How I structure a week, part 2

Cadence is also my best friend / Issue 1,155

Oh, hi friends!

Yesterday was all about containers, and how setting certain themes for each day gives you essential buckets for your activities.

There’s another way to container your week.

I’ve been thinking about cadence. 

What is the rhythm, the rise and fall of your week?

Which days do you have more energy? Which are a little foggy? 

Which days feel active? (Maybe it’s a travel day with the go-go-go vibe?) 

Which days feel passive? (Recovering, resting, absorbing.)

Right now I’m applying this specifically to exercise, but it can work for any one project, too.

The trick, though, is to plan. 

There’s nothing more harrowing than waking up and wondering “What…am I even doing today?”

When I was training for half marathons earlier this year, I had these 10-week plans (pre-written by NYRR).

But then I looked at the plan and looked at my calendar and thought really really really hard about what kind of schedule would actually work for me. 

Doing long runs on Sundays is not appealing. Or doable. I want to sleep in and then go to a matinee, not run 10 miles.

But I didn’t set myself up for failure by saying “This is the plan and I must stick to it.”

The cadence of my week needed to peak on Fridays. So I simply shifted everything backwards by two days.

And the thing I wanted to do worked with rather than against my schedule.

Right now I created a training plan that’s basically the same every week for two months:

Monday: Bike 11 miles
Tuesday: Run 6 miles
Wednesday: Bike 13 miles
Thursday: Run 5 miles
Friday: Run 7, 8, 9, 10 miles
Saturday: Bootcamp or Wildcard
Sunday: Off

Will every single week go perfectly? Nope. I already had to swap a few days due to external factors.

But will the weeks go better than if I didn’t plan at all? Of course.

When thinking about the cadence of the week, ask yourself:

What do I want to add?
How will this interact with the rest of my schedule?

Maybe you love a Monday yoga class to start the week on a calm note, or a Thursday dance class to shake off some excess energy.

Or you appreciate a friend hangout on a chill Saturday afternoon rather than a hectic weeknight, or a check-in at work on Wednesday afternoons when you have something new to share with your boss.

Whatever it is — go with it. 

I think back to trying to shoehorn marathon training into a 60+ week job or working on a big creative project while balancing a bunch of freelance gigs and the reason for failing, most of the time, was because my cadence was completely screwed up. The balance was off.

I created unattainable goals as a way to push myself, but forgot to be realistic about how my weeks or days are actually structured.

But once you do get serious about what is possible and when it’s possible, things start to click into place. 

Expectations align.

Knowing what to expect from yourself, and when, doesn’t have to be boring.

You can create the rise and fall of your weeks.

You can make the rules.

PS — does this make sense to anyone else? would love to hear how your weekly cadences rise and fall, and how you adapt!