Bhabbi wrote:
Yeah, everyone is looking for 'the one thing, the one little tweak' to make in training to have a breakthrough. Well, the ability to stack 100 MPW on top of 100 MPW, get some support and stay healthy. There really are no little tweaks or secrets that lead to breakthroughs. It's consistent hard work (especially miles) and staying healthy.
Yea, that’s what I get from this, too. The problem with post-collegiate support for runners is that other life demands crowd out consistent training. If you can’t get any extra support, you’re working full time. Most entry level jobs for young people are going to be more than 40 hours a week. It’s hard to get in proper mileage working full time, in addition to all of life’s other demands. Your life is basically reduced to work and running. And if you keep improving but don’t pick up any extra support, eventually you’ll be asking yourself if running is the best way to spend your time while you could be spending your time on career, finances, relationships, and other life activities that have more payoff down the road.
If my view, that’s the reason we don’t see more post-collegiate runners like Allie Kieffer succeeding on the roads and the marathon. There isn’t much support or incentives, and training full time has little payoff except for self satisfaction that comes with improvement. But self satisfaction doesn’t pay the bills or build a future.