Are you training to be your best or are you just training?

When you became a runner you might have done so for some of the same reasons we all began:  

1.To lose weight

2.To regain some fitness

3. To find a social outlet to meet new people

   4.To be competitive and to run

Whatever your reason for beginning running you have, or you will, go through stages of development in your running and you will have some highs and some lows.

There is nothing wrong with being a recreational runner, that’s someone who doesn’t time every run they do and go to great lengths to figure to the decimal how far they have run on each day, nor do they try to “beat” their time on the same course they ran on another day. To many dedicated runners these would be considered “junk” miles, but my feeling is that if you are out running and enjoying Nature and spending time with friends then you are experiencing running in its purest form.

However, for the rest of us Type “A” personalities we need to challenge ourselves as well as challenge others. When we have a bad run we beat ourselves up over it and determine that we will train even harder!!! Are you really “training” or are you merely “running”? How do you know? If you go to the track and do intervals do you really know which energy system you are training or need to train? If you are running big mileage each week is that what you need in your microcycle, mesocycle or macrocycle?
Do you even know what those terms mean?

We all strive to be better runners but are we really training smarter and not just harder? How do you know? There are hundreds of books about training and racing as well as hundreds of websites for training programs and schedules, but do you, as an individual, with your own special skills and needs really know which one is right for you? If you want to take the time to read the books and visit the websites and talk with your fellow runners over an extended period of time then you will accumulate the knowledge you need to be sure that you are really training to be your best. In the 1960s Herbert A. Simon and William Chase at Carnegie Mellon University did a study of chess masters to determine whether  they were  prodigies  or  had  accumulated their knowledge through study. What they discovered became the “Psychological Law of Effort” which they also called the 10-year rule. They stated that at least a decade of heavy study was necessary to master any field.

So you have an option to chose, either continue with self-study or enlist the help of a running coach who has and continues to study research and data in the field of health, nutrition and training and can help you to train to be your best and not just training.

See you at the races…. Coach Will