Three Keys to help us Endure in the face of Adveristy

The historic Boston Marathon took place a few weeks ago, and  Ethiopian Sisay Lemma quite literally ran away from the men's field to win the world's most famous road race. What struck me about his performance is that this was his 4th attempt at this iconic event. He finished 30th one year, and dropped out the other two. But he kept at it. He kept grinding away and persevered even in the face of seemingly constant failure, and was finally rewarded for his endurance- not just over those 26.2 miles a few Monday’s back, but for the years and years of plodding away at a goal, regardless of the numerous setbacks he experienced. 

Over the past few months, I’ve had several conversations with athletes and personal training clients alike about how to overcome setbacks, or how to endure when things don’t go to plan or just plain get hard. For some this could mean grinding away at an athletic goal- and for others, it could be the challenge of juggling the priorities of family, work, and training. Possibly it's struggling with a physical illness or injury that just won’t heal. Or maybe it could be a serious mental health challenge that just won’t allow us to feel good. 

There is no easy solution for every situation that involves persevering in the face of adversity, whether that be voluntary or not, if we take a step back we can identify a few things that can help. 

At the risk of grave oversimplification, here are three keys to help us continue to endure in the face of a challenge- in both racing and in life:

First: Have a ‘why’. We need to have a reason for our goals. Having the right motives to do something hard gives us the drive to push when things get difficult. I remember when training to race the Ironman World Championships in Kona, running at 12:00 noon in 90% humidity in 85 degrees, because it approximated the race conditions I’d be dealing with in Hawaii. I’d worked for 20 years to get the chance to race on the Big Island, and I didn’t want to arrive having not not done everything in my power to maximize my opportunity.

 I have had a few clients over the years who were told they needed to lose 100+ lbs, or risk premature death. For one of them the chance to see his kids grow up was enough for him to do a 180 and make big changes over time, dropping more than 100 lbs and doing things he never thought he could.

There is power in purpose! Tap into that. 

Second: Have a plan. Having a purpose is great, but the expression, “A failure to plan is a plan to fail’ " is true when it comes to most things. If your goal is to complete an Ironman, then hiring a coach, getting an online training plan, or at least reading a few books can go a long way ensuring you have structure as you tackle this complex process.

 Maybe your goals are simpler- exercise 5 days this week, or get to that yoga class at the gym 4 times this month. Sometimes if we deem our goals as ‘simple’, we don’t think a plan is necessary, and other things take priority and we fall short. As I’ve mentioned many times before, having structure (a dedicated time, place, and process) allows us to develop a routine. And routine leads to habit. If your goal is simply to get up and move daily, then dedicating a specific time, place, and activity you do every day is half the challenge. 

When I think of a plan, I think of a client who really struggled with respect to her nutrition. We tried lots of things to get her to eat better more consistently. We logged her food, we downloaded apps, and even had her text me nightly what she ate. Nothing worked. Until, we found a meal service that sent her easy, healthy, pre packaged meals. That worked for her, and she began to see and feel the results of her better food choices. She finally found the right plan- or process- that worked for her. 

Developing the right plan is paramount. 


Third: Remember both your “plan” and your “why” when things go sideways - and they WILL go sideways. Last month I ran the Salisbury marathon with only 7 weeks of training. Even though my build was short, I was in pretty good shape and was confident in my training and race plan. Through the first 17-18 miles or so, things were going ro plan. I was ahead of pace and feeling good. But then just before mile 20, the wheels began to fall off the bus. I’d neglected some elements of my plan, namely I mistimed my nutrition and fluid intake, and the warning bells were going off. The last 6 miles were probably the most excruciating I’ve ever run- worse than racing in Kona with Covid (so that’s saying something). My plan was shot, BUT I still had my ‘why’.

 My ‘why’ was my family. During the build for this race, I’d spent a fair amount of time away from them while training and wanted to make sure that my sacrifice of time away from them was equal to my effort on race day. I didn’t want to look back and think, ‘I think I could have given more here, or pushed harder there”. In my mind, I owed it to them to bury myself in the effort to run my goal time and quality for the Boston Marathon by a convincing margin. 

And I did so. Even though my pace dropped by almost a minute per mile in those last few miles, I dug deeper than I ever have, reciting my kid’s names as I pushed my limits. So while I didn’t meet my time goal (missed it by 90 seconds), I did qualify to run the Boston marathon by 19 minutes. Because I remembered my ‘why’ when things went south.

Having a manta you recite to yourself or a few inspirational words written on your forearm, can do wonders to help you remember your ‘why’. The same holds true for your plan- I write my nutrition plan on a white tape and stick it on my front aero water bottle, and memorize goal paces and wattage numbers, which allow me to keep focused on my race plan.


Having a strong purpose, a solid plan, and being able to recall both in the moments when you need it most, can go a long way in helping us continue to fight and endure during difficulty and challenges. This holds true on race day, and on Tuesday, Sunday, or any other day that things go sideways. 

Good luck and keep moving forward!