Run-throughs | Student Blog

As most of you know, I am currently training for a marathon!

And since I’m spending just as much time running as I am practicing these days, I’ve been thinking a lot about the parallels between music and long-distance running. Both take an incredible amount of discipline, mental focus, and actively working towards improvement. Just as it’s a huge waste of time to walk into a practice room with no intention, it’s draining both physically and mentally to log “junk miles,” or miles that don’t focus on speed or form.

Juggling school (and pretty much all of life) with training has been a challenge, but I’m happy to be busy with a lot of music-related projects this semester. Feeling like my life is split between sitting in chamber/orchestra rehearsals and running outside, I’ve noticed a lot of similarities between the two.

Receiving my music for the first time and practicing it on my own is a bit like warming up before a run: it’s necessary (unless I want to make myself more prone to running injuries or completely embarrass myself in rehearsal!) and gives me a good foundation and preparation for the coming rehearsals/runs.

The rehearsals themselves are a time to experiment, gain familiarity with the music, and improve overall. Similarly, the shorter runs that I do during the week are meant for me to build strength and speed. Even though it’s easy to show up to rehearsal or a run and just go through the motions, it’s much more productive and worth it in the long run (pun not intended) to strive for improvement each time.

I like to think of the long runs (the ones I do once a week ranging from 13-20 miles!) as dress rehearsals. On these runs, I test out running fuels and gear and assess how my body reacts during and after hours of running; these are the runs that have similar demands to marathon day! Dress rehearsals are a time to test out everything I have built up in normal rehearsals and give me an idea of what I should be prepared for during the performance.

And then it’s showtime! Whether it’s race day or concert day, I have faith that all of the hours I’ve put in will have prepared me for this moment. Given that I’ve practiced and trained with intention, I’ll have done all that I could to perform successfully. And no matter what happens, I always come out of a performance or run with new insight and new goals for the next one!