Saving the Racing for when You Are Ready

Quality racing is, in my opinion, better than racing in large quantities

Jul 24, 2020

Back in 2012, I was pretty bad at getting my ideas from my brain to my blog. Ramblings and short posts that didn’t make any sense. I like to believe I’ve learned something about blogging since those early days.

But one of those old posts I wrote still sits waiting to be updated. I called it “When not seeing your name in results is a good thing”. The premise was good: we don’t have to run all the races. If we spent a little more time building a base or focusing on quality workouts, then we’d be able to enjoy fewer races at a higher level.

So my question is this: would we prefer 3-5 “A-game” races or 10-12 “C+ or B-” races because why not run hard every weekend?

Personally, I’ve always been in favor of getting in shape, sharpening up, and really going after my goal races. The high school and college system are set up that way and perhaps, that’s why I feel that way. Early season races are designed to build race savvy skills while still working really hard in training. And then, when the post-season approaches, the mileage comes down, the workouts get more specific, and boom: a big PR.

But now that there are no races. Like none. We are all looking around wondering what to do with ourselves…

We’re still doing the training, but there aren’t any races to gear up for. Virtual races are fine, they aren’t for me, but they scratch the itch of some runners.

And so we’re able to focus on actually training without trying to run really hard every weekend. We can do quality sessions that improve our fitness rather than a portion of a workout because we have yet another race on the weekend.

I think, ultimately, this will be very beneficial to all runners once in-person racing happens again. We will realize that we don’t need to race every weekend and instead, focus on improving incrementally throughout the training cycle.

Friday’s Action Plan:

Create or find a challenge/goal that is 10-16 weeks away and have a coach create a training plan that will help you achieve it.

What’s Got My Attention:

Article: Why You Need Running Downtime and How to Make the Most of It

Video: How Running's White Origins Led To The Dangers Of 'Running While Black'

Popular Newsletter Sessions:

March 6th - 5 Exercises for a Better Core

May 22nd - My Quest to Live Quarantine Life Guilt-Free

Quote of the Day:

“Never underestimate the power of consistency and desire.”

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Thanks for following along on the journey! Have something you’d like to add? Have suggestions or comments? Email me: TrainwithMarc@gmail.com

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Marc is a middle school teacher and coach but also works with distance runners online. I help distance runners around the globe by providing support, writing customized training plans and designing workouts to help them reach their racing goals. I write for my blog every Wednesday morning and newsletter every Friday morning.

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