I know I run the risk of upsetting some people but running clubs often prevent runners from achieving their best performance.

“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” John D. Rockefeller

Many running clubs in the UK have a club championship – a series of races throughout the year where runners score points based on finishing position relative to other runners in the same club. With races spread throughout the year, many runners are often racing two or three times a month over varying distances. As a consequence, the training that many runners do fits into the gaps between the races.

One of my favourite authors, Steven Covey wrote about the 7 Habits of highly Effective People. Habit #2 is ‘Always Start With the End In Mind’

How does that effect smart training?

Well, it means having a goal, something to work towards. It could be that your goal is to win the club championship. By targeting specific races and then planning to train to peak for those races, using other races as part of the training process, you are training smart.

Seeking to achieve the best 10k or marathon that you are capable of – that might mean missing many of the club championship races. But, as Rockerfeller said, it might be a case of giving up the good for the great.

In future, I’ll look at goal setting and the different types of goal you can work towards – all of which will help you train smarter.

Please let me know your thoughts by posting a comment

and run smart!

There’s a guy at work who always tells me that he works smart, not hard. The way I look at it, he’s just bone idle!! So it’s great to seek to train smart not hard – but to do that, we need to know what it means to train smart.

Here are the components that I include in smart training:
• Have a challenging long term goal
• Have a purpose for each training session
• Train holistically
• Plan and execute rest and recovery strategies
• Use the latest research combined with running wisdom
• Plan training that fits the character of the runner

I believe that training smart is definitely the best way to go. But how about training hard?

One of my favourite athletics memories (prepare for a big name drop coming up!!) was a day spent at an athletics match competing against Daley Thompson. Now I appreciate that some of you may not be as old as I am but Daley is the greatest all round athlete this country has ever produced. At the time, he was Olympic, World, European and commonwealth champion and world record holder. I was filling in for my team in the long jump and jumped against Daley. He was competing in about seven events as preparation for the decathlon. He was tremendously friendly, having a laugh and a joke with all the other guys and offering tips and support. However, this story is not just about an outrageous name-drop. What impressed me most about Daley was his dedication. I remember an interview where he described his training on Christmas Day – and went on to explain that when it came to the day of competition he knew he would win because he’d trained harder than all his opponents.

So, do I believe in training hard?

Yes, I certainly do. Unless you push your self hard in training, when it starts to hurt in a race you’ll struggle. But training smart means you pick the time when you need to train hard.

Over the next few days, I’ll explain a bit more about each of the components of smart training. But, to answer the original question – to be the best, train hard and most importantly, train SMART!!

Please leave a comment and let me know what topics you’d like me to cover in future