Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. This week I want to talk about an article from trail runner magazine I recently came across, and it’s scientifically backed message to embrace the grind.
The article (found here) references a 2019 study (found here) published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research on the training predictors of success in elite long distance runners. The cliff notes version, is that there is no magic workout, the greatest predictor of success is volume of easy runs.
As with any scientific experiment, it is important to understand what was being measured and tested, and what the limitations of the study were, in order to draw any reasonable conclusions about the results and what they mean for our own training.
The study only looked at male elite athletes, and categorized their training as: short intervals, long intervals, tempo running, easy running, and racing. The intervals and the tempo categories were differentiated by distance and percentage of max heart rate.
The athletes reported their training regimens as well as their results at events and the data was analyzed at the three, five, and seven year mark.
As David Roche from trail runner points out, every athlete is an N=1 experiment. For those of you not academically or scientifically inclined, N is the sample size in a controlled study. Roche makes the important distinction that even though 85 male athletes from the same sport were in the study, each one has his own biodiversity and variables which are important to acknowledge.
With all that annoying science and reading stuff out of the way, what this study really means for average joe athletes, is embrace the grind. The most significantly correlated predictor of success is volume of easy runs. In other words… Just go run.
It’s not the maximum effort, is not tabata or HIIT, it’s not a new pair of shoes or an altitude mask, it’s repetition of the most basic and fundamental motion that will ultimately predict success.
I think that is true of almost all endeavors, grind out the repetitive volume of the fundamentals, and the results will follow. SerenityThroughSweat is an ultra, and serenity is found in the grind.
Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.