You Tricked Me!
February 27, 2009
My first half-marathon is coming up in four weeks, and it’s the time in the training program when I have to be increasing the mileage on my long runs. A few weeks ago, I had some unexpected “help” to make this happen.
My wife has a very good friend, Lisabeth, who also competes in races and triathlons with us. They train together, each making sure the other is staying on track in preparing for their various events.
On this particular day, they were supposed to go running, but Lorie got stuck in the office, so I agreed to take her place and keep Lisabeth company. As we started the run, she asked me how long I was planning on running. “Four miles.” I answered.
She said, “Why don’t you make it five, so you can keep me company, since that’s what I have to do today.” Now, you have to understand that five miles is the maximum I had ever run; I had only done it three times in my life; and two of those times were over 20 years ago.
Still, it’s a long way from four miles to 13.1 (the distance of a half-marathon) so I agreed.
As we got near the end of the run, I checked my watch and noticed that my time was a bit slower than what I would have expected. I asked Lisabeth if she was sure about the distance being five miles. She said she may have been a bit wrong – and confessed that the route we were taking might be slightly longer than five miles. “And exactly how much longer?” I asked. “Well, it’s probably closer to six miles.”
As it turned out, she was right – it was exactly six miles. I wasn’t exactly overjoyed about this at the time, but when the initial shock (and lack of oxygen) wore off, I realized it was actually a good thing.
First, I had run my longest distance ever. Second, I had done it at my fastest per-minute pace ever. Third, I was ahead of my plan for increasing my distance in preparation for the race.
And fourth, this was exactly the kind of thing I did when I ran our martial arts school. I’d tell the class we were going to warm up with 100 pushups, straight through with no break. When we got to 50, I told them we were done.
“But didn’t you say we were doing 100?” one student would ask, while the rest of the class glared at him with that “are you out of your mind – why are you asking him that?!” look on their faces.
My answer was simple: if I said we were going to do 50, then they would start getting tired and fatigued at around 35. But because I set the goal at 100, by the time they got to 50, they were just getting a rhythm.
And while not exactly the same situation I had with my run, it all comes down to setting expectations, following through, and achieving more than you think you can. Oh, I gave Lisabeth a hard time for “tricking” me into running six miles – it wouldn’t be as much fun otherwise – but it did help my training.
What expectations do you set for yourself? Do you challenge yourself to push the limits? Do you have a way to measure your progress? All of this is absolutely necessary if you’re going to be a peak performer at whatever you try.
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