Quote of the Day — Patterns, Not Pieces
“Think patterns, not pieces.” — Matt Perryman
Simple cause-and-effect thinking has no place is the study of living beings or training of runners. Causes and effects are spread out over networks and interrelated systems where each piece effects — and is effected — by tens, hundreds, or thousands of other pieces. The patterns that define our bodies are complex.
Complexity is a challenging concept. Our best bet is to think big picture. What matters are the patterns, not the little pieces that make it up.
Unfortunately, recreational runners, novice coaches, and let’s face it, most experts and high-level athletes, love to get hung up in the details.
We still think of the body as a collection of linear systems that we can tug on and dissect apart. But reductionist thinking focuses on the part and forgets the whole. Runners are a holistic, complex adaptive organism, which includes aerobic, glycolytic, and anaerobic energy systems, but not at the exclusion of everything else. Energy system development is only a (small) part of the training story, not the end all be all.
Remember, the piece is only as important as the pattern in which it finds itself.