Is Running Really Skill or Just Effort?

Audio

Video

How do you feel after this sentence;

Running isn’t a real sport because real sports require skill.

Is running really just a challenging competition with yourself? Does an activity like bowling take more skill than running? Does that make it harder to do?!

In this episode, we’re getting extra existential on this one and going deep down the rabbit hole of the “difficulty” of running.

Whether you’re a seasoned marathoner or a casual jogger, understanding the balance between technique and hard work can transform your performance. We’ll uncover how elite runners optimize their form, improve efficiency, and why for amateurs, simply pushing harder might not be enough.

Listen below or watch above to the full episode or read the article summary to level up your run game.

Skill vs. Effort: The Core Debate

The question of whether running is more about skill or effort has sparked some serious heat on both sides. On one hand, running seems straightforward—just put one foot in front of the other and keep going. However, both amateurs and pros know there’s much more nuance to it. For elite athletes, the emphasis on skill, such as form, economy, and efficiency, plays a significant role in their success. They spend countless hours refining their technique, doing drills, and focusing on every detail of their running form.

The Importance of Warm-Ups and Drills

Many runners underestimate the power of a good warm-up and skill-based drills. These routines are not just about getting the body ready for a run but also about honing specific movements that improve running efficiency. High knees, A, B, and C skips, lunges, and plyometric exercises all contribute to better form and reduce injury risk. Skipping (pun intended!) these foundational elements often leads to setbacks, as they are crucial for developing the fine motor skills needed for effective running.

Effort and Hard Work: The Other Side of the Coin

While skill is essential, effort and hard work cannot be discounted. For many amateur runners, sheer determination and the willingness to push through tough workouts are what drive progress. However, relying solely on effort can only take you so far. Without incorporating skill-based training, runners might find themselves plateauing or dealing with recurring injuries. Consistent effort is vital, but it needs to be paired with smart training strategies to maximize benefits.

Balancing Skill and Effort for Optimal Performance

The real magic happens when runners find the right balance between skill and effort. This balance is different for each individual and evolves over time. For example, focusing on skill might mean dedicating specific days to drills and technique work, while other days emphasize building endurance and pushing physical limits. Understanding this dynamic can lead to significant improvements and a more sustainable running practice.

Going Deeper: The Role of Technique in Running

One aspect that stands out is how elite runners view technique. For them, running is not just about logging miles but about perfecting every aspect of their movement. This involves detailed analysis and constant adjustments to their form. Techniques such as proper foot placement, optimal stride length, and even breathing patterns are fine-tuned to enhance performance and efficiency. These skills, although they seem minor, can lead to significant gains over time.

Practical Tips for Incorporating Skill into Your Running

For runners looking to improve, integrating skill-based practices into your routine is key. Start by dedicating a portion of your weekly training to drills and formwork. This can be two to three minutes in your warmup before hard sessions and long runs, which is about two to three in total. Then once every week or two do a dedicated 15-20 minute run drill and plyometric focused workout to really get the muscle memory baked in..

Use video analysis to identify areas for improvement and work with a coach if possible. Small, consistent changes can lead to substantial improvements. Remember, skill development is a gradual process that compounds over time, leading to better efficiency and fewer injuries.

Conclusion

Balancing skill and effort is essential for runners at all levels. While hard work and determination are important, refining your technique can elevate your performance and make running more enjoyable. Embrace both aspects of training to unlock your full potential as a runner.

Timestamps of What You’ll Learn in the Episode

[00:00] Introduction to the skill vs. effort debate in running
[01:20] The importance of re-evaluating your running approach
[02:27] Comparing skill and effort in different sports
[03:50] Skill-based training: drills and fundamentals
[05:20] Analyzing running through the lens of amateurs vs. pros
[07:24] Community insights: Effort and skill in developing running form
[08:38] Practical advice on balancing effort and skill in your training
[10:15] Listener feedback and poll results on skill vs. effort
[12:00] The nuanced perspective of running as a skill-based activity
[14:50] Closing thoughts and actionable tips for improving your running

Links & Learnings

Is running a skill that needs to be developed?
Remy B Reel on YouTube
The One Percent Better Runner Newsletter
DLake Runs on Instagram
Watch & Read this here

