I'm training for my 3rd 50k race now.
It's a 24-week process with 4-6 weeks to get started with. Easily half a year commitment for one's race.
A few weeks ago I was pushing myself on my long run trying to go further and faster.
I finished fine and then did my regular Sunday run the next day.
But a few days later something wasn't right. My shins were burning just walking around the house.
Shin splints.
If you've never had them before, they suck.
There isn't any effective way to get rid of them other than rest and muscle and tendon work.
I usually get them when I'm doing too much and going too fast.
Exactly what I did on my long run.
The bigger problem was that this happened right in the middle of my training plan. I had a decision to make.
- Push through them, deal with the pain, and risk them getting worse and causing a more severe injury which jeopardizes the race.
- Take time off, slow down, relax, and get back to training later. Potentially risking not having enough fitness to finish the race.
I decided option #2 was the best.
I'd lose some fitness and might not have the best race, but I'd have a higher chance of making it to the race.
In other words, I needed to slow down my training so I could rest and recover now in order to speed up later.
The parallels to business are many.
If you've been pushing 110% to get your Shopify store launched and selling,
or if things are going great but you want more,
or if you haven't had a vacation, forgot your dogs name, or can't remember the last time you exercised...
It might be time to slow down a bit.
Not all the way... just a little bit. The more the better but even a tiny bit helps.
If you're running your business too fast and you have business shin splints, you're losing effectiveness.
Once you recover, then you can start looking at what need to be done to improve.
At that time might I suggest taking a look at your repeat customer funnel?
With a few clicks you can have Repeat Customer Insights analyze your customer behavior and spot weak points in your funnel. Some of the recommendations it might find could be easy wins to help you warm up after your recovery.
How are your business shins feeling? Reply and let me know.
Eric Davis
Retain the best customers and leave the worst for your competitors to steal
If you're having problems with customers not coming back or defecting to competitors, Repeat Customer Insights might help uncover why that's happening.
Using its analyses you can figure out how to better target the good customers and let the bad ones go elsewhere.