Distance running vs everything else

You should be aiming to make training as easy as necessary. You don't get extra points or fitness for making it hard. Like everything else you listed, it is about doing what is necessary NOT working hard. Work smart not hard.

10 hours of unorganized studying is worth 1 hour of organized studying.

100 mpw of training too hard is worse than 50 mpw with adequate rest.

stfu and run.

1/10 got me to reply wrote:

stfu and run.

Brilliant!

I don't know what "shortcuts" you are taking to a nice living. Tell me the secret. I had to work my tail off to get good grades, good LSAT score, etc. Now I work my tail off trying to win cases, impress the partners, etc., and also getting my kids to behave properly, do their homework, etc.

In other words, distance running is a microcosm of life.

Your post is a partial jab at sprinters. If you worked hard to earn admission into medical school and learn some physiology, you would know that the physiology of sprint training is much more taxing to the neuromuscular systems involved; therefore 50 mile weeks are simply not feasible. Great sprinters - and all runners quite frankly - must learn to get maximal results in an intelligent and efficient manner. Everyone wants to train 'hard.' That doesn't make you special.

Boston Bound wrote:

I don't know what "shortcuts" you are taking to a nice living. Tell me the secret. I had to work my tail off to get good grades, good LSAT score, etc. Now I work my tail off trying to win cases, impress the partners, etc., and also getting my kids to behave properly, do their homework, etc.

In other words, distance running is a microcosm of life.

Hard work is not the secret to being successful in life though. If that was all that was required every farmer, ditch digger, or even restaurant worker would be a millionaire. There are shortcuts and secrets if you do not know them!

I mostly agree with your post but think that you must be missing out on much that life has to offer. Making money is not the only thing.

Hard work required wrote:

Being a good distance runner always requires hard work. The problem is in virtually every thing else in life the goal or basic approach is to make things easier. Further, you can get good grades, make a nice living and more with very little work required. In everything people look for shortcuts, quick fixes, least amount of pain.

So how do you teach a distance runner the reqirement of hard work when this is the opposite of everything else in their life?

When I was younger I used to think the same way. Now I know that it's really not different. I talk to Olympians and national class coaches. I'm not saying that I know it all but running is simple. Life is complicated.

Treasure in Clay wrote:

Boston Bound wrote:

I don't know what "shortcuts" you are taking to a nice living. Tell me the secret. I had to work my tail off to get good grades, good LSAT score, etc. Now I work my tail off trying to win cases, impress the partners, etc., and also getting my kids to behave properly, do their homework, etc.

In other words, distance running is a microcosm of life.

Hard work is not the secret to being successful in life though. If that was all that was required every farmer, ditch digger, or even restaurant worker would be a millionaire. There are shortcuts and secrets if you do not know them!

I mostly agree with your post but think that you must be missing out on much that life has to offer. Making money is not the only thing.

Hmmm ... I think that you are missing the point of my post a little bit. I certainly don't think that "[m]aking money is . . . the only thing." But a career, like running, is something where you can see a direct cause-and-effect between hard work and tangible results. It is also pretty relatable. My wife is a really good elementary school teacher who makes about $55K after nearly 20 years. So I offer her non-financial success, as well.

Hard work is not necessarily sufficient to "success," but it is usually necessary to success, however you define it. You are the one equating financial security with "success." It's just one kind of success. That hard-working farmer is probably successful in his own right, in that he's good at what he does.