Time to start pacing yourself
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Before Eliud Kipchoge attempted breaking the two-hour marathon barrier in 2017, most experts and observers didn't consider the feat possible. As it turned out, while he didn't break the record on that occasion (albeit running significantly faster than the official world record for the distance), in Vienna two years later, he achieved the 'impossible'.
Kipchoge's run shattered any notion that the time was beyond human capacity. However, it didn't enter the record books primarily because of the rotating team of 35 pacemakers, 7 of whom formed at all times a V-shape in front of Kipchoge to shield him from the wind. Ahead of them was a pace car, displaying the projected finish time based on their current speed and a laser to guide them.
Be in no doubt that Kipchoge is a remarkable athlete, combining incredible natural ability with the support of everything from Nike's development of groundbreaking running shoes to the very best nutrition experts. With such fine margins involved in elite running, though, he wouldn't have been able to run sub-two hours without the right pacing.
Anyone who has competed in any endurance activity will recognise, of course, the value of pacing yourself - you wouldn't attempt to complete a marathon by running flat out from the beginning. Instead, you carefully assess the distance and tailor your pace. Firstly, to ensure you'll make it the whole way while giving yourself the best chance to complete the race in the lowest possible time - it's a delicate balance.
As we approach the anniversary of first entering lockdown, the marathon analogy is obvious, as Alex Hutchinson, my guest on Take My Advice (I'm Not Using It) last week, wrote about in an excellent piece last October. The big difference, in this case, is that there has never been a finish line on which to focus. In sports science, there is actually a subfield that explores what happens, physiologically and psychologically, when there's no defined endpoint - it's called teleoanticipation.
According to Hutchinson:
"The good news is that letting go of your illusions might actually help.
In studies where, instead of racing, volunteers were asked to run or cycle at a preassigned pace with or without being told how long they would have to maintain that pace, those with no knowledge of the endpoint showed a lower heart rate and reported a lower subjective perception of effort. Their brain activity also shifted away from high-energy executive function regions to the more restful default network associated with daydreaming.
When we're settling in for the long haul, in other words, our bodies and minds make appropriate adjustments."
To put this in context, consider the work of Dr Emily Balcentis, Professor of Social Psychology at New York University and author of Clear, Closer, Better: How Successful People See The World, who specialises in vision science - the study of how people process and perceive visual information. Balcentis has demonstrated the benefits that narrowing your focus of attention on a 'finish line' can have. By which I mean both literally looking at it with your real eyes, but in this case, seeing it through your mind's eye.
Having an endpoint in view makes goals more attainable and boosts your psychology to such an extent that confidence increases, and your body begins preparing physiologically for the challenge ahead. Not an insignificant effect, in other words.
[Watch Dr Emily Balcentis’ excellent TED talk, HERE]
Call me an optimist if you like, but this is why I consider now the time to be thinking about pacing in your life. While the exact date isn't yet clear, it certainly feels like we've turned a corner and can look forward to a future in which our movement and progress is no longer restricted - we can envisage an endpoint.
Of course, top athletes apply the concept of pacing to preparation as well as racing. Their whole training regime is a careful balance of strain and recovery, designed to give them the best opportunity to peak at particular points in a season, or in the case of the Olympics, over a four-year cycle.
Get it wrong within a race, and you run the risk of what in cycling is rather bizarrely known as 'bonking' or, if you prefer, 'hitting the wall'. Over a season, overwork can lead to peaking too soon and lacking the endurance to stay the course - something of which Argentinian football coach Marcelo Bielsa's teams are often accused.
Let's consider how this relates to the world of work for a moment. If we were to design our ideal training regime, would it include staring into a screen for hours on end, day after day?
Would we work flat out, every day, only taking the odd week off at random times throughout the year?
Well, here's an anecdote that gives a clue to the answer to the first question.
Sports scientist, Samuel Marcora, is a leading expert on the link between physical and mental capacity in performance and has created a test for brain endurance training.
Alex Hutchinson took the test to measure its effect on his training. While the research suggests it can help reduce mental fatigue and perception of effort, I'm more interested in the short-term impact. Following several hours concentrating on a screen flashing up a series of A Clockwork Orange-style images, guess what? Alex was exhausted, and his physical and cognitive performance diminished - sounds like a day of Zoom meetings to me!
From the perspective of high performance at work, we massively underestimate the value of pacing. For many, there's little consideration of how to plan the best structure for the working day to optimise for the peaks, let alone considering this over a longer time horizon.
What might this look like in practice?
During the average week, we may need to prioritise key client presentations, writing a new whitepaper, or training a group of new recruits. Instead of just cramming these vital activities randomly into your calendar, plan around them.
Ensure you don't have hours of video calls throughout the day beforehand and give yourself ample time just before the session starts to compose your thoughts and focus.
While work usually isn't as predictable as the sporting calendar, most people can identify their busier times throughout the year in advance, so incorporate this into your planning.
Allow time to balance these periods of intense work with more rest - perhaps even scheduling a holiday or a few days off immediately afterwards.
As I've written before, there's no glory in overwork and burnout. It's time we take a leaf out of the sporting elite's book and begin incorporating considered pacing into our work/lives.
You can pick up a copy of Alex Huthchinson’s book, Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, HERE.
Any Other Business:
I’ve been a little inconsistent with the newsletter of late owing to the intensity and time pressures of having three kids at home all day, every day. Two of them are now back at school, though, so (fingers crossed) things should ease up a little. It does mean, though, that this week I have two podcasts to share.
This week’s episode was a fascinating chat about coaching and leadership with the Executive Director of London Business School’s Leadership Institute, Vyla Rollins, and Leadership Coach, Bernhard Kerres. We discussed the challenges presented by remote work on collaboration, mindset and management, and the role of coaching to facilitate change and support individuals.
Bernhard’s life has led him from a career as an opera singer to Silicon Valley start-up founder and finally becoming a coach. We, therefore, touch on Bernhard's fascinating approach of using music to stimulate group coaching sessions. He also shares a wonderful analogy about the similarity between the greatest leaders in business and jazz!
I wrote about employee surveillance a while ago, and it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon. Here’s Basecamp’s David Heinemeier Hansson’s take - he doesn’t like it either…
Anne Helen Peterson is consistently brilliant in her Culture Study newsletter, and this article last week about the future of the office and remote work is well worth a read. According to her, better management and flexible is important, but we need also need to take this opportunity to:
“…rethink the literal and figurative placement of work in our lives — and what we want to prioritize in its place.”
On that note, a hybrid future isn’t necessarily straightforward, as this article in Harvard Business Review points out.
“For companies to reap the many benefits of hybrid working, managers must be aware of the power dynamics at play. It’s critical that they develop an understanding of hybridity positioning and hybridity competence and take steps to level the playing field for their teams.”