I am linking to an article I think a lot of people should read, called Are You Disciplined Enough To Race Less, by Jay Johnson. It may sound familiar, since I've touched on this before. If you don't read his blog already, I strongly recommend you do. Between the strength routines and workout videos to the candid discussion on what it takes to be a better runner, his blog is one resource I frequent for advice for myself and for the runners I work with.
So take a read through and let me know what you think
This is an interesting question because you can approach it from a few different perspectives.
ReplyDeleteThere's the "race participator" who simply loves the spectacle of racing and cares nothing for time. Whether it's the Chicago marathon or their local 5k, they can never race enough, let alone consider "racing" less. Every race is a training run and every training run a race; there is no distinction.
There's the "serious racer," who doesn't need a watch to tell you what pace they are currently running at (and whose 10 second PR is a HUGE gain). I am not in this group, but this is whom I imagine the original question best applies to. Honing your fitness for another 3-4 weeks and allowing for a proper taper might be necessary to see a 5-10 second PR.
Then there's that vast middle-ground of people with a competitive edge that strive for great results, but then also step back a little and enjoy the experience. For example, I can participate in a lot of races, but alter my goals from race to race to align with my reason for choosing that race in the first place. I might not be out to PR the local turkey trot, but instead want to do an exciting group run with friends, and give myself an excuse to grab an extra piece of pumpkin pie after dinner. Thus, the "A-race," "B-race," etc, classification.
So, if you're smart about your goals/classifications, then I don't think you can ever really race too much (so long as your races don't overburden your prescribed training loads).