I Ran A Half-Marathon 1% Faster For 10 Years To See What Would Happen

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This is a story about what happens when you get 1 percent better year after year for 10 years. Follow me on this ambitious journey as I run for my life to literally become the best version of myself and discover the true power of becoming 1 percent better. So the next logical question is, why do I even run?

I’ll answer that and more in the next part of this 1 Percent Better Journey.

Why did you start running?

What was the catalyst to get into all this run culture and everything that we do? For me, it wasn’t for weight loss. It wasn’t to run some epic event. It was actually three specifically weird things that I have yet to hear other runners talk about.

And ultimately to chase and keep chasing a romantic feeling. For as long as possible, but I’ve narrowed it down to three reasons. One was to biohack myself to answer one question, which I’ll get into to, to become more mindful and everything. And three, the pillars of everything 1 percent better, which is belief, focus, and patience.

I’ll get into all those things shortly.

What you’ll learn

I’ll start with what I’m actually doing and this whole 1 percent better thing
Then go into the core pillars and mindsets around why this is so important
Why not the 10k and marathon
The rules of this whole game test experiment
Where it all came from
Why I actually run
The 1 percent better theory
How you can use this for your own training, racing, and life
and much more

The reason why I run

I realized most people don’t know why I started running. It wasn’t for weight gain, it wasn’t to run some epic event. I was actually three specifically weird things that I have yet to hear other runners talk about and ultimately to chase and keep chasing a romantic feeling for as long as possible.

1 – Biohacking myself to answer one question

2 – To become more mindful

3 – The pillars of everything 1% better: Belief, Focus and Patience

Cal Newport on the compound interest of slow growth

PHD professor of computer science, NY times best selling author and technology productivity contrarian, Cal Newport has a great quote. In his latest podcast episode about Seinfeld, he sums up, very succinctly an idea I’ve had bouncing around my head for years.

He said “Interviewers ask me, you do this, and you do that, this feels like you would be very busy. How can you fulfil the first principle in the book to do fewer things if you are writing books, podcast, etc.

But my answer is that I don’t all of things at the same time. I’m very seasonal.

If I’m writing a book I’m not doing other things

That pacing over time is incredibly powerful.

It’s like compound interest with money. IT’s boring this month, but when you fast forward to 10 years of doing the same thing you have a lot of money in your account.

You keep making progress on things. You don’t have long down periods and you also don’t overload yourself.

That’s the sweet spot when things really stack up.”

Biohacking myself to answer one question

Let’s rewind it back to when I was running track 20 years ago in college. I just got moved up to middle distance from sprinting. My coaches saw that I was stronger in the longer intervals than the sprint guys so they thought I could try out the 800m event. I got really close with a super strong 800m and 1500m runner named Shane. Before the first race of the year all the distance guys were hanging out in someone’s dorm room about to watch the “hype up” distance running movie. Remember this is 2002, so there was no YouTube running channel to get hyped on.

The movie was Steve Prefontaine, Without Limits but the first one aka the good one and not the Jared Leto one.

I’ll never forget the one thing that Steve Prefontaine said casually to another runner.

“Let’s just go and run an easy ten-miler at a five-minute pace”.

As I was just starting to do long runs and longer intervals with the distance guys, I said to myself “Well, how the hell does someone get so fit that they can run an easy 10 mile run at 5 minute pace”.

And twenty years later, I’m still trying to answer that question by experimenting on myself, talking to experts and researching the hell out of how I can do that.

To become more mindful

Running mindfully is a thing.

Sitting still and meditating is a thing.

Is there a middle ground? Can I do one and enhance the other?

Running helps me get closer to that answer.

Accountability & Control

Belief, focus and patience seem to be the core pillars of most successful things in my life, and I applied them to running, and I’m now realizing the power of those.

If I show up daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly – I win.

I also control the outcome of running and my own fitness and health goals.

No one else. Just me, my training consistency, nutrition, recovery and my genetics.

Most things in life are affected by other people, but with running and my health and fitness, I control them.

