I like to run, but I love to sprint. In 2011 I trained for my first half marathon without ever running more than five miles at once, I focused on sprint training – I finished in 1:57.
Sprinting makes you faster. Sprinting makes you leaner. Sprinting increases your stamina.
If you sprint every day you’ll injure yourself. Sprints are intense, and your body can’t handle it every day. After sprinting your muscles need rest to heal. You’ve ripped them to shreds and the rest will give them a chance to heal, a chance to grow.
The two weeks I spent interning with Seth Godin were a sprint. We pushed ourselves to work hard and to fail fast. The pace was not sustainable, but sustainability wasn’t the point of this exercise. The point of this exercise was to push ourselves close to our breaking point, to build something awesome. The point of this exercise was to make ourselves (mentally) faster and leaner.
The final push is always the hardest, but it leads to the most growth. We’ve ended our sprint, and I’m taking some time to rest and reflect.