The fallacy of More

 It’s so easy to believe and we frequently get trapped by this - the fallacy of more. If X worked well, then Y must work better. Usually Y means more - more miles, more long runs, more long races, more MORE. After all, X left you fitter and faster so Y will only build on the successes. At least that’s what we tell ourselves. I’ll be honest - I’ve fallen into that trap a few times over the years. It usually happens when I’ve been close to a desired time in a race or had a good but not satisfying event. I look back at my training and identify areas that I thought limited me - lack of speed workouts, not enough to goal volume, lack of long runs. Then instead of modifying to address the weakness, I try to cram more of everything into the schedule. 

And it always, without fail comes back and bites me. I either get injured or I am too exhausted from the training that the taper doesn’t touch it. Before the Austin Marathon in 2004 when I was seconds away from an OTQ time, I tried pushing into the 100 mile range. Instead of gaining the edge I needed, I went into the race stale and in the verge of injury. Trying to maintain the pace hastened the injury. And this past year, when preparing for Tabeguache, I let the “you shoulds” overwhelm the knowledge I have of how I respond to training. Classic mistake and one I of all people should not have made. But it’s so easy. The “you shoulds” chorus loud when training for something unknown and bigger than you’ve ever done before. You should be running daily. You should be doing super long long runs. You should be doing double days. You should be doing back to back runs. You should….

Really? And why should we be doing all that stuff? Because someone, somewhere decided that this was how you had to train for a big event? That you needed the big back to back weekends or the ultra  long training runs? You have to run 50 mile races to prep for a 100 mile event. A 100k is even better. You need the 5-6 hour back to back runs for a 100 mile race and even need the back to backs for a 50k race. It’s no different than the marathoners being fixated on the 100 miles weeks. And it truly is the fallacy of more. All this big days do is tear you down. The long term recovery from multiple hard runs and long days isn’t sustainable. It might be somewhat sustainable for someone paid to run and then recover, but for most of us… Most of us work full time, have families to support. The training methods hyped up by athletes who may not have as many responsibilities pulling them in different directions shouldn’t be applied cart Blanche to everyone. Training methods like huge back to backs or multiple long races prior to the A race. 

The bottom line is this. I know my body and how I respond to training the best. Every time I’ve tried to push the volume for too long I’ve gotten broken down and beat up. I know what my body likes for the weekly miles - it’s the game of making things quality like before. It’s not the lack of endurance that is the issue lately. It’s trying to run faster than my legs are used to moving. Just like when I was training for my marathons, quality over quantity. If I want to run fast I need to train to run fast. It’s easier to slow down when you are comfortable going fast then try to speed up when your legs don’t have the turnover. And if you can run fast, then the sustainable pace then becomes faster. Doing nothing but long runs and huge miles doesn’t address that. Long runs and huge miles build endurance yeah - but they do nothing for speed. And as I well know, trying to do speed while grinding out the huge miles does nothing for me besides break me down. 

So no more MORE. Just smarter. Quality over quantity. Focus on what works. That’s the way to reach my goals this year.