193 - When Progress Begins to Slow

I set out to run a half marathon this weekend. I made it ten miles. My leg told me to stop. And for once, I listened. That didn’t sit well with me.

I’m doing everything right right now. I’m running my miles. I’m lifting. I’m stretching. I’m eating well. I ended the week at forty seven miles. And still, something feels off.

That’s what this episode is about.

What do you do when you’re putting in the work, but progress slows down?

I talk through what happened on that run, the frustration that comes with it, and the thoughts that show up when things don’t feel like they’re working. This is not about motivation. It’s about what to do when effort and results don’t match.

I get into:

•  Why progress doesn’t feel smooth, even when you’re consistent 
•  The mental spiral that comes when things feel off 
•  How to tell the difference between pushing and making things worse 
•  What it actually means to adjust instead of quit 

This is for anyone who feels like they’re doing the work but not seeing it yet.

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You're not lazy. You're not lost. You just know there's a gap between the life you're living and the one you're capable of — and that gap is getting harder to ignore.

Every week, I pull apart the mental patterns that keep capable people stuck — comfort disguised as patience, avoidance disguised as strategy, mediocrity dressed up as balance. I bring in philosophy, personal stories from the trails and the trenches, and conversations with people who decided to stop waiting.

This isn't a show about hacks. It's about the harder work: getting honest with yourself, building the discipline to act on that honesty, and becoming someone you'd actually respect.

Keep getting after it.

