Make it fun: The 80/20 rule of training

🫡 Memorial Day has been a federal holiday in the U.S. since 1971. It was originally known as Decoration Day and held on May 30 every year, a tradition that started in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Issue #84: Busting neuroscience myths, making personalization human, and learning from bad bosses
By Scott Lamb

One of the largest 10k races in the U.S. happens in Boulder, Colorado, every Memorial Day. The Bolder Boulder, with around 35,000 runners, is almost as big as the New York Marathon, but with a very different vibe. Yes, there’s a professional segment, and sure, Boulder is home to a huge number of elite athletes, who prize its combination of access to the outdoors and high elevation. But I grew up watching or running the Bolder Boulder myself, and what always set it apart, to me, was simple: It was fun.

The course is lined with people cheering, bands playing, and kids spraying runners with water guns, and the finish line is in the University of Colorado’s Folsom Field, where the stadium’s roaring crowd makes each finisher feel like a hero. Like the Bay to Breakers in San Francisco, there’s a carnival atmosphere to the whole event, including costumes. There are lots of reasons to run, but I’d argue that running for pleasure is underrated as maybe the strongest reason of all.

In fact, there’s evidence that a training plan based on running slow enough that you could have a conversation with a partner is the best training plan for the majority of the time. 80/20 training, where you make 80% of your workouts low-intensity and the remaining 20% more intense, was developed in the early 2000s by Dr. Stephen Seiler for elite runners to use, but works just as well for “normal” runners who’d like to have a nice time, as a writer on Medium points out: “It’s about enjoyment, persistence, patience, and spending a lot of time in the green zone. Slowly, our bodies adapt and grow stronger.”

And if you need another reminder to take it easy, Jeff Barton, the editor of Runner’s Life, writes about studies that show how having fun lowers stress, boosts creativity, and improves mood. “I run for a lot of reasons, “ he writes, “the scenery, the mental and physical health benefits, to heal, to be a better person and father. But I’m also out there to explore, to have an adventure, to break away from the mundanity and futility of it all.”

What else we’re reading

• I truly appreciated this post: “25 Neuroscience Myths” debunks a bunch of common misconceptions about how the brain works. For instance, coming in at №5 on the list, is the idea that we only use 10% of our brains: False! “We use 100% of our brains, and many neuroimaging studies will demonstrate that any given cognitive task or behavior can excite many different regions of the brain.”
• Slava Polonski, PhD, a research lead at Google, breaks down what can be so weird and off-putting about personalization — we like getting customized recs, but don’t like the feeling of being spied on — and charts a course towards a more human-centered approach: Teach people how personalization actually works, make it less creepy by giving them more control, and stop reducing them to a single “type.”

Your daily dose of practical wisdom: about bad bosses

Having a terrible boss can still be a learning experience; you can learn a lot from experiencing first-hand what not to do. For instance, instead of pointing fingers when things go wrong, use the SCAT acronym:

Step back to get a hold of your emotions, so you don’t do or say something that halts forward progress.

Care by making sure everyone on your team is okay. This step can go a long way in building trust.

Ask reflective questions. “What did we get right?” is a solid place to start as it can build positive momentum. Then ask questions to zero in on what exactly went wrong while focusing on the problem and not the person who may be at fault.

Take positive action. Identify the next little right step you can take.

Learn something new every day with Medium’s Daily Edition. Sign up here.

Edited and produced by Harris Sockel & Carly Rose Gillis

Questions, feedback, or story suggestions? Email us: tips@medium.com