“Pre-Ride” Morning Routine

All of us are aware that kids need a routine to provide structure and discipline in their lives. As we grow older, though, many of us view having a routine as being boring, rigid and stifling. Adults often equate a routine with a lack of freedom, independence or even creativity.

On the contrary, I have learned that designing and adhering to a personal daily routine is actually a path to freedom and improved performance. Just as our family performs a pre-ride cycling routine (e.g., filling up water bottles, checking air pressure in the tires, applying sunscreen, confirming the kit bag) so that we know we are prepared for common cycling challenges (e.g., getting thirsty, taking in a lot of sunshine) and therefore can focus on having a successful ride—investors should perform a pre-market routine to start the day, choosing a routine that works for them.

Why? There are too many reasons to count: greater efficiency, reduced needed for planning (you’re already executing), quicker speed to achieve your “flow”, reduced stress—especially during periods of greater uncertainty and market volatility, improved execution, reduction in bad habits and errors, heightened proficiency, greater ability for prioritization, building of momentum and self-confidence….to name a few. A quick online search will provide data-driven lists from a variety of qualified experts. After twenty-five years, though, I have experienced enough personal data points to know that investment results suffer without completing a morning routine. Perhaps more importantly, we know it is common sense—just not always fun or easy.

So, what does one example of a morning routine look like? Given our location on the West Coast, my morning routine starts with waking up early, at 4:45am. Before you stop reading, I am not advocating that everyone get up that early. It is just a fact of life because of where we choose to live. Plus, because many European markets are still open, and the US market opens at 6:30am Pacific time, it allows for sufficient time to make investment decisions and trades, if needed. Other than our puppy, who as my “shadow” remains by my side, everyone else is asleep. In the dark, I gather charging electronics and clothes I hope will match. Then, for the next step, I shower and get ready in a remote area of the house where I won’t wake anyone up. Depending on whether I will work from home (as during the coronavirus remote work period) or head into the office, I will either make or grab a cup of coffee and a bite of protein, plus fill up my water bottle. That entire process takes about 20 minutes, give or take a longer morning hug with our puppy. After that point, during the next 60-90 minutes (depending on whether I have the 30 minute commute or not), I am focused on an investment routine: reading key overnight news about global markets and securities of interest, noting any major price movements of international securities in our portfolios or pipeline list, studying charts of updated macroeconomic data, scanning email for anything critical and time sensitive that needs to be prioritized, and confirming the calendar for the day and the subsequent few days. I know what I need to do, right when I sit down. As a fast, focused reader, this routine enables me to feel ready for the day—and perhaps more importantly—actually be ready for the day.

But I am one data point, and each investor needs to determine what makes them ready. Otherwise, your routine may be insufficient or even destructive to your day. For example, my first daily steps need to incorporate the important fact that everyone else in the home is asleep, along with the accurate assumption that I want to maintain good family relations! During the final moments of a live radio interview, a Bloomberg anchor surprisingly asked me to quickly state if I make my bed in the morning, and I honestly answered “No”. That’s right. I get out of bed and don’t look back. Ever. I think he was shocked and embarrassed for me at my answer. While I am sure sleep experts and psychologists listening to that broadcast immediately boxed me into a category of lazy people without attention to detail, the actual process of making my bed would mean that I would wake someone else up, and that would be a bad outcome in my book. One person’s routine should not destroy someone else’s chosen daily routine, and it should focus on what matters most. Well-rested, happy family members are more important to me than an organized bed, and they allow me the freedom to continue my own non-traditional routine. So, no judgement. Find your own routine.

Of course my routine rests on the fact that I have incorporated technology and built various tools to focus my attention on what matters most, so that I can create the most efficient morning routine, elongate sleep time, and perform consistently at, hopefully, a high level. While I always had built investment tools to make my work routine easier, as I got older, I realized that personal technology also is important to keeping me on a solid path. Devices such as an iWatch and an Oura ring have made it easier to set reminders on when to sleep and when to rise, to track activity goals, and to measure the quality of sleep we get—all important factors that support a solid morning routine. Over time it has become clearer that the mosaic of choices we make are very important, and technology can assist in improved decision-making. The combination of skipping a workout, drinking a second glass of wine, and blowing through a bedtime to finish a movie with the kids increases the likelihood that we will want to delay getting up to accomplish a full morning routine on time and with focus. We won’t be truly ready for investing. Technology helps us make better choices to prepare for the morning routine. Think of it as a pre-ride for the pre-ride routine. It sends notifications that we are behind in our workout, that we need to get ready for bed 30 minutes beforehand, and that our body needs improved sleep to stay on track. So, we make better decisions. We fit the work-out in. We pause the movie for tomorrow. We only pour an extra “splash” of wine in our glass, not the full second pour. We get up eagerly on time.

What is in your “pre-ride” routine?

