Run to Lead: Managing your low points

Part 5 of the Run to Lead series

I recently completed my first marathon-length run. It was 42 kilometres by myself at night, carrying my nutrition and water with me.

Between the 32k mark and the 36k mark I entered a mental low point where I was thinking seriously about calling it off. I was rationalising with myself all of the reasons why it would be better if I went home. This has happened many times before.

In times like these I focus on micro goals, one foot in front of the other, just make it up to the bend and see from there, ride out the aches and pains. It gets me through.

Throughout my journey toward completing an ultra marathon, I often think about the words of Geoff Roes who has had a significant impact on my thinking and approach throughout the last eight months of training.

Geoff is an American ultra runner who started competing when he was 30 years old. For the first couple years he won every race he entered, including Western States in 2010 in what was at the time a record time.

What inspires me about Geoff is his humility, his even-keel manner and his approach of “managing the low points”.

In the Running Times-produced short film from 2011, Slogging to the Top, Geoff says:

I think it’s so important in the longer stuff to focus on managing the low points because you’re going to have these really extreme low points in almost every race. I’ve done at least 20 ultras now and I think there’s been a fairly significant low point at least once during each one. I think that it’s key to focus on, to be experienced at and adapt at dealing with those and accepting them.

I’ve found this to be a fantastic mindset for the engaging leader.

Leaders can find themselves in challenging and high-pressure environments. Learning how to manage one’s self in these environments is crucial to success. Having the patience to see these periods through and having the experience to be able to accept the circumstances is fundamental to being solutions oriented, positive and engaging along the way.

As mentioned in my recent Stay Positive article, “[t]he job of the leader is never complete. Milestones and successes occur along the way, but the engaging leader is always keeping an eye on whether the organisation and its people are on track toward the next short-, medium- and long-term strategic objectives.”

Contact us to discuss how you can engage and build deeper relationships with the audiences which matter to you.

– Jeremy

Geoff Roes, Slogging to the Top