Transcript

Half Marathon Plan Hits A Wall

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Alright, friends. So this weekend I set out to run a half marathon. I was inspired by Blake and Alley last weekend, and I I wanted to do a good distance. I'm in Arizona, if you can tell by the setup here. I don't have these comfy chairs up in Utah. But that was the plan. I was gonna do a half marathon. And unfortunately today I only made it 10 miles. My leg was screaming at me. I have been dealing with some kind of quad issue that I didn't expect. You know, I'm I'm doing everything right with my recovery, with my training, and I don't know what's going on. But I knew that if I kept going, I might turn something small into something much bigger. So I did stopped. And I'll be honest with you, that didn't sit well with me. Like all things like that, anytime that I have to cut a run short, or if I DNF a race, it doesn't feel great. That's not something that I like to do. And again, I think right now I'm doing everything right that I should be. I'm running my miles, I'm lifting, I'm stretching every single day, I'm staying consistent and I'm eating well, and I'm paying attention. And I ended the week at 47 miles, which I don't think is a bad thing, especially with lifting three times a week. I'm proud of that number. That's not nothing, but it doesn't feel like what I'm capable of. And that's the part that's hard to explain. It's not like I'm slacking, it's not like I'm skipping workouts to do something else, and it's not like I don't care. I care very much. If anything, I care more right now because I'm focused and driven to achieve the goals that I set for myself. And my body just does not feel right. And my recovery isn't where I want it to be. You know, I think I'm doing it well, but there must be something that I'm missing in order to have my body feel this way. And so now I'm dealing with a quad issue I didn't expect. And so I start thinking, you know, what am I missing? What's going on? What's the piece of the puzzle that I need to find and immediately put it into the overall puzzle, right? And this is where it gets pretty frustrating with me right now, and this is what we're gonna talk about today. Because when you're not putting in the effort, the answer is obvious. It's easy. You need to show up, you need to work harder, you need to be more consistent. But when you're doing all that and things still fill off, that's where it messes with you. Because now there is no obvious fix, there's no simple answer. It feels like you're doing the right things, but the outcome doesn't match the effort, and that gap will get in your head if you let it. Welcome back to the Getin' After Podcast, my friends. I'm so excited that you're here today. This is a topic that I think a lot of people struggle with, but they don't like talking about because it's a little bit uncomfortable. It's uh it's hard to face a reality that you don't want to think is your reality. And before we get into all that, you know the ritual. Cheers to you guys. A Diet Coke Tallboy. We're gonna crack it open. And cheers. We're gonna get this damn show on the road. But that feeling of where, you know, you're literally you're you're trying your best, you're you're working towards growth, you're working towards progress, and you don't see it is incredibly frustrating. I know many people feel that. You know, the beginning of everything that you do, it's a great period. One, there's novelty, there's excitement because something's new. And two, you make progress pretty fast. And I remember when I first started running, I uh I really thought that I was progressing faster than I should be. And it's simply just because your body starts getting into the rhythm, it starts realizing that running or insert whatever activity you're doing here is now the new normal, and so you get a little bit better at it as as you go. And I'm in the middle of something right now. You know, I've been running for three years very consistently. Um, I've trained for big races, and now I'm at a point to where I'm I'm doing everything that I I think it should be, but that's where I've been lately, is a a moment where I don't feel like I'm really making any great progress. I feel like I'm kind of stagnant, even though if you look at all my activity, you look at how intentional I am, the effort's there. And so I I it's it's a confusing thing because you're trying your best, you're trying to push. And I'll go out for a run right now, and something doesn't feel right. My legs feel heavier than than they should. My body feels like it's lagging behind my intent, and then the thoughts start, and it's not necessarily very loud at first, it's just small. Things like maybe I've peaked. Maybe this is just where I'm at. This is where I will stay. Maybe I'm not actually improving, even though that's what I strive for. Maybe I'm not. And I know factually those things are not true. Logically, I know that. I talk about this all the time. I tell people progress is not linear because it's not. I tell people to stay patient, and I tell people to trust the process. But the thing is, is it's very different when you're the person that's experiencing it. Because your brain doesn't really care about logic in those moments. It's so weird. Your brain is weird, it makes up all these certain stories. It tells you that you're not good enough, that you're not the one for the job that, like I said, that I've peaked, that this is where I'm gonna stay. So interesting. Your brain wants those answers. And if you can't find them, if you don't understand what the the problem is or what the cause is, then your brain's gonna come up with their own ideas. It's a little bitch sometimes. Notice okay, here's an Easter egg for you. Every time I say the word bitch, it zooms in on my face. So if you're watching this, that's why it happens. Anyways, but if you're green if your brain cannot find real answers, it makes them up. And usually it's not in your favor, which is super unfortunate. There's this concept from James Cleary, he talks about it in Atomic Habits, but I think it explains this very well. He calls it the Valley of Disappointment. It's a pretty pretty sweet name, honestly. And the idea is simple. It's you put in the effort for a long time. You expect the results, and they don't show up when you think that they should. So you start to believe that it's not working, that you know, you're messing something up, that you're missing a piece of the puzzle, or whatever it is. But again, if you think about it, progress isn't linear. So there's gonna be peaks and valleys all along your journey, all through life. There's gonna be peaks and valleys, and I think if you're able to recognize it, you'll be able to get out of that valley faster and move towards a peak and find ways to grow. Which we'll talk about in a second, but it seems to me that most people seem to they quit while they're in the valley. And it's not because that they're lazy, but I think it's because