Shakeout: Keep the chains moving

Little gains make big strides

With my fifth-grader fighting off a fever and my wife traveling for work, I spent most of the weekend watching football while my son slept on the couch. It’s been years since I watched the NFL and it struck me that one of the biggest changes is the emphasis on racking up short, albeit positive, gains at the expense of taking riskier gambles down the field.

It’s not as exciting as watching quarterbacks chuck it deep while hoping for the best, but I suppose it’s more efficient and analytically correct to approach the game this way. Of course, the best teams still know when to take their shots down the field. Rarely does this happen by accident. Typically, they have the down and distance in their favor or some other factor pointing them toward success. For them, it’s less about risk than it is about opportunity.

As it is with running. When it comes to training, going deep on every run isn’t going to get you anywhere. Instead, racking up small gains over time will put you in position to improve your fitness. If you can keep the chains moving consistently, you then give yourself a chance to make a big play down the field. Or in this case, a big fitness gain.

This week is all about finding ways to keep moving forward.