Hey Reader,

I did this run a few weeks ago on a Friday night.

It’s called a tour of tens.

Six hours of hill repeats in the dark.

You do 10 repeats on one hill, drive to another hill, do 10 more, then a third hill for another 10.

It’s a workout I learned from a group in Austin years ago.

Back then, we’d all do it together, but this time I was alone in the dark.

Nobody was watching or keeping track.

I was tired, and it felt hard, but I had already committed to the evening.

I had a plan.

My wife and son were asleep.

I felt nothing was waiting for me except a bit of sleep.

So I drove to the third hill and finished it.

And I got home around 2 am.

🧠 All the reasons to stop

The tricky thing about doing something hard alone is that there’s no external accountability.

Nobody’s there to see you quit.

Nobody’s there to judge you if you change your mind.

All the reasons to stop are perfectly logical, and nobody would blame you.

And I think that’s actually closer to how most of life works.

The big goals and all those crazy personal milestones we set for ourselves.

We know nobody is really going to hold us to our word or make sure we finish.

We have to negotiate with ourselves the whole way through.

And to be fair, you can consider yourself mentally tough and still quit things like this.

So you need more than being tough.

❤️ The tiny pieces of the big picture

Breaking things down in a structured way has really helped me achieve very hard goals.

It has a way of making it easier to keep going.

That night, I broke down the adventure into 3 sets of 10.

Like, 30 can feel overwhelming, but 10 feels doable.

And once you finish the first 10, you’ve already started.

Might as well do another 10.

And then you’re two-thirds done.

Might as well finish.

It’s the same total work.

But the way you structure it plays a big part in getting the whole thing done.

So what’s something you’ve been putting off because it feels too hard?

How could you break it down into pieces that actually feel doable?

You don’t need to commit to the whole thing.

Just plan to do the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 10th step as the case may be.

And keep going.

We talked about mental games of doing hard things and a bunch of other great stuff on this week’s pod.

Worth a listen.​

Ep 9. Running 250 miles in 5... May 19 · Two Average Runners 60:39   ​

With appreciation,

Huw

Huw Edwards Founder & CEO, h3.xyz​

Our next episode drops on Tuesday

You can get the link here so you don’t miss it next week