The first three miles of any long run are usually kind of awful. My body rarely feels good, and it has to get used to the pounding of the pavement, find a cadence, a rhythm, and get into a flow state. The middle distance, from about four to eight miles is actually kind of enjoyable. I start to feel fast, my body has woken up, and I've usually found a cadence I can keep up for a while. Now, I'm not a particularly fast runner, so if I get to this point I've been running at least 40-80minutes. Beyond eight miles, I have to settle into a long and beautiful monotony in which the name of the game is to just keep going. This is where I've been reminded of the most important lessons about training.
I've spent most of my training time lifting weights. I'm still ranked in the top 10 lifters in the Carolinas in my weight class, even though I've only competed twice in the last six years. It turns out time really is on your side when it comes to getting really strong. I've done a lot of different training methods in the last 17 years of training. I've done all the big staple programs. I've done "Bigger, Faster, Stronger," "Triphasic Training," Conjugate Style Training, and "Squat Everyday." I've been self-coached for a majority of a decade long Weightlifting career, and now get to coach a number of strength athletes as they pursue performance on the platform.
The transition into training for health and fitness, and in that pursuit the addition of distance running, I was reminded of the simplicity of training, and the beautiful monotony of progress.
If you've been training a while you'll understand this because it's likely happened to you as well, but if you're in the first five to ten years of training you may still easily get impacted by "Shiny Object Syndrome." True progress in training, no matter what type of training it is, requires you to commit to a long enduring process of using the basics. I first did a Back Squat in 2008. I am still doing Back Squats nearly 17 years later. I did my first Dumbbell Rows then as well, and I'm still doing Dumbbell Rows today. Yes, the weights are far heavier than I lifted back then, but no matter what, my training has come back to the basics every time.
Endurance running has reminded me of this. If you've ever run a long distance, let's say greater than 10 miles, you've likely experienced this beautiful monotony. You stop thinking at some point. You just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other. A constant falling forward and catching yourself. You don't change anything. You just keep breathing heavy and moving forward. It's boring, and isn't necessarily fun.
The beauty of this monotony is in its undeniable tie to the basics. You will always come back to the same thing. Regardless of training goal, you undeniably come back to basic movements.
This is not to say the execution of how we do the basics does not change. If you've ever followed a structured training plan, you know the sets and reps have to change at some point. If you've ever run a half-marathon or a marathon, you know the mileage has to increase at some point, or you have to do some lower mileages and higher intensities. This is normal. But it doesn't change the fact you are doing the same activity over, and over, and over again. There is a beauty to this. There is something beautiful about knowing how to do something, and just having to do it over and over again until the day you kick the bucket.
Some people may read this and think, "You're out of your mind! Your training is boring and you're limiting your progress." To the first point, maybe I am. To the second point, I'd tell you to think about your training programs, and tell me they don't all use the same movement patterns over and over again. I hate to tell you, but we already found the gold at the end of the rainbow. You just have to keep making the trip to the end of the rainbow over and over again like it's Groundhog Day.
There's beauty in this simplicity though. You don't know what to do in the gym? Just do the same thing. Change the reps or weight a little. Mess with the tempo a bit. But it doesn't have to be some elaborate scheme. Distance running quite literally is one implement: putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes the cadence and pace changes, but it really is only one thing. There's some beauty in this. There isn't anything new, you just have to commit to the process over and over again.
So quit jumping to new training methodology or to each new flashy exercise. Just push farther and farther into the beautiful monotony which is training.
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