Articles
Time Management Tips From An IRONMAN Legend Luis Alvarez
5 May 2015
Trainings, plans, achievements, competitions and your life stuck to strict schedule. You estimate your forces at every second because they are forces that determine if you set a new record and win the race. Split seconds are everything and you must know how to manage them.
Today we share an Ironman legend´s time management tips with you. Luis Alvarez really mastered the triathlon competition where all athletes swim 3.8 km, cycle 180 km and run a full marathon distance of 42 km 195 m in the same day.
Luis Alvarez is recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records for having completed every IRONMAN in the world. This Mexican athlete competes in 13 full-distance races each year.
As if competing in these extremely grueling triathlon competitions wasn't enough, Alvarez has one more hobby - scaling peaks. And the higher they are – the better! He aims to climb all seven of the world's highest mountains. He scaled Kilimanjaro just a day before IRONMAN South Africa, got to the top of Mount Elbrus the same week he finished IRONMAN UK. He has also climbed Australia’s Mount Kosciuszko and South America’s Mount Aconcagua. In addition, he was just 400 m short of making the summit of Mont Blanc when he had to turn back because of adverse weather conditions.
What is most impressive is that Alvarez manages all these feats unceasingly taking part in competitions. Alvarez says that he did all these things in his vacation time. "So I have to squeeze 13 IRONMANS in my 30 days off. Last year I traveled to Australia for the weekend." – told he.
So how does he manage to do it all? Kevin Mackinnon «Ironman.com» blog columnist caught up with the 51-year-old sportsman to glean a few time management tips from a real Iron Man.
SET SMALL, ATTAINABLE GOALS
Alvarez started smoking at 11 and weighed over 200 pounds (almost 91 kg) at the age of 24. He realized he touched bottom when he was doing a physical fitness test for school and was the only one of 36 male students who couldn't walk 2 km. Since that very day he has started setting small goals for himself.
"My first goal was to walk 5 km. Then to run 10 km. At the time those were utterly unattainable goals for me," Alvarez shares his memories.
From there, he set his sights on his first IRONMAN, next goals were to complete three IRONMANs in one year, then ten in a year and finally he set his sights on two in one week. Next, his sights were set on climbing mountains.
"Your goal doesn't need to be winning an IRONMAN. It needs to be realistic and something that's beyond your current limits."
CREATE A TEAM AT WORK, BE PART OF A TEAM
If you're a Type A personality (leaders, most triathletes are), you generally like to be constantly busy and take all responsibilities upon yourself. Nevertheless, Alvarez himself is a proof that there can be a strong and solid team you may always rely upon.
"I have to be very grateful for my assistant and a great team back in Mexico. Even if I died tomorrow, nothing would fall apart with the company. There mustn’t be anyone indispensable, neither the owner nor the CEO."
When you created such conditions you can carve out mental space for training, learning, joining a team outside of work and have complete confidence you never miss anything important of what´s happening. Alvarez is a Timex Multisport Team member, and he says the experience has changed his life. It was the team to keep him motivated as nothing else did.
"I think I’m the slowest guy on the team, but even though I am the slowest of the slowest, they embrace me like all the other team members. If you’re part of a team, you’re part of a family."
ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES AND LET YOURSELF ADAPT
From 2009 to 2010, Alvarez´s company endured two recessions. He knew that if they went bankrupt, 200 families would be left destitute. During those two years, he was so busy that he didn´t have enough time for training. Yet he still managed to complete 12 IRONMANs.
What was his secret? A shift in his goals and a shift in his attitude.
"Life is 10 percent what you do and 90 percent how you perceive the situation. Those were the worst two years of my life, so my goals changed. If I managed to finish something, I was happy. I was just realistic."
MAKE THE MOST OF EVERY MINUTE
Alvarez's biggest secret is his ability to multitask. A typical day in his life might make most mortals heads spin. He wakes up at 4 a.m. and responds the emails, usually while running on the treadmill. Then he hops on a motorcycle at the exact time his assistant gets to her desk and dictates him emails and other tasks of the day. At 2 p.m. he has a bite eating sandwich and disappears for a one-hour gym workout. He also manages to squeeze some nonprofit work into his workday.
Yes, his day is quite long, yes, but the fundamental tenets are adaptable for the rest of us: Don't waste your time, and find room in your day for more than just work.
"Family is as important as work is, and I try to spend time on the weekends just with them."
This year Alvarez will be racing IRONMAN 70.3 with his son.
KEEP YOURSELF TONED. MILD STRESS COULD BE GOOD AT TIMES.
Alvarez confessed he's addicted to constantly setting new goals and the feeling of adrenalin. For him, challenging himself with a goal beyond his limits is a "good stress" and something worthwhile in his life. Troubles at work, like those he experienced during the two-years´ recession, he defines as "bad stress."
The beauty of IRONMAN is that it allows him to use this "good stress" to counteract and outbalance less pleasant challenges.
