Thirteen Lessons Learned By Training for a Half Marathon

I recently trained for and ran a half marathon. I couldn’t help but notice the parallels between running and life. It’s an apt analogy for many of the challenges we face in our personal and professional lives. Here are thirteen lessons I learned in the process of preparing to run a thirteen mile race.

Steady progress is better than bursts of high effort

Races are not won by bursts of herculean effort. Many of us are used to working this way. We pull all-nighters to write a report before it is due at work. We binge study all weekend before an exam first thing Monday morning. These methods may work in isolated instances but it is the opposite of productive when preparing for a race.

Training to run a long distance requires consistency above all else—especially if you are trying not to just complete the race, but reach a time goal as well. You have to run consistently for months at a time to prepare for that single race day. And if you are pushing your pace and shooting for a personal record, you’ll have to put in concentrated effort consistently by not only running longer distances more frequently, but running at your race pace more consistently as well.

Any longer term project in life functions on this same principle. You may be able to cram a repot into a weekend of work, but if you thoughtfully spend consistent effort on that same report for weeks leading up to the due date, the quality of work is bound to be much higher.

You've got more left in the tank than you think

If you’ve ever run a race, or if you’ve even watched the finish line of a race before, you’ve noticed a peculiar phenomenon. At the end of a race, even after incredibly long distances, runners get a burst of energy when that finish line comes in sight. Just the knowledge that the end of the race is near acts like a shot of adrenaline straight into the blood stream and someone who was gasping for breath a hundred yards earlier can find themselves sprinting to the finish.

Keep track of the smaller goals in you work life and you may find surprising reserves of energy that will help you cross the finish line.

Investing makes you commit

Even a small race fee invests you in your own success. You’ve committed some capital, even a small amount to getting something out of that race and you know that you dont want to lose that on a race you are not prepared for. Naturally, you find yourself committed to your training at level you weren’t before you paid that little fee.

This trick can be used to help yourself make progress on a variety of activities. If it’s a hobby like running, paying a small fee for an event can do the trick. If you’re learning an instrument, paying for a six months of lessons may be the way to get yourself into the pattern of actually practicing. If there’s a project at work that you need to make progress on, scheduling a presentation on the topic may be the investment you need to get it done.

Being accountable to a team pushes you

My team is my running group. I run consistently with two other friends and they help keep my motivation up. On days when a 6:30 am run feels like too much, I push through to be there for my group and to spend time with friends. There is always an excuse to not go out and train. For me it’s because one of my kids had me up in the middle of the night, or because I have an early work meeting that same morning, or because I was up too late binging a show with my wife, or because it’s cold outside, or an endless list of other excuses. Knowing they expect me to be there is enough to get me out of bed and show up.

Whether you’re working on a home improvement project for your family, or a group project in school, knowing who you’re accountable to can dedicate your efforts to them personally. It brings out a deeper commitment and higher quality work. If you don’t know who you’re working for, or if they don’t know you, it may be harder to succeed.

Running hills makes you faster

I picked my most recent half marathon specifically because it is a very flat course. I was going for a PR and I didn’t want to worry about changing my effort level to match similar changes in elevation. However, most of my training takes place on trails. For me, it’s much more interesting to run on trails where the scenery is changing and the softer ground doesn’t put as much stress on my body. Along with the trails come the hills.

At first, I did not like running the hills. Running hills is hard! They would have me feeling like I was sucking air through a straw and my legs would burn the entire time. It felt like my legs were begging me to stop and take a rest. Over time however, I became stronger and also more in tune with what my body was actually communicating. Gradually, I noticed a change. As a started up a hill, my legs weren’t so much screaming at me to stop, but almost yelling encouragement. They’d done it before and they knew they could do it again.

All that work in the hills translated to greater strength and speed on my road runs. Without too much extra effort, I was able to increase my pace on flat runs and build up to my race pace as my strength and fitness increased.

Outside of a run, uphill battles can translate into great strength and efficiency in whatever you’re doing. If you have to sort through a particularly challenging report at work, it will make the next one that much easier. Your capacity for that kind of work has increased by taking on an even more difficult task.

You need fuel

A few weeks before my race, I ran eight miles on a Saturday morning. The first five miles went great. I was right on pace and feeling good. Then out of nowhere, I hit a wall. I suddenly felt the fatigue and couldn’t keep my intended pace for the rest of the run. I didn’t understand why I was having a different experience when I wasn’t running much farther than I had in past weeks. It wasn’t until my wife asked if I brought anything to eat on my run that it hit me. I had completely run out of fuel. My body needed more calories to keep using the energy it needed to run that far.

The next week, I brought a few snacks and water on my run and it was night and day different from the week before. The longer run was still hard, but I had the energy to keep going.

Fuel can take on vastly different shapes for different people depending on what they need. For some, it’s commiserating with colleagues or friends about the challenges they face in the moment. This can be a healthy vent session, or simply grabbing food or drinks together to blow off steam. Or it could be revisiting the higher level goals they are trying to achieve to bring the work in perspective and reignite the fire of motivation.