00:00.108 : How do you feel after this sentence? Running isn’t a real sport because real sports require skill. Is running really just a challenging competition with yourself? Does an activity like bowling take more skill than running? Does that make it harder to do? Yep, we’re getting extra existential on this one and going deep, very deep down the rabbit hole of skill versus effort. We’ll pontificate about the difference between viewing running as a skill or an effort. Understand how amateur and elite athletes approach running differently. Spoiler, elite pros put the time and work in the skill of running. How to approach it more like a pro and up your running form, economy, and efficiency. And a few more thought-provoking ideas. I’m Darren D. Lake Runs. I’ve been running since 1994. I’ve done a sub three-hour marathon and a 10-hour Ironman triathlon. And since 2012, I’ve been researching, experimenting on myself and talking to experts, all the experts on how to get 1% better every day in my racing, training and life, all to make it that much simpler and easier for you to do it. I’ll be joined by my content brother from another mother, Remy B. Real, and special guests like Instagram, how to running guru, Mike Trees, AKA Run.Energy, to help tell their side of things. Want to learn it all so you can tell me why I’m wrong or right? Alrighty then, let’s go.

01:20.366 : Hey, yo, good people of the internet. What it do? I’m Remy with my man D Lake, and this is this or that the show where we discuss polarizing topics in the endurance sports space. Darren, how you feeling, my man?

01:37.339 : I’m feeling great. And just to go on your point, I’m feeling superb, spectacular, amazing. There we go. Because probably in the last few, I’ve just been saying great. And we’ve got more adverbs in our vocabulary than that. But the whole point of all of this is to help you out, yes, you, listener, viewer, or reader, understand that the way you do things while it might serve you right now, it might not be how you do it in the future. And also things shake up. So you might be like, oh, there’s another side of things or the way you think about things. Cause this one is on, is running and or cycling a skill or an effort. And we’re going to keep it to there because we go to swimming. Swimming is definitely a skill. It’s all skill. Guaranteed. So we’re going to end it there. And you know, we could go to what else is there? There’s a strength training, there’s yoga, rock climbing, rock climbing.

02:26.469 : Yeah.

02:27.590 : So, and this is more in line with like, you think about basketball, whereas like, is basketball a skill or an effort? It’s like, basketball is definitely a skill. You know, like think about in the context of that. And as I have been, you know, I’ve transitioned from basketball to running, I was like, is it a skill or an effort? So yeah, I thought this was a fun one. This is situational. This is gray area. This is weird. I like weird, you know, think in different ways. Remy, is running slash cycling a mostly skill-based thing or a mostly effort-based thing?

02:59.410 : Let me know. I will not argue about effort in endurance sports. You gotta try hard sometimes. And as he alluded to, swimming is all skill, but knowing the majority of our audience, runners, maybe a couple of cyclists sprinkled in there, and yeah, you can just go hard. But let’s pause and take a look at what skill-based training could look like. The drills exist for a reason. So when you’re warming up and doing your A, B, C skips, your lunges and your hops and your plyometrics, Those all, sure, might just seem like warm-ups, which, if we’re honest, majority of runners—yes, I’m talking to you—probably skip the warm-ups and just figure, eh, I’ll lean into it. Probably don’t do the cool-downs. Until you get injured. But if we focus on the skills, if we focus on getting those high knees, if we focus on doing the footwork stuff, if we focus on pedaling drills, but if we focus on those skills that you hear in videos just like this one or from whatever outlet, probably your coach, telling you that, yeah, you got to work on some of these finer points to take your running to the next level. Sure, sure, you can gut it out, and you can just work harder, bro, but you don’t always have to. And to stay on the theme of basketball for just another moment, Look at some of the more successful teams in the 90s, 2000s, and the 10s. While these teams, sure, you had explosive players that were putting in great effort, but it was mostly about the fundamentals. And those are skills that have to be developed. The bounce pass. the pick and roll, the screens, those are all the little skills for that sport. And now we can translate into the skills in endurance sports, whether that is working on the quick feet, working on your strides, and working on your skips. The more focus you put on those skills, the faster your running is going to progress.

