Clyde Hart said, "There’s no such thing as peaking – if you can’t see the top (of the performance), how do you know where the peak is?"

What did he mean by that? It's anyone's guess that he's probably talking about running. Though that may be the obvious fact, he's talking about all of the things that tie into that final performance when you put on your spikes and step onto the starting line of a track or cross country course.

Small Preparations For Big Steps

It's when your coach tells you to do a cool-down followed by a few strides. It's when you want to pass out after a workout, but you do body squats or other body exercises. It’s asking yourself if you want to be better than you were last year.

Every athlete wants to be the best that they can be, but in reality, no one wants to do any of the small stuff. However, that's ultimately what must be done. It's the little things that make some of the biggest differences. The only problem that theory is that we don't always see that small things have big impacts, so we don't necessarily believe it all the time.

Eating a cheeseburger or a heavy meal hours before you race or have a workout is not necessarily something that will make a huge difference, but it isn't the best choice either. However, whether you got in a certain amount of hours of sleep before that race can contribute greatly, as your body needs to properly rest.

It all starts with you.

If you don’t usually stretch when you should, start stretching once a night to help increase your flexibility. If you don’t know where to start, look up different stretches to benefit you.

If you feel that your body is tired, go and ice. There’s nothing wrong with icing. It’s truly helpful, as long as you don’t become accustomed to icing all the time. If for example, your calves have been really sore, and they’ve been bugging you for a week. A good thing to do would be to roll them out and stretch them, ice them, and if you have them, slip on a pair of compression socks to sleep in.

After you and your team are done lifting weights in the weightroom, do a few more reps, even if it’s just one.

If you know that you have a hard workout or a meet coming up, stay away from the sweets. Yes, they’re very tempting. But are they tempting enough to possibly cost you a great workout or race? Think about it.

Going the extra mile isn’t always the most exciting thing, but it can be one of the most rewarding.

Going The Extra Mile

Going the extra mile is probably your greatest asset, aside from your actual legs. Going the extra mile means doing whatever it takes to keep yourself and your body healthy.

When committing to go the extra mile, you have to ask yourself this question: how bad do I want to be successful?

Remember, putting in the work is the hard part. Seeing it manifest is what makes it all worthwhile. So ask yourself what you want to do. Do you want to be good, or do you want to be great? Do you want to be great, or do you want to be the greatest. If you’re told to run three miles, will you stop at three, or will you run four?

All of these small things add up to being a very big part in the many ways to improve.