You need rest

Almost as important as putting in the miles is getting your body the right amount of rest. Running every day may seem like the best way to train for a race but for a beginner it can do more harm than good. Doing different types of training in between runs so you muscles don’t overtire can be very helpful and even make you into a stronger runner.

On the week of the race itself, it’s common to taper down to shorter, easier runs so you’re fresh and strong when it comes time to run the real thing. When you are down to a few days left, you can no longer cram more fitness into your body. You can only rest and let yourself be prepared for the big day.

At times getting your mind off school or work can be incredibly valuable. Spring break comes toward the end of the school year and allows students to come back rested and ready to take on finals before they escape for the summer. At work, you may have to learn to know when you need to take a vacation. A short time off where you are completely unplugged from work can prevent burn out and make you much more effective than a longer break where you’re constantly checking your email or messages to make sure you haven’t missed anything. Take the break and get back to it later.

It's important to pace yourself

One of the easiest mistakes a runner can make on race day is to charge out of the gates too fast. The race day adrenaline is pumping in their veins and they feel great. Suddenly, a pace that feels good is actually much faster than you may be used to running. By slowing down and running the pace that you’ve been training at, you’re much more likely to succeed across the entire distance. If you don’t make this correction, you’re likely to burn out before then end and slow way down.

I work in an industry that has long product development cycles. Instead of product generations being released every six months to a year, it can be five years or more between releases. That means you can’t face a work environment where you’re constantly kicking it into high gear. In race terms, the work is a marathon, and not a sprint. Keeping a reasonable expectation for the hours you put in ensures that you’ll make it to the end and see the product launched.

The right tools make a difference

Any engineer or DIY enthusiast knows that having the right tool for the job can make a world of difference. You may be able to build an entire house with nothing more than a hammer and a saw, but if you add a table saw, T-square, nail gun, etc. you’re going to work so much more efficiently. Running is a great sport in that the only barrier to entry from a gear perspective is a pair of shoes. Of course, there are a host of other things you can buy but some are more useful than others. The one I rely on the most is a GPS watch that can keep track of your pace. That way I can ensure that I’m not overshooting my goals and tiring myself out early.

If you find yourself doing the same jobs over and over, whether it’s a full-time position, or something you do at home, make sure you have the right tool in hand. Are you creating Gant charts in excel? Perhaps it’s time you learned Project or another Project Management software. If you’ve taken up baking as a hobby and you’re kneading the dough by hand, it might be time to invest in a mixer. Getting the right tool will save you time and make the process so much more enjoyable.

What is painful now can become easy later

Many people don’t like to run. It usually comes down to the fact that when you start, it’s painful. You may run a distance and speed that feels comfortable and even conservative to start and the next day you can barely stand. You haven’t acclimated to the stress and exertion required and your body tells you that by means of pain. The beauty of any exercise, whether physical or mental, is that the more you do it, the more you get used to it. After a few weeks or months, the distance and speed that used to knock you out for a week is now old hat and lets you push your performance even further.

You can use this same phenomenon to your advantage in your professional life by taking on increasingly challenging projects and problems as your old challenges become run-of-the mill tasks.

Competition elevates performance

Race day is great for elevating your performance, and there’s nothing like a person to chase to push yourself to the limits of your capabilities. A rabbit is a person or thing that sets a goal for the runner behind it. The term comes from the mechanical rabbits that would race around the tracks to give racing greyhounds something to chase. Any person in front of you in a race can be your personal rabbit. Knowing they are in front of you gives you a little bit more energy to push and overcome them. Even professional athletes will use a rabbit to train at a particular pace and push themselves to the next level.

Outside of running, knowing that you face competition can act just like a rabbit. You know that you can’t give anything less than your best, otherwise you will be beat out by the next individual, team, or company working on the same thing you are. Competition demands continual improvement, peak performance, and stretching your limits.

Seeing the finish line is like a bolt of lightning

Catching a glimpse of the finish line at the end of the race brings a surge of energy coursing through you and gives you the ability to push through to the end faster than you felt you could run even moments before. You can suddenly find yourself in a sprint to overcome that person you’ve been gaining on for the last few miles.

In life, the approach of an important milestone or goal can have a similar motivational effect. Where you may have been dragging your feet just days before, as the deadline approaches, you find the energy to keep working. When you can combine this with solid, consistent effort leading up to the deadline, the results can be a new personal record, or powerful results at work.

Enjoy it!

If you find no joy in the process of training, running, and pushing your limits, you'll likely find little joy in the culmination of all that hard work when you run a race. If you're new to running, don't expect to love it the first time you hit the road. Instead, give yourself time to acclimate and start to recognize the benefits. Find beautiful places to run and enjoy nature or a fun urban setting. Use the time to disconnect from the day to day cares that normally plague you. Feel the thrill of slowly getting stronger and faster.

We all like to complain about the challenges we face at work. But those same challenges are the ones that can elevate your performance and make you even better at what we do. Next time a problem comes up, before you let yourself let out a moan of exasperation, think about how much better it will make you at your job when you’re done! It may be that solving this problem gets you your next promotion!