The Endurance Ride

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Grinding Through the Uphill

Ever feel like you’re grinding through the uphill?

When times feel rough, we’re probably going uphill—whether metaphorically in life, or in reality as on a bike.

The path uphill varies. Sometimes we’re on the right track—on the road to achieving great things—and know this path requires a lot of grit to get there. Sometimes we’re going uphill, unsure if we’re on the right track or whether we’ll finish. We may be struggling to understand what is happening, or why it is happening. Success may not be coming as easily as expected, which is, in part, causing the frustration and uphill battle. Or maybe we took the wrong path and now are paying the price. In every case, though, we’re growing through the uphill climb. So we grind.

I remember the first time we took our kids on a hilly bike ride. It’s a well-known ride called the Portola Loop here in Silicon Valley, with a total climb from our home of about 1,000 feet, with a few short, steeper climbs and a section of rolling hills. The entire loop is about 20 miles. Because the ride was new to them, they didn’t know how to pace their efforts or set their expectations. Panic smashing is what happens when you go too hard over the opening of a climb – only to grind to a near-halt half way up the ascent, having ‘gone into the red’. Well, there was some panic smashing that day on the first big hill, which ended up in some seriously exhausted kids.

After a couple of weekends doing the same ride, though, it became “too easy”. They had a better idea of when to start ramping up their efforts, so mentally they were pepared. They learned to break up the climb into three parts mentally and physically: the first section completed at an ‘easy’ or ‘moderate’ pace, the middle one at ‘tempo’, and the final section ‘as hard as they could’ (knowing that they are always trying to beat each other—and their parents). The actual result is that they ride all three sections at a fairly similar intensity/speed, but because their legs fatigue, it feels different. What is ‘easy’ initially is actually fairly hard to maintain, so they push harder at the end for a similar.

If you’re approaching a climb of unknown length or gradient, it’s best to err on the side of caution. Once you can see the top, then you can put in that ‘final attack’.

, or when investing in global markets.

The number one rule is to avoid that red line. Don’t step over it – the results are not positive. You need to stay within your limits. Even if you’re not riding with heart rate or power, most riders can rate on a scale of 1 to 10 their output – and 10 is not a good number to be experiencing early on.

Over-gearing the entire way. The general understanding is that adding extra resistance by selecting a bigger gear will make you go faster. If you’re riding for a short period of time and don’t have to worry about fatigue, that might be true. Riding in a high gear and using low cadence generally recruits more fast twitch muscle fibres that are used for explosive power and speed.

By all means – power it up the mini 20 second climbs in a high gear, if you’re comfortable that you’ve got energy to spare. However, use these up at your risk – because these muscle fibres get tired quickly. If you’ve got a long day ahead of you, you’re much better off using a higher cadence with a lower gear – thus recruiting slow twitch muscles that promote greater endurance.

A high gear also puts more strain on your muscles and tendons, so you can risk an injury by sticking with the big chainring too often.

Breathing doesn’t just provide your body with oxygen – it also informs your brain of your mental and physiological state. Sometimes the perceived threat of a climb, coupled with heavy breathing as a result of a ‘panic smash’, can lead our bodies to react as though the threat is much more dangerous than it is.

As Josephine Perry, who runs a sports mental training clinic, Performance In Mind told us: “Breathing is really important in all our sporting activities. Everything our body does physiologically feeds back into our brain and gives it signals as to how we are feeling. [Fast breathing] makes us tighten up, puts us on alert and gets our hearts beating much faster. Our brain’s reaction to that will be to slow down the body. This is clearly not what we want to be doing. So teaching our body to react well to situations like a climb coming up can be really beneficial.”

She gave us a selection of tips for beating this reaction – the key lessons being that we need to think consciously about controlling our breath; practice breathing deeply, not quickly; and work on staying positive about our own performance and abilities.

Let’s illustrate this one with a common scenario:

Rider A: “I’d like to be a better climber”

Rider B: “Have you been practicing much?”

Rider A: “No, I hate hills…”

We often have a tendency to believe that being a good climber is all about having an optimum power to weight ration. Read: being light. However, there’s two parts to that equation, and regular hill climbing can really help to boost your power.

Not only that, but the more you climb, the more comfortable you’ll feel with riding up hill. You’ll learn your own rhythm, and become more accustomed to where your ‘red line’ is.

Discussing her preparations leading up to the hilly Rio Olympic course, Lizzie Armitstead told us: “Climbing isn’t just about losing weight. You get better at it by climbing. Spending as much time as you can in the mountains – learning the rhythm of climbing, and power as well – it comes down to more than just being lean.

Knowing Your Limits

XYZ

Dad’s emergency

asthma attack

autostrada

Moderating the Downhill

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Beautiful Crashes

Crashes can be beautiful, even if they still hurt.