My new job officially started today, but there’s a 4 week transition period, where I’m still doing my old job (tech support, working from home) on Mondays and Fridays. So, tomorrow is my actual “first day” on the job. I’m really excited about the new role. I’ll be going to a different location every day (and sometimes multiple locations in one day). For example, my schedule this week has me going to:
- Tuesday: UCSF Mission Bay/CZI Biohub
- Wednesday: A biotech in South San Francisco and Stanford
- Thursday: UC Davis
The starting time each day varies as well. Tomorrow, I don’t have my first meeting until 10am, but Wednesday’s first meeting is 8:45am. Yes, traffic will suck, but at least I don’t have to always be in the same commute traffic day in and day out. Plus I have a new car!
One major challenge will be finding time to train. Or rather, being more flexible in my training schedule. Over the last 6 months, I’ve stuck to a regular schedule of running Tu/W/Th mornings, mostly because I prefer to run in the mornings. However, with this new gig, I’ll have to be more creative. I was thinking of always keeping a change of running clothes with me in case I get out of a meeting early, but not early enough to beat rush hour. So I could go on my run after work and then drive home in lighter traffic. My gym has a couple of branches around the Bay Area and I was thinking about upgrading to the “VIP” level so I could at least access a locker room and jump on a treadmill if I need to. And even though I HATE running on Fridays (I don’t know why), I may very well start running on Fridays because that’s the day I’ll be working from home and will have the most flexibility.
Anyway, I know many of you have hectic work schedules. What kinds of tips or advice do you have for fitting in training runs during the work week?
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A quick word about Dirty Dozen training: so far, so good! I guess I’ll call 2 weeks ago (week of April 16th) “Week 1” of training. I ran just under 26 miles (25.9), with a long run at Lake Chabot of 13.2 miles and 1,640 feet of climbing.
The beautiful and tranquil Logger’s Loop at Lake Chabot
Week 2 was another step in the right direction; I logged 30 miles for the week, my first week in the 30-somethings in ages. For my long run, I decided to take a break from trails/climbing and focused on continuous running for 3 hours. I ended up running 16.6 miles at the very flat San Leandro Marina.
Uncharacteristically, I’m kinda making things up as I go. I keep thinking that maybe I should write out a plan, but knowing that I’m heading into a period of uncertainty with a new job, I don’t want to set myself up for failure. I’m taking it one week at a time for now, and am putting more thought into my long run more than anything else.
Howdy! My name is Jen and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I like to eat, run, and blog, but not usually at the same time.
Running Tangents 
Congrats on the new job!! Yeah, this doesn’t sound like a time to try and adhere to a strict training structure. Back when I was never sure of my weekly schedule ahead of time, I used to just get up really early in the morning to run. (I’d do it now, too, except I like the quiet of a sleeping kiddo so much that I stay at home to enjoy it/ work/ have a leisurely breakfast.) I also like the gym at the end of the workday so that if I forgot something (shampoo, clean socks etc) it wasn’t a big deal, I could just go home and shower there. Your schedule does mean stashing the gym bag in your car at all times, and I’d say a spare pair of shoes/ shorts/ bra as well because that’s the bare minimum you need for a workout! And then being flexible and rolling with it, I guess.
Thanks for the tips! And good point about working out at the end of the day. I knew there was a reason I didn’t like lunch runs! Other than the fact that I’m always hangry. 😉