Aside from keeping you going, the other reason to take walk breaks is that it allows you to run fast when you are actually running. This is much more important than it might initially appear.
For most seasoned ultrarunners, the average pace for a race drops below their normal easy training pace at around 40 miles. In other words, if the race is longer than 40 miles, you'll be going slower than you do in training. One of the tenets of all sports is to try to avoid doing things in competition that you haven't practiced in training. You could, of course, practice running really slow in training, but the walk breaks make that unnecessary.
By taking regular walk breaks, you can run your normal training speed when not walking. Going for a few recreational hikes is enough to train walking on trails. Thus, while your average pace is in untrained territory, at any given point, you are doing what you have practiced. The reason this is so important is that technique matters. Not only are you much more efficient when moving at a trained pace; you are much less likely to make a misstep that results in injury. This is particularly true at night (obviously, running and walking trails at night is another thing that needs to be practiced).
Similarly, in a long IT project, it's tempting to try to pace oneself for the long grind ahead. That turns out to be a really good way to turn it into a long grind. By working at a normal speed and then taking some time to slow down and assess, project members are more efficient and make fewer mistakes.
Agile is very good for this as the requirement to produce something tangible every iteration keeps people focused on attainable short-term goals. However, the principle can be applied to any methodology. It's a mindset more than a method. Catch your breath, size up the next chunk, and knock it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment