Patience: The Hardest Skill in Training

I used to think I could just lace up and run 10k out of nowhere.
No build-up. No structure. Just grit.
Just grind through it on willpower alone.

And for a while, that courage feels noble.
You tell yourself you’re mentally tough.
You can suffer your way to the finish.

But there’s a problem with that story.

I got injured.
I lost motivation.
And the worst part: I had no feedback loops.
No sense of progress.
No proof that I was actually getting better.

So I doubled down on the only strategy I knew:
Run every session too fast, too long, too soon.
Make every run a battle.
Outwork my mind by sheer force.

But running doesn’t reward force.
Running rewards respect.

If you want to improve, you don’t skip levels.
You don’t jump from Level 1 to Level 8 because your ego wants to.
Your body has to earn it.

Your muscles and lungs — they need time.
They need repetition.
They need patience.

Hard work in running is only a small part.
The real work is simply putting in the miles — consistently, quietly, long before race day.

The outcome you actually want isn’t heroic suffering.
It’s durable progress.

Week-over-week improvement.
Showing up to your event feeling prepared, not praying.

That’s when running changes.
When progress compounds.
When discomfort becomes confidence.

For my 10-mile race a few months back, I finally respected the process.

Three weeks in, gently adding 10% mileage each week, something shifted.

Every long run felt earned.
Every distance felt unlocked.
Like leveling up inside a game I was finally learning how to play.

Running is a level game.
But so is life.
So is business.
So is every identity you try to build.

You have to earn the upgrade.
You can’t move faster than the process allows.
You learn the lesson first — then you level up.

— Paco // Stoiclete Performance

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