From Geek to Peak

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For those of you who know me, two interesting facts stand out.

1. In high school and college, I was a pretty avid runner, holding records in the 800-meter and 1500-meter runs, and able to routinely run a sub 19 minute 5K.

2. At age 35 (a few years back) I tipped the scale at 250 pounds. Running a mile in 12 minutes was a miracle.

Painfully aware that I was headed down the same unhealthy path as my father and uncle (heart trouble) and aunt and mother (diabetes) I decided the day after Thanksgiving 2007 to start running again. I ran a mile every other day for a few weeks, then kicked it up to 2 miles, and by New Year’s was running a very slow 5K every 2-3 days.

I stayed at that level for about six months, never getting my time below 30 minutes. I participated in a 5K race/run on Flag Day (June 14, 2008) and clocked in a disappointing 32 minutes, but was really murdered by all the hills downtown. In fact, to my chagrin, I had to stop running twice in the last little stretch because I just wasn’t expecting all those damn hills.

But well before this race, I’ve had this obsession with running a 5K in 30 minutes or less. No matter how many times I ran the course in my neighborhood (hills and all, but apparently not enough hills to compare to downtown) I couldn’t come close to a 30 minute time.

So my friend and running buddy Nada (who is a budding triathlete, incidentally) suggested that I change up my routine. Instead of running 5Ks in the neighborhood, just start running in one direction for 20 minutes and then turn around. Ideally, you’ll make it all the way back, but even if you don’t, you’re building up your endurance.

After a few weeks of that, she said, start bumping up your time until you’re turning around at 30 minutes.

So off I went, running for 20 minutes and then turning around, and doing that every other day for a week or two. Then last week, I bumped it up to 25 minutes on the turnaround, and did that a few times. Once I ran at high noon, which sounds crazy for Austin in July, but it was okay, I made it through alive.

Last night I got home really late from work and was just jumping out of my skin. I needed a run so badly, but I only had a very small window to play with. So I took off on a 5K, my first since mid-June. I clocked in at 29:51.

The lesson learned? If you want to hit a goal, stretch yourself in training. Train past the goal, and you’ll eventually hit it. How does this relate to the SOHO business owner or freelancer? Well, it’s simple really. Whatever goal you set for yourself, go the extra mile beyond it.

• If your goal is to make 100 cold calls this week, make 200 calls.
• If you goal is to land five Fortune 100 clients, go for 10 or 20 instead.
• If you want to book $10,000 in fees this month, try to land $15,000.

After a while, if you stretch yourself enough, you’ll see that the original goal isn’t quite as unattainable or difficult. I certainly felt that way on my run yesterday. I remember thinking, “Why did I think this distance was so hard to run before?” And it’s simple–after you run for an hour at a time, running for just a half hour isn’t a big deal at all.