"They trained mostly by time periods, checking their pace for known distance only on special occasions"
About this Quote
There’s a quiet rebuke tucked inside Henderson’s plainspoken line: before the era of GPS watches and Strava bragging rights, training wasn’t a constant referendum. “Mostly by time periods” is an old-school philosophy that treats running less like a laboratory experiment and more like a practice you return to, day after day, without demanding proof of progress every mile.
The subtext is psychological. By checking pace only “on special occasions,” the athlete protects the bulk of training from the anxiety of measurement. Numbers can sharpen effort, but they also colonize it: every run becomes a test, every slight slowdown a failure. Henderson hints at a system where the default mode is feel, rhythm, and accumulation. The occasional known-distance check functions like a calibration, not a surveillance state.
Context matters, too. Henderson came up in a period when distance running culture valorized patience and aerobic base-building, and where conditions (routes, shoes, surfaces) varied enough that precision could be misleading. Time-based training also democratizes: you don’t need a track or a perfectly measured course to do serious work; you need commitment and a clock.
The intent reads less like nostalgia and more like a critique of modern optimization culture. He’s reminding athletes that fitness isn’t just data you harvest; it’s adaptation you earn. Saving measurement for “special occasions” preserves mystery, joy, and—ironically—often better results, because the body improves when the mind isn’t perpetually auditioning.
The subtext is psychological. By checking pace only “on special occasions,” the athlete protects the bulk of training from the anxiety of measurement. Numbers can sharpen effort, but they also colonize it: every run becomes a test, every slight slowdown a failure. Henderson hints at a system where the default mode is feel, rhythm, and accumulation. The occasional known-distance check functions like a calibration, not a surveillance state.
Context matters, too. Henderson came up in a period when distance running culture valorized patience and aerobic base-building, and where conditions (routes, shoes, surfaces) varied enough that precision could be misleading. Time-based training also democratizes: you don’t need a track or a perfectly measured course to do serious work; you need commitment and a clock.
The intent reads less like nostalgia and more like a critique of modern optimization culture. He’s reminding athletes that fitness isn’t just data you harvest; it’s adaptation you earn. Saving measurement for “special occasions” preserves mystery, joy, and—ironically—often better results, because the body improves when the mind isn’t perpetually auditioning.
Quote Details
| Topic | Training & Practice |
|---|
More Quotes by Joe
Add to List
