Been running since I was 12 and have done all distances up to marathon and can run a sub-90 min half. And still the first couple miles can suck. Accepting that and that it will get better will do a lot. On long runs where I warm
up on the run, I ignore pace until well into mile 3. Legs are warming up and digestion is turning off —- it’s an uncomfortable experience. But it’s mostly psychological. You can run and run and run just below max heart rate* but you’ll be fighting yourself the entire time. Caffeine increases pain threshold so that can help too.
* should train using heart rate not pace since it accounts for humidity, elevation, and temperature and is what actually improves when training. For example, target running at 165-170bpm instead of 8min/mile because 8min is much easier in 50F than 80F with 90% humidity and your body may be doing the same amount of work at 9min on warm days that it does at 8min on cold days.
For hiring and assessment design look for people with at least Master degrees in Industrial Organizational psychology. PhD isn’t necessary because it’s an applied field and there aren’t many applied PhDs so work experience is more important. Most start out in public sector which is much more rigorous in their interviewing and defining roles than the private sector is. SDSU and SFSU have great programs in CA and their professors can connect you to their alumni networks. SIOP is the professional organization. IOPredict, Biddle, and RocketHire are some consulting firms.
I’m an IO psych at a large tech company that evaluated pymetrics against job performance and there was no relationship, just near 0 correlations so recommended not using them and we don’t. These AI tools are not transparent enough in explaining their outcomes and lack what we call face validity or job relevance. A coding test is at least a good filter at the top for entry level roles with large pools because it has relevance and false negatives aren’t as much of a concern (but we test still for disparate impact) otherwise for most roles a structured interview is the best option.
* should train using heart rate not pace since it accounts for humidity, elevation, and temperature and is what actually improves when training. For example, target running at 165-170bpm instead of 8min/mile because 8min is much easier in 50F than 80F with 90% humidity and your body may be doing the same amount of work at 9min on warm days that it does at 8min on cold days.