05:20.293 : All right, so I’m going to read some notes on my phone. So excuse me if I’m not giving you the direct eye contact, but this is super nuanced and very expansive and things can get a bit in the weeds. I can go on some rants. I want to make sure I stay focused. So let’s run this through two filters. The first filter is going to be for amateurs and the second filter is going to be for pros. And with this first filter, amateurs, they can muscle their way with effort to running decent times. So you go, oh, I’m going to run really. Swimming, you can’t muscle your way through swimming. So that’s the interesting part. Got to have good form. So swimming is very skill based. We’ll talk about that in a second. But again, you can try really hard. You can push through and you can get decent times. You cannot do that as a pro. Like once you get to a certain level, Other people are gonna have much better form much better efficiency much better economy and they’re gonna be able to skill their way to the 1% better than you and beat you and the same can be said for basketball, or it can’t be. You can’t muscle your way through basketball. You can’t be really big and strong. You can’t be the tallest person. To get to the higher levels, you have to have crazy amounts of skill for basketball. I’d even say tennis is up there. This is not knocking pro runners. This is mostly in amateur runners, myself included. They are high skilled when it comes to running. And it’s a thing that they work on with form, with so many of the 1% variables that they need to get right. So I feel like at the pro level, it’s a combination of skill and for effort, but at the amateur level, it’s like 80%, 90% effort, and that extra 10%, they don’t even work on the skills. I wish more people would do plyometrics and form drills and even go into the gym and just think about their form like swimmers do and like a pitcher does in baseball, like someone shooting a basketball. Think about it like that, like reps. You can get better form, which makes you more efficient and more economical and makes you run better. But a lot of people don’t. So this is my, you know, please, please think about that. But if you think about that sport as more of a skill based thing activity, you will get better. It takes a long time, but you will get better if you do small gains. You do the drills a few times a week, week on week, month on month, compounds year on year. You will become better.

07:24.940 : OK, so I hear you on the effort. I hear you all that. You got to hustle hard. You got to put it in. But let’s hear from the community. Let’s take a look at the polls. And while we’re transitioning into that, let’s hear from you, the viewer, the listener, the reader. Let us know in the comments. Skill, effort, a little mix of both. Let us know your sports, your take as we pull these up.

07:53.520 : Well, hey, you need the effort to develop the skills. So it’s definitely an effort, right? Unless you’re going to get out there and start, then we’re not going to be able to develop these skills. So lace up the shoes, get out the door, the skills will follow.

08:10.577 : Well, I think it’s a bit of both, but if you’ve got to plan for one, I think hard work and endurance will pay dividends over just doing the skills. You need the skills to run well, reduce the risk of injury, become more efficient, but you need just the hard, long slog of training day after day to build up the aerobic base and the aerobic endurance. Consistency over time, just running every day is the way to go.

08:38.556 : Right now is the part where I go, hey, if you're not feeling this, make sure you subscribe, rate, share it out with your friends about how amazing this is, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, all right. While you should go out and do that anyway, how about I actually give you something that will help you? Is the running, health and fitness, and endurance sport internet too much sometimes? Is it too much conflicting content on how to train right? Or you just don't have time to read and watch the latest trends on how to, I don't know, carb cycle for your next marathon? Don't worry, I'll take care of that for you by showing you how to train, race, and live 1% better consistently. To do this, just sign up for my free newsletter, OPB. I figure out this whole 1% better thing so you don't have to by scouring the endurance sports deepest and darkest corners of the internet. Go to 1betterrun.com/ forward slash news, all spelled the normal way, to be inspired and motivated on the regular. Let's get back into it. All right, so let's go through the poll. 14% of the community said that it's skill-based and 86% said it's effort-based, which I thought more people would be like, yo, running's a skill. But now that I think about it, that's why so many people have running form issues and they get injured is because they haven't actually taken a skill. They just think they can just go out and just put it in the raw, I'm just gonna try real hard, you know? And that is why my argument is, you know, what I was saying before, why it is effort-based. So this actually is a bit murky and a bit gray area, which is cool. You know, life is not, life is, life is nuanced. Life is not, it's not black and white. There's a lot of gray areas. Let's go to the responses. I'll read off a couple responses for you people that are listening. Again, the whole point of all this, the reason why we have this, I talk everything out is because this is also, I want to offer it as a podcast. This is obviously a video if you're watching. And also you can read it because we're all holistic learners. There's also going to be infographics and quotes and all that stuff because we all learn in different ways. And you soak it in more if you can learn it in different ways. So you might go, I'm going to watch it, but then transition if you don't have YouTube premium. But if you have YouTube premium, you can just put it on, lock the screen and put it in your pocket and listen to the podcast. But most people don't have that. And that's a conversation for another day. So let's see the responses. Jackie, this is a friend of mine, Alicia Jim, 15. You can be fit and in shape, but if you just keep hitting snooze like I did today, what's the point? Interesting. And then we've got, sorry, let me go through there. If you follow the process of training and put in the effort, you see the results. Okay, so I don't know which side they're arguing. I always need to have them put in. Someone said L, probably effort from experience. Skill is built by putting in the effort. Oh, that's an interesting way of flipping it. So the skill comes from by putting in the effort, the pseudo vegan, because your skill will never get a chance to shine if you don't put in the effort. So everyone keeps saying got to do effort first. So effort comes before skill. And Vickster DC, Vicky, if you don't try hard, it doesn't matter what skill you have. So this is all effort based. I choose effort. And yeah, so this is, I mean, everyone chose effort and they're saying why, and no one chose skill.