they think that they're wasting their time. You know, and I think that's where a lot of people get this wrong. Gotta be direct in this episode, by the way. Because I'm experiencing now, and this podcast is as much as it is for you as it is for me. I might have phrased that a little bit weird, but the podcast is for you as it is for me. It's things that I'm trying to learn myself, and it's a documentation of my own journey. And if I find something that I think is helpful to you all, then I want to share it with you, and I want you to be aware of this. Because, like I said, if you're aware of it, if you understand how your brain works, you'll get out of that valley a little bit faster. I think a lot of people also assume that progress should feel steady. Sometimes it does, and that is a great feeling because you're seeing that, hey, if I input this, I will get an output of this, which is awesome. Like if you're doing the right things, you should feel good. You should feel sharp. You should feel like you're improving. But I don't think that's how it works. Not in running, that's definitely not how it works, but really not in anything. Progress is messy. And I think that's the whole point. You know, it moves forward, but then it stalls, then it drops, and then it moves again. And if you expect it to feel smooth, if you have those high expectations, you're going to feel like something is wrong even when it isn't. Now, this is where it gets a little bit tricky. Because sometimes progress slows down and nothing is wrong. You're just in a phase. That's the best way I can put it is you're just in some kind of phase. You have to learn how to keep going in this time, how to be patient, how to keep your vision grounded in reality while dealing with the things that you're currently facing. And if you can't tell the difference, you're going to make the wrong move. I have been in the mindset most of my life that if you fall into this category where you don't feel like progress is moving very fast, all you have to do is just push harder. That's what I want to do. That's what I've always done. If something fills off, okay, got it. I just need to run more. I need to push more, I need to be tougher. But that's that only works up to a point. That is a finite solution to the problem. Because there's a difference between pushing through discomfort and ignoring a signal. And if you get that wrong, you just you don't just stall. You set yourself back. So if you're going, you know, the graph, think about a stock market, it goes up and down and up and down and up and down. But if you ignore that signal, it's not just gonna go up and down and up and down, it's gonna go backwards. I don't know what that would mean in any investment, but that's not a good thing. And if you get that wrong, you don't just stall progress. Think about that for a second. That's why I think that this weekend really mattered for me. Stopping at 10 miles was not easy for me. I had goals for myself, I had high expectations of me. It did not feel good. It felt like, honestly, I fell apart. That's what it was like. I remember I text my wife and I said, I'm only getting 10 miles in today. Something's going on with my leg. Of course, you know, she always encourages me and she's like, hey, I'm proud of you. Good job. Um, just do your best. And I knew continuing was not the right move because if something actually is going on with my quad, I do not want to make it worse by putting more miles on it for my own ego. Because at that point, that's exactly what it would be for is my ego, my pride. I want to keep that steady, right? I want to keep performing as well as I want to, but human beings falter sometimes. And that's okay. There was a time in my life where I wouldn't have stopped, and I would have finished the run. I would have told myself to push through it, and I probably would have made it worse. Now, there's a line from Marcus Aurelius that I think applies here really well. He says, the impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way. The quad issue didn't stop my progress. It becomes part of it when you think about it. Because it it forces me to pay attention to what's going on in my body and it forces me to adjust. It forced me to respond the process instead of trying to overpower it. And that's a hard shift to make. It is for me at least. I I have issues with pride. I've talked in the last episode I recorded, I talked all about pride. And it is really something that I think most people face. And like I said, it's a hard shift to make. Because we're taught that discipline means pushing. It means grinding, it means doing the next hardest thing in front of you, and going when you don't feel like it. And I that is true. Don't get me wrong, that is a part of discipline. But in my opinion, I think it's also incomplete. Because real discipline also includes knowing when to back off a little bit, knowing when to pull back, knowing when to adjust, and knowing when pushing is actually the wrong move in that case. There's also a quote from Eliud Kipchogi, I think that's how you say his name, Eliud. But if not, you know, I'm not the best with name pronunciation, guys. That's something that you, if you've listened to this podcast for a while, you understand that piece. But he says this only the disciplined ones are free in life. When I read that for the first time, you know, I feel like I fell into a bucket with most people who think, oh, that just means pushing more. That's exactly what that means. Pushing harder, never backing off. But I think there's another side to it. Discipline is doing what's right, not what feeds your ego. And sometimes what is right is stopping. Like I did on my 10-mile run. That's what I'm calling it. I'm not going calling it my half marathon goal. Obviously, it wasn't like a sanctioned race. It was just me running on a trail. Which, by the way, if you don't get out on the trail, you should, because you see some really cool stuff. I saw one coyote today. I saw three roadrunners, saw dozens of bunnies. Pretty cool. I wouldn't have gotten that any other way. But that's not an easy thing to accept when to stop. Going back to the actual thing we're talking about here, not just animals that I see on my trail runs. That's not easy. And especially if you are someone who prides themselves in consistency, on showing up, on doing these hard things, because stopping can at times feel like a weakness. Even when it's not. Even when it is probably the smarter move to take a m to take a moment to go easier on yourself. But it's still a hard thing for even me to this day to have to do. I don't like stopping. I don't like quitting when I say I'm gonna do 13 miles and only get 10. I know it's a three-mile difference, but still, like, that's where pride comes in and says, Man, Brett, I thought you had more in the tank. I thought you were better than this. I guess it seems like you're you're falling off a little bit. You may have peaked a while back. You can't even get 13 miles