The Run Around

Sometimes, runners can be own worst enemy

By Matt Carpenter

It’s kind of ironic, but the conclusion a runner draws after a good race or a bad race is often the same: “I must do more.”

The thought process goes something like this after a bad race: “OK, I ran really bad, I need more speed work, more long runs and perhaps I should even start a strength program.”

On the other hand, the thought process after a good race often goes like this:

“OK, that was great, if 15 quarters made me this fast, 20 will make me even faster and if I add a couple of miles to my long run that should pay off big and perhaps a new weight program will also take some time off.” i think this is a deliberately run-on sentence

The result of this logic is that both runners will probably end up doing worse in their next race.

Although there are many runners who don’t train enough to reach their potential, more is not always better and, in fact, it can be worse.

If you are running consistently (don’t kid yourself — you know if you are making a real commitment to your running) don’t take a chance by doing more.

Only when you reach a plateau should you consider making changes, and often the change might be doing less not more.

I use a four-workout rule. If I do the same workout four times and don’t see improvement it’s time to start looking at my options.

Another problem with the competitive mind is the games that it plays before a race.

I know I have lost far more races by doing too much in the final days before a race as opposed to doing too little.

Again, however, it’s funny how we can convince ourselves that we will get out of shape if we taper for a race. Some of my worst performances came when I decided I would do a “test” run during race week just to see if I still was fit.

The “tests” often went very well and even resulted in some personal records, but a PR in training is a hollow victory when I look at the poor races that often followed.

One of the biggest mistakes I hear about — and have made — is doing a taper that is not really a taper.

Suppose you are doing 40 miles a week and for your taper you decide to cut back to 25. After a couple of days you start to feel great and therefore you start running faster than normal for the rest of the 25.

The end result is that you may go into the race more tired than if you had just kept up your regular routine.

When you taper make sure that both your quantity and quality get a break.

It’s a hard sell to convince a competitive person not to do more but one race-day PR is all it will take to convince you that sometimes less can be more.

When you cross your next finish line, if you had a good race, don’t change a thing. If you had a bad race, look at the overall picture to see if perhaps you are doing too much or giving your race away by going too hard too close to race day.

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