We have a very race-focused culture in endurance sports (especially in the U.S.). When I ask an athlete what their goal is, they’ll almost always either state a race, or apologize for not having a race. I see this as a sign that we’ve been brainwashed into thinking that RACING is the point. And I just don’t think that’s true.
What do we REALLY want out of sport? What is our real goal? We want confidence, we want strength, we want calm, we want health, we want fun, and a million more things that aren’t racing. And while racing can certainly teach some lessons that give us some of those things, the vast majority of those changes are going to happen while training. So why do we race? Well, for starters, I don’t think racing is necessary! I think you can probably get all the things you want out of your sport from training without racing. BUT, I do think that racing is a VERY potent training tool! If you go out and run a mile by yourself, you’re going to run X time. But if you go out with a couple of your buddies, your natural human competitiveness and group drive is going to allow you to run that mile faster than if you’d gone out by yourself.
So if racing isn’t The Point, and we like racing, how do we pick races?
First, look at our life and take honest stock of your resources. How much time, money, and emotional energy do you have to put towards training?
Second, what do you LIKE to do? Do you like spending 9 hours on a Sunday out traipsing up and down the mountains? Or does it sound way more fun to blast as hard as you can up one of those mountains once?
Third, combine steps one and two to figure out what a fun and sustainable training week looks like for you. Don’t worry if you aren’t fit enough to do it yet, we’re setting goals here. Do you have a ton of free time and your happy place is a 7-hour backcountry ski? Then your ideal training week might be 20 hours. Do you have a family, a demanding job, and spending 7 hours on a Sunday on an easy bike ride sounds boring, selfish, and pointless? Then maybe your ideal training week looks more like 6-12 hours.
Interlude: Let’s talk about some basic numbers. In order to train well for a 24 hours race (24-hour mountain bike race, 100-mile running race, etc.), you’re going to need to do a weekend a couple weeks before that’s probably 14-16 hours of training over two days. That’s two 8-hour days on the bike/foot/skis. And in order for that to not totally suck, you need to have done an 8- to 10-hour day a couple weeks before that, a 6- to 8-hour day a couple weeks before that, etc. In contrast, training to be FAST for a 1-3 hour race (XC MTB, mountain running, skimo) can be done well in 6-12 hours per week, but requires a lot of intensity discipline, focus, fueling strategies, etc.
Fourth, and here’s the important part: Your racing should reflect your ideal training week! If your ideal training week is 6-8 hours, you’re going to struggle mightily to prepare for that 24-hour race. The build-up to those long days is going to play hell on your life, your job, and your fun level. And even if you CAN make it work and don’t get injured, there’s a solid chance that the weeks/months after the event will be spent stressed out trying to make up time with your family and job, and you might lose a huge amount of that fitness you fought to gain. On the other side of the spectrum, if your ideal training week is wandering around the hills for 20-25 hours, then managing your intensity, fueling, and discipline to get faster at a 90 minute race might make training simply not fun!
Now of course, there are exceptions to all this. You might find a way to make that ultra work on 6-8 hours/week and some vacation time. You might love the details and the discipline of short racing but have the time and fitness to train 20 hours/week. But the vast majority of athletes that I’ve worked with have either struggled mightily while fighting this principle, or have thrived in embracing it.
And of course, the whole purpose of training is to push you, so it shouldn’t be easy, or stress-free. I’m not suggesting that you just go out and only do easy things and make easy choices, but there should be a sweet spot in there of something that challenges you but that doesn’t turn your whole life into a struggle.
If you have questions about finding your ideal training week, or finding cool races that might work really well with your ideal training week, drop us a line at info@SummitEnduranceAcademy.com.
