When I ran cross country in high school we learned about surging.
Surging is breaking out of your pace and going faster for a period of time before settling back into your sustained pace. It’s not sprinting. It’s adopting a faster pace that pushes your limits but still allows you to settle back in without stopping to take a break.
Surging isn’t easy. And knowing when to do it and for how long can be tricky. But it’s worth learning.
We’ve seen this in music over and over.
An artist has a hit record and rides it for a while. Then puts out a follow up (or two) and it falls flat. There’s no need to do a surge for the next one since they can still ride the pace of the first hit record.
On the other hand…a hit record, then couple duds…and then the artist digs deep and surges. Pushes hard all over again. Breaks out of the comfortable pace and lays it on the line.
