Play the (Really) Long Game

It's an ultramarathon, not a marathon

My model for sustainability is my progression in biking endurance.

• Sprint: In college, I would ride 30 miles and return barely able to move. At Microsoft, riding with colleagues, I managed to get that distance up to 50 miles. But I was still killing myself on every ride. I was just sprinting.

• Marathon: When the goal became a century (100 miles), there was a fundamental pivot where I embraced the phrase, "it's a marathon, not a sprint." I slowed my roll and learned to maintain my energy for 100 miles. When I finished my 100 miles, I felt spent, but not dead. This led to me testing longer distances, getting up to just over 200 miles in one day.

• Ultramarathon: Given the limited number of hours in a day, I didn't see myself pushing much beyond 200, so then I switched my focus to how many days in a row I could ride. I did three century days. Then I did four. And now my annual retreat consists of five consecutive century+ days (this year I'm aiming to ride from Chelan, WA to Calgary, BC in 6 days). I'm now convinced that the number of days could grow indefinitely and I could manage.

Sustained Delivery

I cover a lot of ground on my bike not by going fast, but by going long. The same goes for my work. And in both cycling and in work, there's the long game (marathon), and then there's the really long game (ultramarathon). And I've spent decades of my career in the ultramarathon mindset. A common phrase over the last 20 years of my coaching is "Play the Long Game", which is simply about upleveling your approach to energy management.