Improving the Average

Brad Stulberg had a post a couple days ago about not getting too hung up on the inevitable ups and downs we all experience in life. Instead, we should focus on the “average,” and try to make it a little better over time. I thought my last week of training was a good example of this.

I went for a bike ride on Tuesday, and it was just bad. Even though it was supposed to be an easier ride, I felt heavy and slow, and had a hard time putting much power into the pedals.

But my ride on Thursday was one of the best I’ve had. I felt light on the pedals, set a bunch of PRs, and would have spent all day out there if I could.

These kinds of workouts (the very good and very bad) are outliers. They seem significant in the moment, but in reality make up only 10-20% of my training. Most workouts are actually pretty ordinary and fall somewhere in the middle. They are neither very good nor very bad. Just average. This is the 80/-10/+10 training principle, which I have written about before.

The outliers are the ones we tend to fixate on and stress about. Good days happen, and so do bad ones. But both should make up a relatively small part of your training, and in the grand scheme of things won’t have a huge impact on your fitness and long-term development. But the other 80% of your sessions, while merely “average” and not very remarkable, are actually where the magic happens.

Instead of getting too caught up on good days and bad days. It’s important to zoom out and look at the overall trajectory of your training.

You should expect a few outliers here and there (hopefully more good than bad). But your main focus should be stringing together weeks and months of “average” training sessions that are gradually improving over time. That’s how progress is made and breakthroughs occur.

Another way to think of this is “raising the floor” or improving your every-day-level of fitness.

What does a “better average” look like in training?

-        You can ride your usual route in a faster time, but at the same perceived effort and heart rate as before.

-        The heaviest weight you could lift when you first started deadlifting is now a warm-up weight.

-        You’re able to comfortably jog up that steep hill that you previously had to walk up.

Progress usually happens too slowly to notice, but outlier workouts (especially the bad ones) are difficult to ignore in the moment. Zoom out and look at the big picture if you have a couple of bad workouts. Focus on the overall trajectory of your training, and the “average” going up and to the right over time.