“Train hard so the race is easy.”
While platitudes become just that for a reason, this one might need to be retired.
“Train hard so that the race is easy.” Just feel free to substitute the word “race” with whatever end-goal you’d prefer.
This quote encapsulates the idea that if you push yourself really hard during your training, pushing hard during the competition won’t feel so difficult.
And there is some truth to this. Getting used to an RPE 10 level of output is useful, if only to understand what you’re truly capable of.
But the real question is: how often should we push ourselves to our absolute max during our training?
The problem with pushing yourself to the absolute max of what you’re capable of is that doing this for weeks upon weeks at a time is a surefire way to overshoot your recovery capacity.
Hard weeks are best used prior to rest or low-intensity weeks or periods.
Building up your intensity slowly over a mesocycle (usually 3-6 weeks) so that your latter weeks are the hardest and precede a deload or low-volume week is a great way to organize your training.
You could also try adding in your highest-intensity work at super low volumes each week (e.g. max effort work).
Thirdly, you could use a weekly undulating periodization model where you have a high and high-est intensity week (in a four week block, like how we program at the gym) interspersed with two lower or medium intensity weeks. This will allow you to push yourself some weeks and then rest up a bit before doing it again two weeks later.
So whether it’s a race, competition, or moving a large couch down a cramped stairwell, including some truly difficult work in your training can and will help you prepare, just not all the time.