In my last post, I exposed why the phrase “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” doesn’t apply to athletes and is possibly the worst bit of advice an athlete could ever receive. In this post I continue with the theme of bad advice, exposing the ten worst running tips ever. Below I will tell you what you want to hear. I will tell you good things about your bad habits. I will help you justify your lack of cross training, junk food eating, and lack of receptivity to anything new. Enjoy!
(Please do not take the below advice seriously. It’s just a joke and is meant to expose some of the lingering dogma that exists in the running community. In a follow up post I will counter each of these tips with real advice. For now, let’s have a little fun)
Tip 1: If the engine is hot enough, anything will burn!
Don’t worry about what you eat. Don’t waste your time trying to eat healthy. As long as you are running enough miles you can eat just about anything. In fact, eating as much junk food as you want is one of the best reasons to run in the first place!
Tip 2: Any training other than running is a complete waste of time
Any time you spend doing core work, stability work, weight training, or yoga is time that you COULD be running. Other than improved strength, range of motion, body awareness, reaction time, focus, balance, agility, speed, endurance and quickness there is NO reason to do anything but RUN. You are a RUNNER, not a weight lifter. Do you think running backs lift weights?
(Please do not take the below advice seriously. It’s just a joke and is meant to expose some of the lingering dogma that exists in the running community. In a follow up post I will counter each of these tips with real advice. For now, let’s have a little fun)
Tip 1: If the engine is hot enough, anything will burn!
Don’t worry about what you eat. Don’t waste your time trying to eat healthy. As long as you are running enough miles you can eat just about anything. In fact, eating as much junk food as you want is one of the best reasons to run in the first place!
Tip 2: Any training other than running is a complete waste of time
Any time you spend doing core work, stability work, weight training, or yoga is time that you COULD be running. Other than improved strength, range of motion, body awareness, reaction time, focus, balance, agility, speed, endurance and quickness there is NO reason to do anything but RUN. You are a RUNNER, not a weight lifter. Do you think running backs lift weights?
Tip 3: To perform your best don’t think about what you are doing
In order to have a great race, it’s best to put your mind as far away from your body as possible. Running HURTS and you do not want your ability to sense pain anywhere near the battle between you and the road. The longer you can ignore the pain the better you will perform. Pain from running is just like any other problem – ignore it long enough and it will go away. Using an ipod during a race can help distract you from the event. Sure you will be oblivious to the runners around you and a huge nuisance, but that's besides the point.
Tip 4: Don’t change your form
Your running form was hardwired into your body when you were born. You cannot change your technique and attempting to do so will surely land you an injury. The same thing goes for everything else. Trying to improve your skill at anything is only going to make you worse. Do you think master musicians spend hours perfecting their skill at their instrument? NO! They just wail on baby!
Tip 5: Wear the right shoes to change your form
Go to your local running store and have them watch you walk barefoot. If there is any rolling at all of your foot you are going to need to change your form by being properly fitted for a shoe. Correcting your biomechanics with a shoe will keep you running along with no problems.
(side note: I work for a shoe company and think running shoes are good. I’m not anti-shoe by any means, but giving out tip 4 immediately followed by tip 5 is ridiculous and happens way more than you’d like to think)
Tip 6: Never run barefoot
You know those shoes you got that corrected your form? Never take them off. You should be so adapted to shoes that it is painful to stand barefoot. Running barefoot will pretty much cripple you. No elite runners ever run barefoot.
Tip 7: Copy what the elite americans do
No matter what your objective is with running, the best approach is to copy what elite American runners do. Africans are good because of their genetics, Americans are good because of their training. Just because elite runners run for a living, and you just want to run a decent 5K doesn’t mean you should consider a customized or scaled down approach. Just because elite runners plan their whole day/week/life around their workouts and you have a job and kids DOES NOT mean you should be slacking off by only running 50 miles a week. Just because many elites have an extremely high tolerance for volume and intensity does not give you a free pass to be slacking and taking days off. Objective does not matter. Everyone should train exactly like elite runners train, regardless of goals and objectives.
Tip 8: If you aren’t hurt you aren’t running enough
If you actually feel good and aren’t in any pain this makes it very clear that you aren’t running enough. Remember, running hurts and you should be in pain. A well trained runner is always right on the brink of collapse. To maximize your running experience you should always be right on the cusp of a stress fracture or major illness. If you feel like absolute crap during your taper week, you know you have done a good job with your training. If you ain’t injured, you ain’t trying!
Tip 9 – If you are hurt you aren’t running enough
Similar to tip 8, if you get an injury it is a clear sign that you aren’t running enough. Injuries happen when the body is not adapted to running. The only way to adapt to running is to run more, so we must conclude that the best way to prevent injuries is to run more.