And ironically – getting my fitness and health right affects all the other things in my life cuz… it’s all the same.

Why 1% better is important: Zooming out

“People over estimate what they can get done in a day and under estimate what they can do in a decade.”

It teaches me to slow down: all haste with no speed. Life is long but I need a sense of urgency as you never know when it’s your time to end the race.

FAQ Rebutles – Well, why not other races like a 10k or marathon?

Why not the marathon. Is too hard hard on my body. I’ve tried it and it’s too much risk and input for too little output and reward.
The 5k or even 10k is “too easy” and short for me to do this 1% thing. Not saying a 10k is easy… But this was the middle ground of kinda easy, kinda hard
To keep myself properly focused on something very challenged, my main “a race” since 2018 has been to run a sub 16 min 5k and most of that training can be used to stay relatively fit for a half marathon
I wanted the long runs for this leading up to the race each year to stretch me but not smash me. Just enough challenge but not too much – Goldilocks zone. Marathon is where it becomes diminishing returns

What I did that you can try

Pick a distance or race that you have control over if possible: I picked the half marathon because I knew I could do that distance comfortably, train for it in 6 weeks with whatever fitness I had, and I could do a DIY version of it anywhere
Commit to this for ten years
Expect to have an off year or two. Always try show up even if you walk the event. Making it a DIY event allows you to move things around your life, because life is always happening.

The Rules

Every good challenge and game needs guard rails and rules, so here are some.

Use whatever fitness I have at that time
Can only specifically train for it for up to 8 weeks out preferably 6 weeks
Need to work it around my life and not make it a main event
Cannot specifically train for it for weeks on end
It’s okay to go backwards, life happens. Goal is to show up each year for it
Make it hard enough to be challenging but not too easy to be bored

Highlights of what happened

2017 – 1:31:40 – Super excited and set the goal to get down to 1:21: (technically it’s 1:22:34 but rounding it out to 10 minutes overall and one minute per year is nice and round)
2018 – 1:25 – Huge jump, thought I would run 1:22 by next year
2019 – 1:24:01 – Had some achilles issues leading up and the race was super hilly but I looked down at my watch and saw 1:24 and was pleasantly surprised
2020 – Too many issues with Covid, kid getting sick, me getting sick, etc. I actually didn’t do anything that year. While I don’t regret it, I should have just made it an easy long run. Won’t ever do a zero year again.
2021 – Not sure of the time – DIY Half Marathon around a 1 mile (1.63km) flat loop and my watch failed mid race. Estimated between 1:27-1:29 based on whatever data I had.
2022 – Finally hit 1:22 so I technically got my goal, but not really. I need to touch 1:21
2023 – 1:23:30 – I wasn’t as fit as I thought I would be due to the realization that I need to take a break from the 5k. I ummed and ahhed about even doing this race, but six weeks out I decided to give it whatever fitness I had and I’m glad I did. This proves that “feeling unfit” is different than what your body can actually do when you need it to.

What’s next & predictions moving forward

While 1:21:59 is what will tick this box, like all runners I have an even sexier round vanity number- 1:19:59. Sub 1:20 sounds awesome. Might take a bit more than just randomly showing up for a race every year race with whatever fitness I have.
Ironically this distance is perfect for when I focus on the marathon when this ends and I turn 44.

Thoughts Moving Forward

While some people get excited about running streaks and others about dropping 45 mins off their best time the 2nd time doing the race, that doesn’t excite me. I’m not mad at them and to each is their own.

I like this 1% better each year, 10% better after a decade approach. It’s slow growth. It’s boring and not sexy. And that’s sexy. It allows me to really zoom out and have perspective, let life happen, and not be so damn hard on myself.

I really believe this gives me the foundation confidence and discipline to apply this to all areas of my life.

Not into 1% better? What would you rather do? What did I miss? Are you doing anything similar to this? Reply to this or talk@dlakecreates.com and let me know.

I Ran A Half-Marathon 1% Faster For 10 Years To See What Would Happen | Part 5