Intentional Practice

With a great force of will, I managed to get the step count into the mid 160s on today’s run. While it might all be psychological (Jude?), I think that attempting to increase my stride rate improved the quality of my easy run. It reminded me of a book I recently read: Moonwalking with Einstein. Spoiler alert: the author, Joshua Foer, trains himself to win the U.S. Memory Championships. At one point, he reaches a plateau in his training—he cannot increase the number of playing cards he can remember within a certain timeframe. His memory coach (yes, there is such a thing) suggests it is because he is not practicing intentionally. The coach’s point was that in order to improve you must constantly monitor and assess all aspects of performance. Otherwise, you’ll settle on a level of performance that is good, but comfortable; you’re not pushing yourself. Careful scrutiny allows you to identify and correct flaws that are not readily apparent. My stride rate may be a perfect example of this type of flaw. Especially in this early phase, it’s easy to just go out for a run without giving any thought to improving performance. But perhaps I can improve efficiency ahead of the more rigorous workouts. I will continue to count (or more frequently miscount) my steps to see if I can match Ben’s elite-level turnover.