You Can't Handle the Truth, or Can you?

I like using case studies when I can to illustrate points, as it helps to give people some perspective as many look at ways they can relate to others, and others goals.  In the previous post, Dan discussed the importance of goal setting.  Goal setting is important whether training for health and longevity or for performance.  I think it is equally important for a coach to not only impose concrete, tangible goals for their athletes, but to also discuss the implications of those goals.  Normally I am posed questions from athletes, well whenever I am posed a question from anybody for that matter, I unfortunately give them a truthful answer.  A flaw of mine is I tend to be blunt, and don't sugarcoat much, but science tends to do that, and besides sugar is toxic!  Many times, the answer is not necessarily the response wanted. (sidenote: if you cannot handle a potential answer to a question, don't ask the question!)

Now many people associate positive health with running.  Many tend to think the more they can run, the better, or the healthier I am.  For the record, I am not opposed to running, however, the running like all exercise needs to be properly dosed for the person, and based on recent evidence, within 5-19 miles a week for a distance runner for optimal health, over this window, leads to increased morbidity.  Personally, and in terms of taking a anabolic vs catabolic look at building lean muscle mass, and building a badonkadonk, sprinting is a much better alternative than distance.

Since many people like to run, and not just from the police, I am going to discuss two similar but different cases.  Ryan is a 30 year old single male, former collegiate runner, who works full time, and who for the past few years has taken to running longer distances, yes, hold your breath, wait for it, wait for it, the marathon.  Ryan has a performance related goal of trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  First things first, I acknowledge Ryan's goal, and discuss with him the fact that this is a performance related goal, and discuss that training for performance is not necessarily going to expand his lifespan or enhance health.  I go over how running long distances is extremely catabolic to the body, it raises cortisol levels, and studies show that the longer distances people run does not equate to longer longivity, actually the opposite.  I want to make sure he understands fully.  I also acknowledge the fact that this is a "short" term goal, as he will know in four years if he has attained this goal.  The other thing is that Ryan does not see this goal as a  lifelong goal, and that after the next few years the need to want to run long distances will probably wean.

From a health and longevity standpoint, he is still young, and after the next couple of years there should be plenty of time for any damage to his heart to repair itself (hopefully), as the heart is a dynamic and resilient organ.  Now that we have a performance related goal, we can assess his starting point, and start a strength program designed to supplement his running, and other desires.  We can also start discussing lifestyle modifications to enhance his health, as well as his performance, in the pursuit of this goal.

The second case is one of Amanda.  Amanda is a 32 year old, married mom, who also has a full time job, and is looking for overall fitness and well-being.  Luckily she does not work third shift, and most nights gets 8 hours of sleep.  Within her goal for overall fitness she also has a performance related goal which she wants to work towards.  That goal is to run a sub 20 minute 5K withing the next 6 months.  Now is this goal feasible in terms of health and longevity? Yes.  The amount of mileage necessary  to be an efficient 5K runner, is generally within the 5-19 mile weekly range mentioned above.  A proper strength and conditioning program should fall well within this range and closer to the lower end as more interval work at lower distances can be utilized.  In terms of intensity of the work needed to meet this goal, that brings about another issue in terms of health.  To meet this goal, Amanda probably needs along with strength training, four to five bouts of high intensity metabolic conditioning a week, whether in the form of interval running, Interval work with weights, a la "CrossFit" style, etc.  Being in her 30's, this amount of work I would think is okay.  If she was 10 years older, or did not get adequate sleep, or worked an overnight job, the amount and type of work needed for her performance related goal may need to be re-worked, as it might not be something that was within the confines of training for health and longevity.  Now that her goals are determined, we can now assess her starting point, and start a strength and conditioning program to help her meet those goals.

While having goals is important, it is also important that no matter what the goal is, don't let the goal be the end all, and the only focus.  Enjoy the journey along the way to the realization of your goals.  Take time to stop, and enjoy the view.  Regardless if the goal is attained or not, if you look back from where you started, to where you end, progress will have been made, if you made a concentrated effort at meeting what you had set forth in front of you.