In high school I ran track. Was captain of my high school team and finished 7th in the state of Massachusetts for the 400m back in 1994, my junior year. I was just one place away from winning a really cool jacket they used to give away to the top 6 finalists each year, which I’m still pissed about not winning when I think about it.

At one point I actually thought I was pretty good, but later discovered my times were crap compared to the rest of the country. Kids in the south get to train year round and actually treat track and field like a real sport, which isn’t the case in New England.
Although I eventually got bored with running in a circle and moved onto other more exciting sports, I’ll tell you what– when I think back on it I still carry many of the lessons I learned during those days with me today in the business world.

We all have folks that play an important role in influencing who we will be at different points in our lives. My high school track coach was a great guy named John Wilson. He was a local cop and just an all around good guy. Made sure I stayed out of trouble, kicked my ass in practice, even wrote me a killer recommendation letter for college. He was also responsible for putting me in a leadership role during these years. But some of the best lessons he taught me were about how to train hard and combine good planning with strategy to win races.

Track is a great sport because while it’s team based, you have individual competitors and races. And to win you must not only be in tune with those competitors around you (in order to make adjustments while the race is on), but you must also learn how to become VERY attuned to yourself.

My races were the 100m (for our relay), 200m, and the 400m. My best and favorite race was always the 400m. I think the combination of needing both speed and mental strategy (it was longer than the really short races, but shorter than the really longer ones) was what I loved (and hated) about it.

For the 400m, I had to be fast and capable of cranking’ it down the line, but at the same time I had to have the stamina to push through pain for longer than a 100m or 200m race. And there was a LOT of strategy in putting all that together during a race. Coach Wilson taught me how to accomplish that by teaching me how to plan different components of the race in advance. Basically he taught me how to “break it down” and have a plan for each piece of the race given who my competitor was, how I was feeling internally, and where my competitors were at each point in the race.

Let me give you a rundown on some of the things I learned.

Get out of the blocks strong and get up to speed – FAST.

You’ve got to come off strong. Coach used to say to me,“You’re running a race, aren’t you? If not, go do something else.” And he was right. It’s easier to lose a second or two right in the beginning by being slow and lazy with getting started. And it’s MUCH harder to make up those couple seconds later in the race, when you’re tired and out of gas. Often getting up to a good rate of speed around the first corner sets the tone (and pace) of everything that will follow. Your confidence increases and your competitors know that they can’t let you get too far ahead or it’ll be too much work later for them to make it up and close the gap. So they get nervous, and start making adjustments to their race, because now they’ve got to keep up with you racing YOURS. This is a MAJOR psychological piece of winning. I’ve since applied this rule to everything I’ve ever done well in life. I can’t say enough about it. If you’re here to win, start strong and get up to speed quickly. Coasting, if you can afford to do it, only comes later.

Hold your speed down the back stretch.

Once you get out in front and get up to a good rate of speed, the easiest and most important thing you can do is to hold it. Slowing down is actually harder than maintaining. And speeding up too much is hard and will wipe you out completely if you do it here, when it isn’t really necessary if you’ve gotten a strong start. Coach taught me to just focus on holding and maintaining my position. Doing anything different too often would cost me the race.

When you come around the final corner, check in with what’s happening around and set up your finish.

The final corner was almost like a whip, and where lactic acid really starts to set in. Your heart rate is cranking’, and you’re just trying to keep oxygen coming in and the CO2 going out. Coach taught me a simple strategy of just stretching out my stride a bit to ensure I covered as much ground as possible with each step. This also set me up for the last chance I really would have to make a decision that would affect the outcome of the race. I had to assess where I was in relation to my competitors and decide when to put everything I had left on the line to accelerate (not to early and not too late) and hold it. Only experience--and a lot of practice--teaches you how to do this well.

Go like hell through the tape. We used to spend hours working on this in practice, and I can’t thank Coach enough for this today. Everyday in drills he’d make us run THROUGH the finish line. And if somebody slacked, he’d add 3 more rounds. That type of hard-nosed training paid off, because I can’t tell you how many opponents I used to beat just because I didn’t slow down when I was near the finish. Coach made sure that when it was close, we’d win by driving THROUGH the tape every single time.

I don’t know where Coach Wilson is at today, and it’s been years since we’ve talked, but what I learned from him back in the day was good advice both for running races and running a business. I hope I can pass on at least some of what Coach gave to me. After you’re done reading, get out and run some 400s this week. It might just give you a much-needed perspective on running… your business.