That Which Gets Measured Gets Improved

We've all heard of training heroes and racing heroes. Training heroes are the ones who allow targets to consume them at the expense of the big picture.

"That which gets measured gets improved." Legendary business consultant Peter Drucker. His book The Effective Executive is a classic. You can read my book notes here. 

Measuring and predicting athletic performance is a key objective of the training process. This is often done in the context of a test workout or short race. When done well, the results guide your future training and racing, while adding context to the big picture.  

When done poorly, the results consume you and shift your focus away from the big picture and towards improving the results of the test.

I often see this with FTP testing. An athlete becomes obsessed with improving their 20 minute bike power, while losing sight of the fact that they're really trying to improve their 56 mile power (as an example for the half ironman athlete). 

Consider dovetailing Drucker's insight with Goodhart's Law:

"When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."

Goodhart's Law implies we should give serious consideration to that which we choose to test and measure, while not allowing the desire to do well on these tests to direct our focus away from the big picture. 

We've all heard of training heroes and racing heroes. Training heroes are the ones who allow targets to consume them at the expense of the big picture.

Racing heroes understand that no workout or race defines them as an athlete. When they look at their training, they see the whole body of work, not just a single workout. They test themselves regularly and thoughtfully with well designed workouts that guides their future training. 

- Antonio Gonzalez

6/20/2022