Breaking the glass ceiling on my morning run
We all need a push every now and again if we are going to achieve our best.
As a personal coach, it is my job to push my clients into achieving the best they can in many aspects of their lives, and like them, I too need a good push every now an again.
I’ve been a long time advocate of early morning exercise as a great way to kick-start your day.
In my recent article, Breaking your own glass ceiling I mentioned pushing myself on my morning run last week and achieving my fastest 5km run in over 18 months.
This led me to wonder at why I was able to achieve this and why had I become so slow anyway!
We all know that as we get older, we get slower. So, at 50 years of age, it is easy for me to tell myself that I have reached my limit.
What really happened is that over time I had found a comfortable jogging pace that had become my own glass ceiling. I had convinced myself that when I was running fast, I was going as fast as I could and so I didn’t push past this.
I was held back by my own self-limiting beliefs’¦ something I’m often helping my clients overcome.
So how did I finally push through my glass ceiling? I used the same technique that Roger Bannister used to break the impossible four-minute mile glass ceiling. I ran with friends who were faster than me, they were my pace men.
For many years, the scientific and athletic communities thought that it was impossible to run a four-minute mile. Yet, in 1954 Roger Bannister finally broke this barrier in a time 3:59.4 and he did it by setting up a team of athletes to set the pace for him.
Once the 4-minute mile barrier had been broken, suddenly the world knew that it wasn’t impossible and within weeks athletes around the world began breaking the four-minute mile glass ceiling.
Today, the four-minute mile barrier is a distant memory and the best times these great athletes achieved would place them a long way back in the field behind current record holder Hicham El Guerrouj who ran 3:43.13 in 1999.
No matter what field of endeavour you are competing in, you will have a glass ceiling ‘“ a barrier that you think you can’t break through.
What do you think your glass ceiling is and how much do you want to break through it?
See also:
Breaking your glass ceiling at the gym
Breaking your own glass ceiling
Last 5 posts by Chris Edwards
- Living Proof - You Can Do Anything
- Building Business
- An Adventure Before Breakfast
- Someone Put a Volcano In My Path
- January Madness
About the Author
Chris Edwards is a Leadership Coach and Communication Strategist. He is a City2Surf Legend who applies the same focus and dedication to his clients that has powered him over the line year after year.
Discover if Chris is the best coach to help you improve your business or personal performance; contact him now for a confidential chat.
