What Training for a Half Marathon Taught Me About Career Transitions

I did a thing a few weeks ago.

After six years of not running a half marathon, I decided over the summer to dive back in the pool.

In another season of my life, I ran 2-3 halfs a year, with a marathon mixed in for good measure.

But for years, I was done with it. Spending half a year in training mode—in addition to working—was draining, and I just wanted to run. No agenda, no treadmill runs, no plan.

Just running, because I could.

What surprised me most was how familiar all of this felt. Not the running itself, but the process. The showing up. The adapting. The building of something over time.

It reminded me of conversations I've had with people at the edge of a career change, trying to figure out if they're ready. They usually are. They just don't recognize that they already know how to do this.

You've trained for hard things before. Maybe it’s not a race, but for something that mattered. Something that required showing up when you didn't feel like it. Something that took months of small, consistent actions before you could see the result.

Those same instincts are what you need for your next career move.

Let me show you what I mean.

Confidence Can Come From Your Worst Days

I had a terrible long run where I had to stop and walk for a bit. It didn't feel good in the moment, but limping back to my car, I had this realization: I was putting in the work. The struggle was proof of commitment.

Your career journey will have terrible days, too.

The networking event where you felt completely out of place. The informational interview that went sideways. The LinkedIn message that got ignored.

Those hard days aren't failures. They're evidence that you're in the game. You're taking action. The confidence doesn't come from everything going perfectly. It comes from knowing you'll keep showing up even when it's hard.

This means every hard interaction during your transition builds the exact capability you'll need in your new role.

Discipline Equals Freedom—and It's Worth It

Going back to a training plan after years of just running whenever I felt like it, felt weird at first. But having that structure actually gave me more freedom. I knew exactly what I needed to do each week. I didn’t have to guess. I didn’t have to worry about whether I was doing enough.

Career transitions work the same way.

When you're feeling stuck, you might think freedom means keeping all your options open. Not committing to a specific path. Just "exploring" indefinitely. But that lack of structure often leads to paralysis, not progress.

The professionals who successfully make transitions create a plan. They set milestones. They build accountability. They know what actions they need to take this week, this month, this quarter.

That discipline—showing up consistently, following through on commitments, doing the work even when you don't feel like it—that's what creates the freedom to actually make the change.

Rest is essential—this is a marathon, not a sprint

Any training plan worth its salt builds in rest days. Your body needs recovery. Your mind needs breaks. Pushing too hard leads to injury or burnout.

Career transitions require the same wisdom.

The 'hustle culture' approach won't serve you well here. Making a career change while working full-time and managing the rest of your life? That's already a full plate. You need a pace you can sustain.

Give yourself permission to pace this transition. Maybe you take one networking meeting a week instead of five. Maybe you work on your resume for 30 minutes a day instead of trying to overhaul it in one marathon weekend session.

Progress is still progress, even when it's slower than you'd like.

Celebrate Crossing the Finish Line—You Earned This

The months of work. The hours of sacrifice. The early mornings and late nights. When you cross that finish line—whether it's landing the role, launching the business, making the pivot—you are allowed to enjoy it.

Too many professionals  jump right to "what's next?" without stopping to acknowledge what they just did. You deserve better than that.

You did something a lot of people are too scared to try. You trained for something hard. You showed up. You put in the work.

That deserves celebration.

Here's what I want you to know: You don't need to have it all figured out before you start training for your next career move. You just need to be willing to create the plan, show up consistently, and adapt when things don't go perfectly.

The work is hard. The training takes time. But crossing that finish line is worth every single step.

What are you training for right now in your career? Let me know in the comments.

I’m Richard Taliaferro. I’m a certified career coach specializing in helping mid-stage professionals gain clarity on their career journey. I’ve written a guide on how to escape the work hamster wheel. Click here to download yours.