in today. And you call yourself an ultralunner. That's ridiculous. Ultralunners have no problem running 13 miles. And that's what I mean with my brain creating all these stories, creating all these scenarios that aren't actually true. Because I know deep down I am an ultra runner. I have the track record to prove it. And I know that in every training block, there's going to be moments where you feel really strong, and there's going to be moments where you feel like you're just scraping by. And I think now, like when you go through this experience, you're left with a question. If progress slows, what do I actually do? It's a good question. And it's it's something you should consider if you do feel like you are stalling, or it feels like you are potentially, like I said, you've already peaked, you've fallen off. I think the first thing that you have to do is actually be honest about what's going on. That's important. Not what do you want to believe, not what sounds good to you, but what is actually happening. Are you tired? Are you dealing with something physical? Are you just mentally drained? Those are all different problems and they all require different solutions, and they need different answers. And so if you're dealing with one of those, my advice would be to attack the one that you think is most prevalent. If you're mentally drained, then think about, and it helps if you write this out, but think about the things that are in your life, which are taking most of your brain power that are causing you to feel these ways. The second thing I think that you need to do is stop reacting in one moment. Because one bad run, it doesn't mean anything in the long term, in the grand scheme of thing. One week off, like an off week doesn't define anything. What matters is the pattern. If you zoom out, what do you see? Are things trending in the right direction? Or are they constantly off? And that's where a real answer is. Because if you notice that there's weeks that go by where you feel off and your progress actually is beginning to decline, then maybe there's something else that you're missing, or maybe you're not pushing as hard as you can be. And these are all things that I think you should consider instead of reacting in one specific moment. Like I could do that. I'm I'm probably the best at that. If there was an Olymp Olympic game for just overanalyzing things, I could be a gold medalist. I'd be so great at it. I could hit my 10-mile run, and then, like I said, just have my brain tell me stories, start believing those stories, and then have progress not just stall, but fall back. And then I could continue that spiral. I could keep the story going for a long time. I could go to work and then mess up a couple times and be like, man, I I even suck at work. I could have a bad day and go home and talk to Allie, and you know, she's not so excited about my attitude. And then I think I'm terrible at relationships. I'm gonna be providing evidence for my brain for all the shit that I'm messing up in my life. And my brain will believe it. But the adverse is true too. If I start telling myself, like, oh man, that was not my best run. You know what? I'll I'll try on the next one. Maybe there's something I need to adjust in my training program, and maybe I just need to do a little bit better in terms of recovery, and next week I'll be ready to go. I'll rock. That's just as true as it is how you can spiral into a deep, a deep negative, um, a deep negative situation that you have for yourself. The third thing that I would do, and this is an incredibly important one, one that I still struggle with today, but it's separate your identity from performance. I know you guys listening, you're all high performers. You want to be the best, but hate to break it to you. Your performance, your output does not determine the human being or the value that you bring into the world. This one is hard. It's hard for me to this day. Because if you see yourself as a runner and a bad run, that will feel personal. If you see yourself as disciplined, and a setback will begin to feel like a failure. But you're not your last run. You are not your last week. You are the sum of what you do over time. And that's important to understand. It's it's not just who you are in the moment, it's who you are every single day. That's what people are looking at. That's what matters the most. If I have a couple bad runs, that's fine. I know that I'm a runner, and I know that that is gonna be gonna be a common thing along my journey. I'll tell you what, this is not gonna be the last run that I cut short. Not because I want to, but simply because that is how running has been for me. It might be different for you. You might be out there every single week hitting all your goals, crushing it, and if that's you, I'm jealous, and congratulations. You might be the first person who ever in the world is able to do something like that. But the same thing applies to life as well. One bag of a week does not determine who you are. It's stacked up over time. And it this brings me to the Alex Hormozy quote that I absolutely love, where he says confidence does not come from shouting affirmations in the mirror. It comes from. Oh man, I forgot the quote. I'm gonna put it up right here. But it basically goes along the lines of it comes from. Being the person who builds up all this evidence that makes it undeniable that you are who you say you are. And so I know I'm a runner because I still have the bug. I'm still gonna go out and try my best. And next weekend, I will get a better distance. And even if I don't, if I go out and try my best and try to really push myself, but you know, my quad flares up again, I'm not gonna push it. Because I'll understand this is just part of it. I gotta understand how to get through this piece in my journey. Whatever quad issues going on with me, I just gotta figure out what ways I can get around it, how I can be better on the other side of it. Because any challenge that comes into your life, any trial that you're faced with, it presents you the opportunity of deciding whether it's going to make or break you. Even if it's well, excuse me, even if it's a small one, it gives you the opportunity to really show up in life. Those are the moments that matter than any run, than any weightlifting competition, than any job. Because how you respond when things get tough, that's who you are. That is who you are. The last thing I would say is that you have to commit to the long game. That's the people that that's the part that I think most people say, but don't really don't really live. Because the long game means that you're going to have stretches like this. You're going to feel off. You're going to question things. You're going to wonder if it's working. But you commit to stay in anyway. You're you're not doing this blindly, you're doing it intentionally. And there's a difference there. Because right now I don't feel perfect. My quad is is off. That's what's throwing me off this week. My recovery