Revving Your Energy Flywheel

Manage your energy givers and your energy takers

I have done about a dozen five day riding retreats. The goal is to ride a century a day for five days. In 2019, on Day 3 of my ride from North Carolina to Pennsylvania¹, I experienced the hardest single day ride across all of my retreat rides. The combination of added miles (17 miles over the century mark) and intense climb (over 10,000ft) resulted in that day taking close to 11 hours, which is three hours longer than a typical day on these retreats.

I was in the middle of a five day ride. I was hours away from the nearest family member who could come and bail me out. My legs were incredibly stiff from both the climb and the time. And I had three fewer hours to get ready for Day 4. But now was no time to stress … because there simply wasn't the time to stress. I had to get to work. I had completed Day 3, and now I had to set myself up for a successful Day 4.

An ultramarathoner's goal is to maintain high energy, indefinitely. A corporate athlete has the same focus. The execution plan for athlete and corporate athlete are the same: feed off of the energy givers, have a plan for the energy takers, and never waste energy.