A common objective for most people in athletics and in life relies on "working hard" to achieve a level of success. This notion proves true in many ways since it speaks to working diligently to reach a goal. No one ever got a job or won their race by not setting it in their crosshairs and put in the hours of work for their dream.
However, the same principle of achieving a goal can be applied to "working smart." If someone wants to get a perfect score on their SAT's and chooses to apply the mantra of "working hard" toward it they would end up falling short of their expectations. If that kid chose to study every night, pay tutors, and take practice exams but only take the time to review his best sections, he would be wasting his time.
Working hard will only supply the diligence you need to apply toward a goal, working smart helps you get better. This same approach should be applied toward training.
Some people who want to be hot shots buy a gym membership to train and improve their performance in their sport by maxing out every day. At the end of their monthly gym membership, they'll choose not to renew because they haven't seen any real or only marginal improvements.
I've heard of a few stories of runners who decide to train at close to their threshold pace (near max effort) on all of their recovery runs. They saw an improvement for a little while until they saw a sharp burnout coupled with an injury. He wanted to train hard and he did a phenomenal job at that, but he lacked the intelligence to train effectively.
Another story is of a varsity football player in high school with average grades. Every teacher and friend told him to spend more time hitting the books and go to extra help after school. This went on for about four years until graduation from high school and another four years until graduation from college. That summer the athlete had a high school reunion with all of his friends and teachers who had given him the advice. After joking around for a few hours, one of the guys who had gotten straight A's in high school asked if his football friend was worried about paying down his college loan debt. The footballer laughed for a bit and said, "While you guys put your extra work into your grades, I put my extra energy into my athletics- I got a full ride to school." Instead of working hard to improve his academics, he decided to work smart and chose to invest his time into athletics which had a greater opportunity for him.
This advice has probably been told many times over from people much more experienced and older than I. However, it's an important reminder, especially for myself, to not think so much about the next run or the next big thing. Sometimes it's crucial to appropriate your efforts for what is currently on your plate.
Tom Slattery
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