Friday Forward - Brutal Practice (#506)

It is often the messy, imperfect, exhausting reps that build the strength we need later

A few months ago, my daughter began training for her first 10K race at her college (6.2 miles). I initially planned to fly down and cheer her on, then I decided to run with her.

It felt like the right kind of challenge, especially because I was embarking on a particularly intense stretch of work and travel and knew I could benefit from an incentive to run, as running has always brought me physical and mental benefits. Plus, training at the same time as my daughter created some shared accountability, as we began texting each other our running stats.

I had been making steady progress each week, stretching my longest run out to five miles. But that changed last week, when I found myself traveling to two separate high-altitude cities. The air was much thinner than I was used to, and the terrain much hillier. Every run felt much harder, physically and mentally.

Midway through the week, I was staying at over 7,000 feet above sea level. There were no flat routes nearby, so my only option was to run downhill on the way out and uphill on the way back. I was supposed to run over five miles, but I barely made it four. My heart rate spiked early, my legs felt heavy, and my pace dropped sharply. It was not just a tough workout, it was a humbling one.

Two days later, I tried again and was completely spent after four miles. None of my high altitude runs all week felt good. My pace fell off significantly, and I wasn’t hitting any goals. But I kept getting out there, hoping my investment might pay off once I returned home to normal conditions.

Two days after coming back to sea level, I ran my first full 10K, at my fastest pace yet, finishing with more left in the tank than I expected.

The contrast was striking, and the lesson was clear: sometimes the biggest gains come after the hardest, most uncomfortable training.

This reminded me of something I’ve seen again and again in leadership, sports, and life. The best coaches and mentors do not prepare people for ideal conditions. They make training harder than needed, creating controlled adversity so that the real event feels more manageable, or even comfortable, by comparison.

The best students and performers come to appreciate this kind of training. They understand that when you practice under ideal conditions, you’re more vulnerable to surprises during the real thing. But when practice conditions are more arduous than reality, you sharpen your resilience and rise to the occasion with confidence and capacity when it’s actually time to perform.

This mindset of difficult preparation was core to the Spartan warriors of ancient Greece. From a young age, boys were placed in the agoge, an intentionally severe, state-run training program. It was designed not only to prepare those young men for battle, but also to develop their mental and emotional resilience. The hardships they endured, many of which would be considered cruel and unusual punishment by today’s standards, were viewed as necessary preparation for surviving in a brutal world. This philosophy is vividly illustrated in the book Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield.

I hated those altitude runs while I was doing them. I questioned my plan and even wondered whether I had set an unrealistic goal. But looking back, those arduous miles helped me immensely. They forced me to dig deeper and ultimately made it easier to reach my goal under more normal circumstances.

Whether you are preparing for a major presentation, navigating a tough period at work, or helping someone you care about through a challenge, it is often the messy, imperfect, exhausting reps that build the strength we need later.

Brutal practice is not about suffering for the sake of it. It is about embracing short-term discomfort in pursuit of growth and a better game day performance. And it is a mindset we can choose, no matter what we are setting out to do.

Quote of The Week

“The more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed in battle.” – Richard Marcinko

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