On May 31, 2026, I'll stand on the start line of Ironman 70.3 Kraichgau. 1.9 km swim, 90 km bike, 21.1 km run. My target is sub 5:00. I'm training for this while working full-time as a software developer at Bosch, maintaining four side projects, and preparing for a dual-degree CS program starting in October.
Friends ask me how. The honest answer is that it's not about motivation or discipline. It's about systems. The same kind of systems thinking I apply to software architecture, I apply to my training. And when the system is good, the results follow.
The Weekly Structure
My training week currently looks like this:
TUE — Run Intervals + Table Tennis
WED — Swim + Bike
THU — Gym: Strength Training
FRI — Rest, sometimes Table Tennis
SAT — Swim + Long Run
SUN — Table Tennis Matchday + Long Bike
That adds up to roughly 12-15 hours of triathlon training plus another 3-6 hours of table tennis per week. And I'll be honest — this is not a perfectly optimized endurance training plan. A pure triathlete would structure things differently. But I also play competitive table tennis in the Landesliga, and that's non-negotiable for me. So the plan is optimized for something else: fitting as much quality training as possible into a life that also includes a full-time job, side projects, and a sport I love that has nothing to do with endurance.
Is it optimal? No. Is it sustainable and does it keep me excited to train every day? Yes. And I think that matters more in the long run than a textbook-perfect periodization plan that I'd burn out on after three months.
How It Fits Around Work
Everything happens after work. No early morning sessions, no training before the office. My day starts around 6:30 AM, and I'm at my desk by 7:30. I work a full day at Bosch, and I'm usually home by 5 PM. That's when training starts.
On days with two sessions — like Tuesday (run intervals + table tennis) or Wednesday (swim + bike) — I stack them back to back in the evening. It means some long evenings, but the structure is predictable and I can protect those blocks. I'm in bed by 10:30 PM, which gives me a solid 8 hours of sleep.
The weekend is where the real volume happens. Saturday mornings I swim and then do the long run. Sunday is table tennis matchday in the Landesliga, followed by the long bike. These sessions are non-negotiable. Everything else flexes around them.
What I've Learned About Sustainable Performance
Sleep is the performance enhancer. I used to think I could get by on 6 hours. I was wrong. 7.5-8 hours is where recovery actually happens. I track my sleep with a watch and treat it with the same seriousness as my training sessions. A bad night of sleep costs more than a missed workout.
Nutrition is boring but essential. I don't follow any specific diet. I eat a lot of carbs (rice, pasta, oats), a lot of protein (eggs, chicken, greek yogurt), and enough vegetables to not feel guilty. The only real rule: eat enough. Under-fueling kills performance faster than under-training.
Rest days are training days. Friday is my primary rest day. Sometimes I'll play table tennis if there's an opportunity, but otherwise I do mobility work, foam rolling, and nothing that raises my heart rate. Doing less felt like falling behind at first. But the weeks where I respect recovery are consistently my strongest weeks.
The Mental Game
The hardest part of training for an Ironman isn't the swimming, biking, or running. It's the relentlessness of the schedule. There are weeks where you're tired, the weather is bad, you have a deadline at work, and the last thing you want to do is spend 4 hours on a bike trainer staring at a wall.
What gets me through those weeks isn't motivation. Motivation is unreliable. What works is identity. I don't motivate myself to train — I'm an athlete who trains. The same way I don't motivate myself to write code — I'm a developer who codes. When the action is tied to identity rather than willpower, consistency becomes the default.
The other thing that helps: data. I track everything. Every session, every metric. Seeing the trendlines go in the right direction — average pace dropping, FTP rising, swim times improving — provides a kind of quiet confidence that motivation never could.
The Connection to Tech
People sometimes treat my athletic pursuits as separate from my career. They're not. The mental models are identical. Debugging a complex system is endurance work — you need patience, systematic thinking, and the willingness to sit with discomfort. A marathon teaches all of those things. So does a 4-hour ride in the rain.
When I sit down for an interview someday, I won't just be a developer who can code. I'll be someone who has proven, repeatedly, that I can set an ambitious goal, build a plan, execute consistently over months, and deliver under pressure. That's what endurance sports teach. That's why I do this.
Ironman 70.3 Kraichgau is getting close. The hay is almost in the barn, as they say in triathlon. I'm not where I want to be on the swim yet, but the bike and run are tracking well. Sub 5:00 is realistic. And when I cross that finish line, I'll already be thinking about what's next.