These are lessons I’ve learned from training for a marathon this year. I go on 5 runs a week and am learning from an excellent coach, Jeff Cunningham.

These lessons are painfully obvious in running, but I think can be applied more systematically to learning the violin (where mistakes aren’t as painful).

1. Consistently Good > Occasionally Great

This is one of Jeff’s quotes that has changed my life. His concept is that all we need to be successful is a stack of good days. And consistent good effort will always beat out a single, occasional perfect workout. In fact, the effort it takes to be perfect will probably disrupt all of the other systems in your life that support consistency. 

So just stay good. Stay consistent. Ignore the desire to be perfect. Perfect is often an illusion that lets you of the hook.

There are many days we I can’t complete the scheduled workout perfectly because I don’t quite enough time or the exact right conditions. Rather than giving up, I just get done what I can. It is good enough, but not perfect.

Thankfully, good is all we need.

2. Don’t control outputs, control inputs

I can’t will my body to run 26.2 miles at a particular pace. 

I can’t control my heart rate, I can’t control my strength. I can’t control my energy. 

But I can control my training. I can control my fuel. I can control my sleep and recovery. 

I don’t get upset at the results I didn’t get, for the work that I didn’t put in. Focus on the input, not the output. The body will take care of itself.

3. Easy!

It should look like running but feel like walking.

Three days of training per week are easy, low mileage runs. Easy is also quantified. I must run under 152 beats per minute (my aerobic threshold) no matter how fast or slow that pace is. Easy is a quantified non-negotiable.

If I make it hard (faster than 152) I’m actually using a different energy system and slow down my overall progress.

It takes so much discipline to stay in the appropriate zone. I want to run fast! I want to work hard. But I must stay intentional, stay the course, and keep it easy.

This is a profound lesson.

4. Stop!

If I were running by feel rather than a plan, I would probably assume that my runs should be longer. Or, I would run each day until I couldn’t anymore.

I stop when the plan tells me to stop. If I only have 4 miles listed on a Friday run, I only run 4 miles. Even though, at this point, I can go out and run 14 miles in a row. I only do 4.

Something similar happens on my speed work sessions at the track. I run ½ a mile at a quick pace and then rest for one minute. I run another ½ mile at a quick pace, then stop and rest for a minute. By the end of the workout I am totally exhausted, but those one minute stop-and-rests enabled me to run so much further than if I hadn’t taken breaks.

5. Quality Environment

This sort of training is impossible without a consistent environment. 

I have a few pairs of the perfect training shoes (Saucony Endorphin Speed 3’s), running clothes, and running nutrition (BPN supplements and Spring Energy gels). I keep track of my program on a calendar in the kitchen that I pass by 20 times a day. I circle the days I do my training.

We have a foam roller right next to the couch. We have supportive sleep routines. I have epsom salt in the bathroom for recovery baths. 

I invested in a fancy handheld water bottle and running belt for my long runs.

My partner and I are also on the same page about the amount of time and effort this program takes. She knows I leave for three hour runs on Sunday mornings and, unfortunately, sacrificing time with her on weekends is a tradeoff of choosing to do a marathon this year. She supports me and asks me how my runs went. She’ll be coming to Philadelphia to watch me race. And we have discussed what the next phase of training is so we can spend intentional time together.

6. The Target Will Draw the Arrow

Speaking of Philly, this has been a year-long process building to the Philly Marathon on November 19, 2023. 

I’ve been training slowly since last October. I planned a half marathon in April and a second in August. 

Now we are going for the full distance 26.2.

My overarching goal is to build a robust strength and aerobic system before I turn 30. Health and longevity is my highest priority because it supports everything else in my life. In 2022 I developed my relationship with the gym. In 2023 I rekindle my relationship with cardiovascular training.

We know it takes so much more effort to build a system than it does to maintain it. So I’m using my 20s, while I have the most vitality and personal time freedom, to build up strength and aerobic base.

Knowing my personality, I knew I would be more inspired to be consistent with training if I had a strong goal in mind. So I chose the marathon and signed up for the actual race at the end of the year.

It is true that, as unexpectedly wise man Matthew McCaunaguay says, “The target draws the arrow.” 

Because I named this incredibly specific goal, the landscape of my training and desire to train has changed completely. 

The highly convicted by my biggest “Why?”– health and longevity. And I’m highly motivated by my exciting and public goal– the Philadelphia Marathon. 

I also know that after the marathon I will intentionally stop (see point 4) running this distance and lean into aerobic training in swimming and cycling. So the target also shows me where not to aim. And to only muster motivation for what is necessary.

The target draws the arrow.

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My favorite part of the project is the universal lessons now inscribed in my muscles, my bones, my heart. I now know what consistency, controlling inputs, ease, stopping before you need to, a quality environment, and a convincing target feels like.

These are universal lessons that I rewarded and punished so vividly through physical training. For example, it physically hurts when I don’t stay consistent with my speed work and then go out for a tough track session. 

These are lessons I can teach my students with conviction because I have truly experienced them in a visceral way.

I hope you’re able to teach them, too. But, more importantly, I hope you are able to physically experience them yourself through some vehicle of ‘beginner’s mindset’ training.