𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐋𝐚𝐰𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬: 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐋𝐚𝐰𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐬 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 – 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐎𝐧𝐞

I spent 40 years believing that if I wasn’t pushing at 100%, I was underperforming.
That belief was wrong.

This August, I’ll attempt Everesting—29,029 feet (the altitude of Mount Everest) of vertical climb in a single effort. The event must be completed in 36 hours or less. Though I have always enjoyed athletics, and I’ve even climbed a few mountains, I’ve never trained for an endurance event like this. Training for endurance made me recognize a simple truth: If you go hard all the time, you don’t improve. You break.

I am working with a very experienced and knowledgeable coach, Paul Zani. And contrary to most of my past training efforts, training for 29029 is intentionally slow and controlled…at a practically conversational pace.

My history and ego tell me I’m not doing enough. But the art and science of endurance training tells me the opposite. In fact, one of the core rules in my training is simple: recovery is non-negotiable. Not because it feels good—but because without it, nothing else works. The goal isn’t to be exhausted at the end of a workout. It’s to be capable at the end of a month.

I can’t help but notice the parallel to my practice as a trial attorney. As with my training, I struggle to understand that practice improves when it is slow and deliberate—not expending 100% effort all the time. But when we operate at trial (or game day) intensity all the time, when everything is urgent or high stakes, then as attorneys we suffer from shallow thinking and exercise reactive rather than thoughtful judgment.

The truth is, most cases are not won in a brilliant flash of intensity at trial. They are built in continuous diligent preparation, investigation, and analysis—the legal equivalent of endurance training at a conversational pace. That work requires endurance and clarity–which in turn requires recovery.

The real lesson is simple:
Whether training for a climb, or representing a client in a high stakes dispute, you’re not training for effort, you’re training for a result.

What has your experience been—do you find working at full intensity actually improves your performance, or degrades it over time?

More musings about the lessons I am learning from Everesting to come over the next few months.