The importance of replanning in sport and in business

Last Sunday I run a marathon. I spent last four months planning it and in my mind everything was very clear. My target was to run it below 4 hours but my real target was to do it below 3 hours and 50 minutes. I decided to run the marathon with a target pace (constant) of 5 minutes and 35 seconds per km that would have resulted in 3 hours 55 minutes for the full marathon (hoping to overachieve it)

 Interesting enough the marathon is somehow divided in 4 parts 

• The first 10 km (first quarter)
• From 10km to half marathon (2Q)
• Till 30km (3Q) 
• The last 12 km (4Q). 

First Quarter - The first 10 KM. 

We started sharp at 9.00 am. 7000 runners starting together. I am slow runner and for this reason I start from the back of the group. After the start I had to wait at least couple of minutes to start moving. All the people were smiling and ready to run. During first 10 km I was able to do exactly what I wanted. Even if the external conditions were different I had so much energy that I simply didn't care. I managed to pass the 10Km line after 54 minutes and 18 seconds. 1 minutes and 28 second before my plans. I delivered Q1 overachieving by 2%. While running I realised that there is strong relation between energy in run and leads in sales. When you start to run a marathon you don’t have enough energy to deliver the full race and when you start the year in business typically you don’t have enough leads to close the year following targets. 

The real winner is whoever manage to deliver and while delivering manage also to accumulate new energy (leads) to reach the end of Q4

Second Quarter - Till half marathon 21.1Km.

The central part of the marathon is in my view this the most important. This is the moment in which you still have lot of energy (leads) but you need to create the foundation for the Q4. No new leads/energy will mean that you will be in a big crisis during the fourth quarter. Interesting enough in sport (like in business) you cannot get energy that is ready to be consumed. There are plenty of sport gel that are ready to be digested that are very similar to the help that marketing team (external or internal) can give with proper lead generation campaign but still some time is needed to convert food in energy (or leads in real opportunities)

My plan for Q2 was to run in 1 hour and 2 minutes and I managed to run in 59 minutes and 54 seconds. I was overachieving by 3 minutes and 22 seconds overall. 

Third quarter - Till 30 km.

This is the moment in which you need to start focusing on delivering results minimising the effort. It is the shortest part 8.9km and you start to feel tired.

My plan for Q3 was to run in 49 minutes and 42 seconds and I missed it by 12 seconds running in 49 minutes and 54 seconds. Still in line with my plan I was still 3 minutes and 10 seconds ahead of my plans. 

Fourth quarter - Till the end 42.2 Km

Most of the marathon runners say that the race start at 30th km. Someone call it “The wall”. There is a moment in which you realise that you finished your energy. This is the part of the marathon where you really can make the difference with your brain and your heart. 

All the external conditions become visibile. It was too hot (25 degrees). I had problem with my muscles (cramps). There were plenty of good reasons to slow down during Q4. The reality is that if you prepared properly your marathon and if you run it properly all these excuses will not materialise. In business is exactly the same. Customers don’t have budget, decision makers are on holiday, … proper planning is needed to avoid all these excuses. 

Idea of this article is not to discuss how to plan properly before running the marathon (or the year) but what to do when you realise that you are not going to do it 

When I was at 34 km I started to get first cramp to my left leg. I stopped couple of time stretching the muscle (Phase 1: Continue delivering trying to remove obstacles), but unfortunately that was not enough. I realised I had to slow down. Since I knew that the last 6 km were the toughest I asked to my boss (my wife) and to my best supporter (my young daughter) to wait me at km 36 (this was part of the planning phase). They knew exactly when to expect me and I knew that I would have been late. I decided to acknowledge that I had to change my plans and I had to communicate the recovery plan to people involved (Phase 2: acknowledge problems, replan/recovery actions, communication to the team). I informed my boss and my supporters that I had to replan it. If I would have continued running at same speed I would most probably ended up in a contraction or other kind of injury. I spent two km running for 450 meters and walking for 50 meters. I reduced my speed but I managed to keep it constant. When I got my recharge of energy from my team (my daughter made a lot of noice with a drum) I knew that I had to run 6 km more. My wife and my daughter took the underground to wait me at km 39 (Phase 3: execute the new plan step by step involving the whole team). Knowing that someone is waiting you after only 3 km give you an extra boost. Still keeping my new pace I managed to deliver the next 3 km. I had to stop few times to stretch my leg but still I was able to run at decent pace. While running at km 41 I saw few friends of mine. I was very lucky. I decided not to show them that I was walking and I managed to run 600 meters more (Phase 4: Find additional resources) without walking and finally I saw the sign for the last 200 meters and I managed to run till the finish line. 

My plan for the Q4 was to run the last 12.2 km in 1hour, 8 minutes and 7 seconds and I completed it in 1 hour 20 minutes and 16 seconds. I delivered only 85% of my Q4 driving my final performance to 4 hours 4 minutes and 36 seconds while my target was 3 hours 55 minutes and 37 seconds. Overall 96% of the target. 

Crossing the finish line of a marathon is always an incredible experience. I had my eyes full of tears and my heart full of gratitude. 

Clearly I am not 100% happy about my result, but I am really happy on how I managed to convert a crisis in a replan and I managed to deliver decent result even if below overall target. Once I acknowledged that it was not possible to deliver my original plan I managed to execute following plan

- Phase 1: Continue delivering original plans trying to remove obstacles

- Phase 2: Acknowledge problems -> replan defining recovery actions, communication to the team

- Phase 3: Execute the new plan step by step involving the whole team

- Phase 4: Find additional resources if available

I spent lot of time thinking what could I have done differently. Starting slowly, practicing more, involving more supporter… there are quite many things that could have done differently but what make me really proud is that I managed to replan properly, I managed to find additional resources and last but not least I managed to do all of this involving the rest of the team. 

Now it’s time to rest and to think about next challenge