SOW Theorem

One long term goal of mine is to qualify for the Boston marathon. BQ is the holy grail for most amateur runners. The qualifying times are fairly challenging and will need some dedicated training effort for someone to have any realistic chance of making it. 

The most important component of this training schedule is the weekly running mileage. One needs to clock close to 80 - 90Km/week to be marathon ready.  Since running is one dimensional, it is also advisable to incorporate some kind of cross training, like swimming and cycling as well. The third component is super important -  strength training. As one gets older, the musculoskeletal system is no longer in a great shape to take the pounding and needs to be reinforced.  Is that all? Unfortunately no. We also need to do throw in stretching and mobility exercises (like Yoga) into the mix. One might argue that we do not necessarily need to spend the same amount of time across all of these, but we do need to spend some time across all these disciplines to improve your chances of BQing.

If one does all of the above, the body will be perpetually in a sore condition and sleep becomes super critical. Without adequate sleep, all of the above is almost useless. In fact, one can never even follow such a rigorous schedule without adequate sleep.

And then, most of us are working professionals. That means we have office commute, late night calls and a bunch of other work related items that keeps us physically and mentally occupied.

So, how does one balance all of this?

People familiar with distributed systems are keenly aware of the CAP theorem. At a high level, it postulates that, of the given 3 variables (Consistency, Availability and Partition tolerance), a distributed storage solution can only provide two. Similar concept exists in economics, called Impossible trinity  So, I propose a similar theorem, called the SOW theorem. This theorem states that, you will have to choose any two of Sleep, Office work and Workout; doing all three is herculean. 

Just to clarify, in the context of the SOW theorem, workout here implies workout of the type required for BQ. Running and strength training for fitness, say for 30-45 minutes a day, which in itself is a laudable commitment, is not representative. Similarly, sleep here implies a minimum of 7 hours. And office is a proper day job (and night calls job, if I may) and not considering a super achieving entrepreneur who only has to work 4 hours a day.

Just like in CAP where partition tolerance is really not a choice, sleep, at least in my opinion, should be non-negotiable. One can play with just the other two. If BQ is the goal, that leaves only one option. You choose a line of work that gives you ample spare time. Or even better, just retire.  What would you, in the same situation - postpone BQ ambitions to after your retirement? Or advance your retirement and go for BQ right now? 

I am still here, pondering over that question...