Tip 10 – 100 miles per week is a magic number that produces magic results
It’s not enough to say just run more, we need to be specific. Runners need to be told exactly how far and how fast they should be running. While your body will magically figure out the best form for you, it has absolutely no way of telling you how much is too much and how much is not enough. Luckily we have conventional running wisdom that tells us 100 miles per week is the magic number. Why 100? Well for starters 100 is THREE DIGITS instead of a measly two digits. Also, 100 is such a nice round number. Once you hit 100 of anything, you are good to go!
*End Sarcasm*
As sad as it is many people actually buy into the above advice. I see people actually giving out these tips on a regular basis. I once had a track coach tell me the only way to get better is to run 100 mile weeks. I explained to him that I took over 2 minutes off my 10K time and was only running AT MOST 70 miles a week. Despite clear evidence against his absolutist viewpoint he continued to lecture me that the only way to get better is to run 100 miles a week. The scary thing is this guy coaches youth athletes!
In a follow up post I will revisit each of the above tips and give actual advice, so stay tuned for that.
In order to have a great race, it’s best to put your mind as far away from your body as possible. Running HURTS and you do not want your ability to sense pain anywhere near the battle between you and the road. The longer you can ignore the pain the better you will perform. Pain from running is just like any other problem – ignore it long enough and it will go away. Using an ipod during a race can help distract you from the event. Sure you will be oblivious to the runners around you and a huge nuisance, but that's besides the point.
Tip 4: Don’t change your form
Your running form was hardwired into your body when you were born. You cannot change your technique and attempting to do so will surely land you an injury. The same thing goes for everything else. Trying to improve your skill at anything is only going to make you worse. Do you think master musicians spend hours perfecting their skill at their instrument? NO! They just wail on baby!
Tip 5: Wear the right shoes to change your form
Go to your local running store and have them watch you walk barefoot. If there is any rolling at all of your foot you are going to need to change your form by being properly fitted for a shoe. Correcting your biomechanics with a shoe will keep you running along with no problems.
(side note: I work for a shoe company and think running shoes are good. I’m not anti-shoe by any means, but giving out tip 4 immediately followed by tip 5 is ridiculous and happens way more than you’d like to think)
Tip 6: Never run barefoot
You know those shoes you got that corrected your form? Never take them off. You should be so adapted to shoes that it is painful to stand barefoot. Running barefoot will pretty much cripple you. No elite runners ever run barefoot.
Tip 7: Copy what the elite americans do
No matter what your objective is with running, the best approach is to copy what elite American runners do. Africans are good because of their genetics, Americans are good because of their training. Just because elite runners run for a living, and you just want to run a decent 5K doesn’t mean you should consider a customized or scaled down approach. Just because elite runners plan their whole day/week/life around their workouts and you have a job and kids DOES NOT mean you should be slacking off by only running 50 miles a week. Just because many elites have an extremely high tolerance for volume and intensity does not give you a free pass to be slacking and taking days off. Objective does not matter. Everyone should train exactly like elite runners train, regardless of goals and objectives.
Tip 8: If you aren’t hurt you aren’t running enough
If you actually feel good and aren’t in any pain this makes it very clear that you aren’t running enough. Remember, running hurts and you should be in pain. A well trained runner is always right on the brink of collapse. To maximize your running experience you should always be right on the cusp of a stress fracture or major illness. If you feel like absolute crap during your taper week, you know you have done a good job with your training. If you ain’t injured, you ain’t trying!
Tip 9 – If you are hurt you aren’t running enough
Similar to tip 8, if you get an injury it is a clear sign that you aren’t running enough. Injuries happen when the body is not adapted to running. The only way to adapt to running is to run more, so we must conclude that the best way to prevent injuries is to run more.
Tip 10 – 100 miles per week is a magic number that produces magic results
It’s not enough to say just run more, we need to be specific. Runners need to be told exactly how far and how fast they should be running. While your body will magically figure out the best form for you, it has absolutely no way of telling you how much is too much and how much is not enough. Luckily we have conventional running wisdom that tells us 100 miles per week is the magic number. Why 100? Well for starters 100 is THREE DIGITS instead of a measly two digits. Also, 100 is such a nice round number. Once you hit 100 of anything, you are good to go!
*End Sarcasm*
As sad as it is many people actually buy into the above advice. I see people actually giving out these tips on a regular basis. I once had a track coach tell me the only way to get better is to run 100 mile weeks. I explained to him that I took over 2 minutes off my 10K time and was only running AT MOST 70 miles a week. Despite clear evidence against his absolutist viewpoint he continued to lecture me that the only way to get better is to run 100 miles a week. The scary thing is this guy coaches youth athletes!
In a follow up post I will revisit each of the above tips and give actual advice, so stay tuned for that.
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