isn't where I want it to be. And that is frustrating. I'm not going to pretend like it's not. But I've been here before. And every time I've been here, it's led to something better. Maybe a change in my in my runs, like a change in my running form, a change in my recovery. But whatever I've been faced, whenever I've been faced with a challenge like this, it's made me better on the other side. And it's not because it's forced, it's because simply I I learn from it. And that's all what life is about. And it's why I talk about running so much, because I believe it's a great metaphor for life. How many times have I said that on this podcast? At least what are we at? 193 episodes. Okay, so at least 152 times I've said that on this podcast. But I believe it. And I will continue to live that principle. And if you're in a place that is similar to mine, or you're in a completely different situation, but you do feel like progress is stalled. You know, times where you're doing the work and it doesn't feel like it's paying off. Where you're showing up, but you're still questioning everything that's going on. You're not alone. And you're not stuck. You can become better from this. You're in a part of the process that most people do not understand. This is where you need to stay in it. You need to pay attention. Adjust when you need to. And keep going. Be intentional with what you do. There's been many times in my life where I've been faced with the trial. I've been faced with the challenge. And I've had to learn how to adapt. I've had to adjust. It's just like when I was sick, I literally had everything change. Over a two-year period, I no longer could look at screens. I was 135 pounds when I used to be 220. I couldn't lift any weights. I was very weak cardio-wise. I couldn't eat anything. And I had to ask myself, what am I learning through this that I can use to become a better person on the other side? During that time it was a lot of things, but overall it was patience and endurance. I've done endurance races before. They're hard. But two years of no answers medically and my body continuously deteriorating, it forces you to endure. It forces you to focus on the good things in life. That's literally the reason I have good tattooed on my bicep. Because there's a video by Jocko Willink where he understands the concept of good. Finding the good when things all look wrong, when they look dark. He shares the story where his one of his uh commanders comes up to him and he says, Hey, we didn't get the shipment in of weapons and equipment that we needed to go on this next run or this next operation. What do you think we should do? And Jocko says, What do you think I'm gonna say? And the guy goes, Man, you're gonna say good. And Jocko says, Exactly. Good. We don't need to train on this new equipment. We can just go out, get it done, come back, and learn it. Learn whatever we need to to adapt and try out this new equipment. But during that time where I was sick, it forced me to find things like that. You know, I would come home, I would, you know, after work, I would come home, I would immediately collapse on my bed. What's the good in that? For me, the good was I would listen to podcasts. I would keep my brain active. I would listen to things that were encouraging and kept my spirits high. And okay, what else? I was 135 pounds. You know what? Good. Because now I understand what it's like to have a body that doesn't work well. I am so happy and grateful for the body I have today because I know what it's like to not be able to do anything. Good. Oh man, you have migraines throughout the day. Good. I figure out how to live with it, I figure out how to deal with pain, and I figure out how to make the most of a situation even when I feel terrible. And again, I know what that's like, and I don't have those today, so I'm very grateful. But there's good in all this. I cut my run from a half marathon to 10 miles. Good. Gives my body time to recover. Gives me an opportunity to look at my training plan, my regiment, and think about where I could improve it. What can I do differently to recover better? Good. I lost my job not too long ago because I quit. It was a terrible environment. It was a really bad training situation. I wasn't able to get direct feedback. Good. Because now I'm starting at a new company that I believe in, that I love the people there, and it's gonna be another opportunity for me to learn and grow. None of those things, if you're thinking negatively, can be found. You have to look for the good. In moments where progress is stalled, try and find something that you're you're happy with, that you're excited about, that you can say, good. Because that will make all the difference. And you will come out on the other side much better and honestly a little bit more grateful. It's important to be grateful. Gratitude is, in my opinion, one of the biggest drivers of one, my own success, but two, my overall mental health. I've also talked about how I've struggled with mental health issues. And how do you find the good in that, Brett? Well, when I was depressed, when I had thoughts that were incredibly dark and scared me, that was a moment where I had to reach out to other people and ask for help. Good. Now I know that I can do that when things become dark. When things are hard, I know that I don't have to go through this alone. That there's other people out there that want to help me. Good. Thank you so much for listening to this episode, guys. I know it was a little bit shorter, but it's just a topic that's been on my mind all day today, and I wanted just to speak about it openly. Because like I said, it feels like progress is stalled, but there's always something good that can come from it. You just have to look for it. And then be intentional. And if that intention leads you to back off a little bit, to take care of your body, so you if you listen to last week's episode, it can be dangerous until you're 60 and beyond, then that's good. That's a good thing for you. Don't think otherwise. But if this helped you at all, I would really appreciate you leaving a nice little rating on Apple Podcasts in Spotify. Um, also, I don't know if you know this, but I have a YouTube channel. It's called Get In After It. Um, Get In After It Podcast, I believe. I'll put the handle up right here. But if you want to go out there, check out the channel. I put up shorts and all this kind of stuff. Whatever. It's uh it's out there. Um I would love to hear from you through a comment, you know, if you've gone through something similar and what you did to get through it. But share it with a friend. If you feel like they're going through something similar, they've talked to you about this thing. You know, maybe it'll help help help them have a different perspective about what they're going through. But as always, guys, I truly appreciate you listening. The show does not go on without you. And until next episode, everybody, find the good, adjust your plan, and keep getting after it.