Today I was reading about the legendary swimming coach Laurie Lawrence. A favourite exercise that he would give to his charges was to strap on a weights belt and jump into the diving pool, with hands above their heads they would kick for half an hour, in order to keep their head above water. “Human survival is wonderful motivation” he said. While they kicked he would remind them that the pain would go away at the end of the 30 minutes but if they didn’t do this training and were beaten in the pool, that pain of defeat would last forever. People will always go for the easy option if it is available, so the best things to do is take that option away. A running coach from Brisbane that I know used take his charges on the school bus to a drop off point, way out of town or towards the airport, for them to complete their ‘Long Run’ back to school. Because once the get out there, there’s only one way home. The quickest way to ease the pain is to speed up and get home sooner.