"IRONMAN takes a lot of the stress out of my work life, and my work life helps distract me from the stress of racing. In addition, I solve a lot of work problems while I'm training"
Source: lifehacker.ru
Today we share an Ironman legend´s time management tips with you. Luis Alvarez really mastered the triathlon competition where all athletes swim 3.8 km, cycle 180 km and run a full marathon distance of 42 km 195 m in the same day.
Luis Alvarez is recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records for having completed every IRONMAN in the world. This Mexican athlete competes in 13 full-distance races each year.
As if competing in these extremely grueling triathlon competitions wasn't enough, Alvarez has one more hobby - scaling peaks. And the higher they are – the better! He aims to climb all seven of the world's highest mountains. He scaled Kilimanjaro just a day before IRONMAN South Africa, got to the top of Mount Elbrus the same week he finished IRONMAN UK. He has also climbed Australia’s Mount Kosciuszko and South America’s Mount Aconcagua. In addition, he was just 400 m short of making the summit of Mont Blanc when he had to turn back because of adverse weather conditions.
What is most impressive is that Alvarez manages all these feats unceasingly taking part in competitions. Alvarez says that he did all these things in his vacation time. "So I have to squeeze 13 IRONMANS in my 30 days off. Last year I traveled to Australia for the weekend." – told he.
So how does he manage to do it all? Kevin Mackinnon «Ironman.com» blog columnist caught up with the 51-year-old sportsman to glean a few time management tips from a real Iron Man.
SET SMALL, ATTAINABLE GOALS
Alvarez started smoking at 11 and weighed over 200 pounds (almost 91 kg) at the age of 24. He realized he touched bottom when he was doing a physical fitness test for school and was the only one of 36 male students who couldn't walk 2 km. Since that very day he has started setting small goals for himself.
"My first goal was to walk 5 km. Then to run 10 km. At the time those were utterly unattainable goals for me," Alvarez shares his memories.
From there, he set his sights on his first IRONMAN, next goals were to complete three IRONMANs in one year, then ten in a year and finally he set his sights on two in one week. Next, his sights were set on climbing mountains.
"Your goal doesn't need to be winning an IRONMAN. It needs to be realistic and something that's beyond your current limits."
CREATE A TEAM AT WORK, BE PART OF A TEAM
If you're a Type A personality (leaders, most triathletes are), you generally like to be constantly busy and take all responsibilities upon yourself. Nevertheless, Alvarez himself is a proof that there can be a strong and solid team you may always rely upon.
"I have to be very grateful for my assistant and a great team back in Mexico. Even if I died tomorrow, nothing would fall apart with the company. There mustn’t be anyone indispensable, neither the owner nor the CEO."
When you created such conditions you can carve out mental space for training, learning, joining a team outside of work and have complete confidence you never miss anything important of what´s happening. Alvarez is a Timex Multisport Team member, and he says the experience has changed his life. It was the team to keep him motivated as nothing else did.
"I think I’m the slowest guy on the team, but even though I am the slowest of the slowest, they embrace me like all the other team members. If you’re part of a team, you’re part of a family."
ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES AND LET YOURSELF ADAPT
From 2009 to 2010, Alvarez´s company endured two recessions. He knew that if they went bankrupt, 200 families would be left destitute. During those two years, he was so busy that he didn´t have enough time for training. Yet he still managed to complete 12 IRONMANs.
What was his secret? A shift in his goals and a shift in his attitude.
"Life is 10 percent what you do and 90 percent how you perceive the situation. Those were the worst two years of my life, so my goals changed. If I managed to finish something, I was happy. I was just realistic."
MAKE THE MOST OF EVERY MINUTE
Alvarez's biggest secret is his ability to multitask. A typical day in his life might make most mortals heads spin. He wakes up at 4 a.m. and responds the emails, usually while running on the treadmill. Then he hops on a motorcycle at the exact time his assistant gets to her desk and dictates him emails and other tasks of the day. At 2 p.m. he has a bite eating sandwich and disappears for a one-hour gym workout. He also manages to squeeze some nonprofit work into his workday.
Yes, his day is quite long, yes, but the fundamental tenets are adaptable for the rest of us: Don't waste your time, and find room in your day for more than just work.
"Family is as important as work is, and I try to spend time on the weekends just with them."
This year Alvarez will be racing IRONMAN 70.3 with his son.
KEEP YOURSELF TONED. MILD STRESS COULD BE GOOD AT TIMES.
Alvarez confessed he's addicted to constantly setting new goals and the feeling of adrenalin. For him, challenging himself with a goal beyond his limits is a "good stress" and something worthwhile in his life. Troubles at work, like those he experienced during the two-years´ recession, he defines as "bad stress."
The beauty of IRONMAN is that it allows him to use this "good stress" to counteract and outbalance less pleasant challenges.
"IRONMAN takes a lot of the stress out of my work life, and my work life helps distract me from the stress of racing. In addition, I solve a lot of work problems while I'm training"
Source: lifehacker.ru