Patrick John McCrann | Athlete. Author. Coach.

A very simple question — or so it would seem. What have you already chosen?

Sure, the title is a bit dramatic…but my personal flair is for something far less flashy — the obvious. I initially thought of calling this post “Why You Need to Restructure your Workouts” but that’s far less compelling. It also misses the two bigger picture points I wanted to make: (1) Every day ‘something’ loses out when you choose to exercise; therefore the more you exercise the more ‘something else’ you are missing. (2) Is the work you are doing when you exercise getting you any closer to your stated goal(s) aka Are you making the right choice by choosing exercise?

More Work = More Fitness = More Likely to Improve, Succeed, Etc.
Drawing a straight line between those three points seems simple enough…but it couldn’t be further from reality. The above equation assumes that more work automatically leads to more fitness, and that this increased fitness will, in turn, lead you to your goal. But fitness can be improved at a much higher rate with specific work (i.e. not just more) and your fitness probably has very little at all to do with achieving your goal.

The Assumption: More is Better
Want to be faster? Work harder? Want to go further? Train more. The landscape of endurance sports is littered with the souls of people who have dedicated their lives to the singular pursuit of a performance goal. We assume that everyone at the pinnacle of endurance sports has out-worked, out-lasted, out-triathlon-ed everyone else. Or we assume that others are genetically pre-disposed to athletic greatness: “Since I am not ‘gifted,’ I have to work more to overcome that gap.” Yet studies have shown that the person with the biggest VO2 Max doesn’t always win. So why this popular culture of training excess?

Desired Process vs Desired Outcomes
In my case, I had fallen into the trap of choosing the process over the outcome. I was choosing more exercise and more workouts, not because I could, but because it was easier. How could more hours (on top of 20 a week) be easier, you ask? It was easier to add another 1,000 yds to each swim workout than to consider admitting that I had been on the wrong path. That the hermit lifestyle I had lived for the past 20 weeks wasn’t really the answer. The prospect of change was much more frightening than what more training could do to my personal life, my professional life, or my body.

A Personal Dead End
Having come within four seconds of a Kona slot after training 20+ hours a week for several months of my life, the answer seemed clear: DO MORE. There was only one problem: I HAD NO MORE. Literally. I had squeezed every ounce out of my day, compromising work, my social life, my personal sleep habits and general wellness. Following the popular mythology of triathlon and walking in the footsteps of many who had come before me, I simply thought that there was no other way to succeed than to continue “outworking” the competition. And after years of soccer, rowing, and then running, I had gotten very good at “working.”

It was only when I came _this close_ to my goal that I was able to realize that smashing through walls was no longer an option — I needed a path around this obstacle.

[Note: In a way I consider myself very fortunate for the four-second near miss. Without it, I might never have realized the error of my ways!]

The Game-Changer: What is the Best Way To Achieve Your Goals?
My personal situation led me to the epiphany that my race results (my outcomes) weren’t directly connected to what I did on a daily basis (my inputs). Faced with the realization that more was nothing more than “more” (get that?), I began the process of evaluating all of the obstacles that stood in the way of achieving my goals and started plotting my attack. The change was palpable.

My energy was abundant. My passion for the sport was rekindled. I was once again focusing on what I could control instead of doing my best to manage the (falling) expectations that others had of me. I was getting more sleep. I was eating better. I had friends again. And I was no less fit. In fact, in the space of another 12 months I return to Ironman Lake Placid and went 10:01 to claim my spot.

I consider the true testament to this approach the fact that, even as my life has evolved (wonderfully) with the addition of two new baby girls and the growth of my business — both leaving me with even less time to train — I have been able to return to Kona twice more. In fact my most recent trip in 2008 saw my best ever finish on the Big Island (10:04) in some of the toughest conditions in recent memory. But if you ask me what got me there, know that I won’t tell you about solitary hours of training, or my extreme diet or a top-secret altitude tent. Instead, be ready to hear about my girls, my wife (training again for IMFL!), or the accomplishments of our Team…because my life is about so much more than training…and it shows.

Be well. Train smart.

Patrick