Training always requires some sort of trade.
If I cared more about my marketing, I would have said “sacrifice” – but that word comes with a lot of baggage that I don’t really appreciate.
So instead I’m going to choose “trade.”
Anyway…
Whenever you choose to say “yes” to something, you’re saying “no” to everything else you could do in that moment.
That means every time you go for a run, you’re choosing not to do other things like…
Sleep.
Spend time with family.
Read.
Watch TV.
Cook.
Lift.
Learn a new language.
Knit.
Chill in a hammock and stare at clouds.
Not to mention a million other things that you could choose to do with your time.
When you say yes to something, you say no to everything else.
And when we really think about that, we can see why some people choose to deliver this message with the word “sacrifice.”
But it doesn’t always require that level of gravity.
It’s fine to pursue what you enjoy doing.
It’s okay not to learn all the other skills in the world and instead spend your time running.
You don’t have to do all that other stuff if you don’t want to.
I would just like people to be more aware of their choices.
We have a very finite amount of attention and everyone’s always trying to control it.
So it’s probably better if we intentionally choose where we place our attention rather than just letting robots constantly steal it.
(By the way… thank you for giving me a bit of your attention and reading this email. I really do appreciate it.)
All that said, the idea of “trade” doesn’t just apply to some grander message of how training fits into your life.
It’s also true of some more minute details.
Such as, “How long should my long run be?”
I get this question a lot.
And honestly, there’s not a perfect answer.
For most people, most long runs should probably be 1.5-2 hours long.
That’s definitely not true for everyone, but here’s why that’s my go-to response on the internet…
Somewhere around 90 minutes into a run, a lot of the benefits to running longer really start to taper off.
Somewhere around 3 hours into a run, you’re probably not getting much benefit from going any longer.
Notice I said “much.”
Not “none.”
“Much.”
It’s likely that running longer will provide slightly more stimulus to your aerobic system…
But it’s also going to greatly increase the risk for injury and fatigue.
The longer you run, the benefits get progressively fewer and the risks get progressively greater.
(CLICK HERE if you’d like a slightly better visual representation of this.)
Which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do a 4-hour adventure in the woods.
I did that last week with the dogs.
It was great and I’d do it again.
I will do it again.
Soon.
But I did it because I wanted to spend time exploring the mountains with the fur creatures – not because it was a “perfect” training stimulus.
Again, every time you say “yes” to something, you’re saying “no” to something else.
In this instance, I said “yes” to a fun time with the dogs and “no” to a slightly better training stimulus.
To me, that’s a worthwhile trade.
To others – i.e., anybody who’s really trying to maximize their performance – it might not be.
You have to know what you’re willing to trade when it comes to training.
That requires prioritization and a real look at what you’re trying to get out of running.
Once you know that, then you can figure out what you actually need to do to try and hit your goals.