Caitlin Clark and endurance sports: Lessons we can learn from pro athletes about recovery

Caitlyn Clark is already one of most impactful athletes in women’s basketball- from her days as the Nation’s All-Time leading scorer at Iowa, to becoming  the first player in WNBA history with 100 points and 50 assists in their first eight career games. However, with all her talent, her team is near the bottom of the league, with only 2 wins in 9 attempts. 

The answer to why this is the case, is something that endurance athletes and weekend warriors alike can learn from. In a recent ESPN article we gain insight as to why one of the best players in the world is seemingly unable to help the team perform- and we can learn from this critical principle:

“They've lost seven of eight, but part of the problem has been a brutal schedule in which the Fever have played five games against last season's top three teams and eight regular-season contests in 14 days, leaving little time for practice -- or rest.”

When we let competition get in the way of structured, focused training and recovery, we compromise our ability to perform at our best. Regardless of your ability, all of us need to have periods of rest and recovery. Pros and amateurs alike are no different in this regard. 

For amateur triathletes and runners, we see this manifest mainly in three ways: too much training without recovery, succumbing to peer pressure (not checking our ego during training sessions or race selection) and letting racing get in the way of training (racing too much).

Similar to professional athletic teams, competitive amateur endurance athletes operate in a season, and train year round in hopes of expressing fitness gains during the race season. However, UNLIKE professional teams, we get to dictate our own schedule without a league telling us when to compete. This is another instance in the world of endurance sports where discipline and restraint need to rein in our zeal to compete. Many athletes will book 5 or 6 70.3 Ironman triathlons and 1-2 full races, along with several local sprint or Olympic distance events in one single season- and then wonder why they fail to achieve their performance goals.  

This is a prime example of “letting our racing get in the way of our training”. Instead of being strategic about what events we select, we decide to race every event we can fit it. The obvious remedy is to race less, and be more strategic about our race selection. But, many athletes contest, we see the pros race that much! How come it can work for them, but not us?  

For a few reasons: First, (aside from their superior fitness and ability) pro athletes have the time and means to sleep 12 hours a day, train at optimal times of the day, and build special teams around them composed of physios, massage therapists, and dieticians to keep them in top form. Many don’t juggle full-time jobs, outside responsibilities, and navigate the stressful family dynamics (such as car-pool duty for kids, etc.) that we do. That leaves more time for critical rest and recovery. 

Second, pro triathletes have peaks and lulls in their seasons, and they are strategic about their race selection. They recognize that many races they will not be in top form, but are building to one or two key races in the season where they will peak. Also, pros are beholden to their respective countries, governing bodies, sponsors, and race organizers to compete in certain events. As amateurs, we have no such obligations, and can be even more strategic in planning our race schedule. 

Some still push back saying, “But I don’t want to be on the podium, I just want to enjoy the sport”. Of course we do. We ALL love racing and competing - we are driven, athletic people who derive joy and self fulfillment from racing others in a sport we love. Yet racing too much can (and many times does) lead to injury as we are under recovered, pushing at our limit weekend after weekend, race after race. 

When we race too much, we do not have time to rest and recover - much less train- properly for any upcoming events or races later in the year. We literally sabotage our fitness and performance by going racing too much - essentially going too hard - without taking a break.


Weekend warriors aren’t immune from allowing their zeal to override common sense, and share one element with the hyper-competitive endurance athlete: They succumb to peer pressure. Endurance athlete may attempt to race too much in part due to peer pressure- their team is all racing two big events this year, and their cousins are set on doing another one, and of course they can’t miss the 3 local tris they always do, and that one Ironman race has always been on their spouse’s bucket list…and on, and on and on. 

But those just looking to stay in shape can fall into that trap as well. I’ve long stressed the importance of having a friend, training partner, or gym buddy in our orbit with similar goals to help hold us accountable, and give us that little bit of extra motivation when we need it. That being said, many well-meaning workout buddies can coax us into unrealistic expectations of ourselves, and we usually end up at worst getting injured, and at best, significantly under performing. 

I saw this happen just this week, during our little town’s Memorial Day fun run a week or so ago. Normally, there is a little 1 mile fun run, which our family has done the past few years (my 3 and 5 year old sprint for about 100 yards at the start with my wife, then I push them in our jogging stroller the rest of the way:) This year, as is tradition with many Cross fit gyms, they do a workout called “Murph”, which is named after a fallen Marine who died in combat. It consists of a 1 mile run, 300 bodyweight squats, 200 push ups, and 100 pullups, followed by another 1 mile run. This is a tough workout, regardless of the fitness of the participant.

I saw many people, wanting to be patriotic, encouraged by friends or family, or simply looking to challenge themselves for the first time in a long while, attempt this. Only a handful finished, and many seemed to get hurt. 

Now, far be it from me to be critical of those looking to do hard physical challenges- that being said, sometimes we need to check our ego and ignore the peer pressure to do something we’re not ready for. 

I see this happen all too often in races (or even on the bike trail), when a male athlete is passed by a female, and then surges to overtake said female, only to begin the leap frog game and finally he succumbs to her steady, consistent effort. Due to the taxing nature of surging, the guy inevitably performs worse than if he would have just stayed consistent instead of letting ego get the best of him. 

The best example I have of peer pressure adversely affecting someone is my own first experience with an iron-distance triathlon, where I came to support my best friend attempting his first full-distance event. It was 2004, and I was living in Northern California, and a good friend of mine (who had recently moved to LA) tried to convince me to do an Iron-distance event, 3 months from then. I promptly said no, knowing I would never be ready for such an effort. (I had been dabbling in some sprint and Oly distance triathlons, but was a far cry from my current fitness level) 

While in LA, he had done a few swims in the ocean with some triathletes who had successfully convinced him he could be ready to race Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run),  in 3 month’s time. Fast forward to race day. While my friend was certainly fit, and raced sprint triathlons before, he wasn’t close to being ready. He’d done lots of short triathlons during that 3 months in preparation for the Iron-distance event, but the farthest he’d run is 6 miles at one time, and only ridden over 50 miles a handful of times. When I expressed concern over his training methods, he assured me that his new LA Tri friends said he could just run 6 miles then walk a mile- and that would be his race plan. Coasting on the downhills would be his bike strategy, and the down river course would take care of his swim. 

Needless to say, it did not go well for my friend. After a dizzying swim, he made it onto the bike but literally dismounted 50 yds from the dismount line because he simply refused to pedal one more stroke. He then proceeded to walk 25 of the 26.2 mile marathon, and finished his first (and only) full distance triathlon in 16:54, 6 minutes prior to the cutoff. 

He’d fallen into the trap of listening to well-meaning but ill-informed friends. While mental toughness and a good attitude is critical in these grueling endurance events, proper training and recovery is even more so. Instead of being strategic and methodical about his training and racing, he listened to the ‘hype’, and ‘drank the cool aid’ of his friends, and it ended poorly. 

So, in our zeal to be fit, enjoy our sport, and express our fitness in a race, let’s not forget to check our egos at the door, take the time for proper rest and recovery, and don’t let our racing get in the way of our training- whether we are super-fit endurance athletes or just looking to shed a few lbs. At the end of the day, the same principles apply. Be strategic at how you train, how you race, and how you recover. 

Good luck and happy training!