleep, but I just feel better and it aligns with my schedule. Knowing when I’m going to bed, and same for waking up. This has specific benefits to the cyrcadian rhythm, which in turn helps with hormonal regulation, mood, and overall sleep quality.
I usually aim to go to sleep around 22:30 to 23:00, and around 30 to 45 minutes prio to that I avoid any kind of screen, and spend time reading. It just works for me, up to a point that I even use it as placebo to sleep. 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, to focus on the bike, it’s easier said than done. And the same applies to when you don’t perform as you would expect, and now 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 traning 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 counter-intuitive, 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 where 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, at least once or twice per 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 where your brain is actively discouraged from solving complex problems. This isn’t just about vacation; it’s about active mental disconnection. For me, mostly means not coding at all, as it’s something I do even in my spare time (work or not, I love to code). The same way you get burnt from training, you do 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, 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 the 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.