11:50.418 : Yeah, for sure. And I see that in that context, you know, skill is being more equated to talent, whereas, you know, as I argued, the skill is more in technique. Right. It’s an efficiency. So finding your your proper running dynamics, finding your proper cycling dynamics, getting everything dialed in just right for you is how I equate the skill. That said. I can see the other side. I can see where, like our community has spoken up, you got to put in the effort, right? Because no amount of just refining these little points, if you don’t put in the effort and you’re not showing up day in, day out, then what’s it for? Hard work beats talent when the talent doesn’t work hard. Yes, that’s good. I get that, and you gotta put in that effort, you gotta put in that work, so I can totally see that other side. Darren, has there been, you know, in that small minority, anything to get you to see where the skill comes in?

13:00.292 : Well, this is an interesting one because this isn’t actually me saying I do it a certain way, it’s just more how I view running. And again, this was one of those like fun ones, those, those, those grab bag ones where it was like, oh, this is random. Should we even do this? And it’s more that I think people liken running to basketball. And I actually go, yo, basketball is technically harder because it’s skill-based. So that’s my argument is that all these team sports that are skill-based, tennis, oh my God, the skill in tennis, baseball, those kind of people equate like running a marathon to that. And I’m like, Yo, you’re just out there just slogging along. And we have to then split it between amateurs and the pros. And I’m not, no disrespect to you amateurs that are going out there waking up day in and day out, but maybe you’d be better suited treating your training more like a pro where you actually work on your running like a skill. So here’s my, I wrote this down, here’s my hot take opinionated contrarian snob view on things. Here we go, here we go, here we go. So sports need to be categorized into three sections. Sports, which require skills and teams to win. So that’s one section. Then there’s loosely team-based. Tennis is like loosely team-based. Track is like loosely team-based. Cycling is loosely team-based. It’s individual-ish, but there’s a team component to winning. And then there’s activities, like bowling, curling, badminton, et cetera. And everyone lumps all that stuff under sports, and I think that’s not cool, because you’re not giving the respect to the craft and the art of sports. people that play again, basketball and soccer and hockey and even baseball and football. And that’s what I want to differentiate. So again, those three are proper team sports. They are they’re proper team sports, they are competitions, and then there’s activities. And through that all, yes, there’s skill, there’s a lot of skill in bowling, but how much, a bowler isn’t putting as much effort as someone that’s slogging along running a marathon does. So that’s where it’s like effort-based skill and all these sort of things. So there’s really no right or wrong to this. This is just something I wanted to talk about because it’s fun and I like being really like, you know, out there and my thinking and, you know, intellectual in a way. I’m not calling myself an intellectual, but just, you know, just having fun with it all. So there you have it.

15:16.576 : You’ve heard from us. You’ve heard from the community. Don’t forget to like, subscribe and share this if you think it’ll be interesting to talk with your running group, your cycling club. Don’t forget to throw something down in the comments. And please also check out my man Darren’s YouTube channel as that’s popping off as well. Till next time. It’s been real.

15:42.368 : You've made it to the end. Thank you so much for listening to all this stuff on how we try to make running and training and life and all that stuff work, because time is a resource that no one can make more of. Not yet, at least. So we appreciate you taking the time out of your day to listen, watch and generally consume all this stuff. Accessibility is pretty cool nowadays, so we have a transcript for all the episodes. Make sure you go to the show notes section of this episode on whatever podcast player you're listening to, or you can go to the description of the YouTube video, or just go to podcast.delaycreates.com to find the episode and the transcript. All of this was produced in Sydney, Australia, so I acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, who are the traditional custodians of the land. I pay my respects to elders past, present, and emerging. A lot of people ask how they can support us, and I think the easiest way is to just share this out to people you know that would like this. So whether it's a podcast link from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, whatever you're listening to, or watching on YouTube, send them a link, just flick it to them. Email it, text it, you know, Instagram, whatever. Send them a link of this episode, or my newsletter, or whatever you can, the YouTube link, whatever you can. The second easiest way is to rate, like, or subscribe to this podcast and or video on YouTube, or even subscribe to my newsletter. If you have any feedback, feel free to hit me up. Talk at 1betterrun.com/. That's T-A-L-K at 1betterrun.com/. Spelled the normal way, train smart, race, and live easy. Peace.