The phrase “going to the well” is used to describe an all-out effort where the athlete gives everything they have plus that little extra no one knew they had. Some people think that there are a finite number of times that a person can “go to the well” in a season. A person’s brain and body can only summon that level of effort a few times. According to that theory, those efforts need to be carefully saved and selected for the most important races of the year. That means, no going to the well in practice, no flashy workouts, and definitely no racing the last rep.
My college coach fully believed this theory, so we did most of our workouts nowhere near race pace. His training approach was conservative, with a strong emphasis on threshold training and time on feet over intensity or speed. Of course, during the peak times of the season, we would sprinkle in some speed and race pace work, but it was rarely the focus. His reasoning behind this training was that he never wanted us to be using our all-out efforts in practice. This training worked fairly well for me, but that doesn’t mean I never put stock into a workout.
Even though our workouts weren’t all-out, I still had certain workouts that I thought of as “indicators” which I would use to get an idea of my race readiness. So, of course, when those workouts came around, I might push a little harder than prescribed to gain some confidence. The thing is, no matter whether workouts are structured to be all-out or threshold, athletes want to get some indication of race-readiness from a workout. So, I think the best approach is to have a few high-stimulus, near-race-effort workouts sprinkled throughout a training cycle so that athletes can get the indicator they need while coaches can remain in control of that effort and figure it into the total training plan.
Watch the video below to see me do a workout that felt like an indicator of race-readiness.
