Five Reasons Your Training Run Should NOT Turn Into a Race

Around 10 am on most Sunday mornings if you head on over to the Velodrome in Trexlertown, PA you will see cyclists slowly spinning around the parking lot in anticipation of the start of a training ride that is known by two simple words - The Derby. For anyone who has rode The Derby knows, this famous Sunday morning ride is really an unsanctioned race. After rolling out at a very modest pace for the first 17 miles or so, once you hit the turn it is game on. If you are an amateur rider like myself the thrill is in just trying to hang with some of the best in the world (current and past). It's a bad ass ride, for sure. But nobody shows up on any given Sunday expecting to cruise through an easy workout. You show up to race from the turn on in.

This is not only really, really cool, but totally acceptable. It is what it is and you know it when you clip in to start circling the parking lot. If you are world class you are there to try and get the win. If you're an amateur, you are there to test your personal limits. For most everyone out there, The Derby  works out to be a pretty good workout. But, what happens when this is what happens whenever you get together with friends? More to the point, what happens when your training becomes a constant race against the clock?

Before we go there I want to take a step back for a minute. Since 1998, just about every weekend which I am not racing, Saturday morning is spent running with friends. It started with a group of about five at the old Body Dynamics. After about a year it was me and Lo-Jack, with the occasional guest appearance by a variety of characters. There were times where others were regulars - Two Banana Time and The Mayor being the most notable - but for years it was Jack and Jon most every Saturday morning. Stick around the group long enough and you earn yourself a well deserved nickname.

After years of small numbers and guest appearances something changed. For the first time ever there is a group of regulars. Some I have been trying to get to show up for longer than I can remember, while others jumped at the chance to have familiar faces to train with on a regular basis. There really is something to be said for comradely. We have what I can say is, not only a good group of regulars, but a truly great group of people.

The run is referred to as Jack & Jon's Saturday Morning Run.

What I have come to really like about this run and this group is everybody can show up and do their own thing. Most all of us are going long, but sometimes with different agendas and almost always at a number of different paces. For example,one Saturday Craiger went off on his own to get 12 miles in while Lo-Jack and Mean Gene ran an easy eight. I got my miles in with the ladies, somewhere around 14. When it was all over we ended up together in the parking lot where we figured out where to go grab some breakfast. It was a good morning.

Among the group there was a lot of camaraderie that morning, along with wondering conversations filled with laughter. What there wasn't on that day was any competition among friends. Like most other Saturday mornings we were just a group of friends out on a friendly training run.

Much to my dismay there has been a subtle shift at times on our Saturday morning runs. See, one of us has had a little different thought process recently. For the first time ever we have a rogue runner. As most of us our on a training run, our rogue runner has a racing mindset. Every Saturday becomes a test of "how fast are we going." Every Saturday becomes a mental struggle. Every Saturday is run like it's the Boston Marathon.

It's killing my mojo.

Putting my mojo aside for a moment, consistently having a racing mindset is bad. Here are my five reasons for keeping your training run, a training run:

1. Weekly (internal) Pressure to Succeed - If you are racing on a training run you are really racing. And a big part of racing is mental. you have to prepare to push yourself, and then suck it up when you do. If you have ever raced, you know they don't always turn out exactly how we want.  If you have a bad day, poor time, whatever, you are going to take a mental hit. Have this happen multiple times and you become a bit of a mental train wreck. Nothing good comes from digging such a mental hole.

2. Burnout - Speaking of becoming a mental train wreck, constant racing will take all the fun out of your chosen sport. The constant push will take its toll, eventually leading you burnout. Get to this point and you may come back to race another day, or you become a couch potato who has some great stories from "back in the day."

3. Not Actually Training - Racing is a way of measuring your progress. But you can't become better if you are always racing, be it in actual races or in your training. See progress is a result of training, which is about the body gradually adapting to increases in stress by getting fitter and, thus faster. Hard as it may be for some people to believe, that easy ride or easy run have benefits. Pushing the limit every week - or every session - however, may get you faster for a short while ... and then you hit that plateau ... and then ...

4. Injury - If you are constantly pushing your limit eventually something bad is eventually going to happen. Nuff said.

5. Your Training Partners - If you have good people you train with you want to keep it that way. If your training strays from productive training and becomes a constant hammer-fest you might find yourself in need of a new crew.

So what's the moral of the story? Training is training and racing is racing. If you are serious about your sport, both should be done with a purpose. That purpose is to race better IN YOUR RACE. Break this simple rule and bad things are likely.

Train hard. Stay focused.
Jon