Numbers can exert a powerful influence – lets look at the data!
Sometimes they cause fear – what will that FTP result be?
Sometimes they motivate – nearly at the parkrun tshirt or tron bike? Then lets continue that streak.
Let’s dig a little deeper into the relationship of numbers. These can be important as sometimes they reveal subtleties
- Direct Relationships – Ask someone their date of birth and you can calculate their age. The relationship is direct. This is similar to the connection between speed, time and distance. Change one and there is a direct change to the others.
- Connected Relationships – This is where you need to be a little careful. Improve power and your speed MAY improve but there can be instances it doesn’t. For example if you are producing more power but at a high aerodynamic cost, your speed may actually drop. Drop weight and your speed may go up but you may become weak and drop power. At the professional side of this there are some really interesting examples with Vo2 max and running efficiency related to IM distance events. A lower vo2max MAY be a better goal strangely.
- Distant Relationships – These can be any 2 data points where the relationship is only loosely related but there are so many other factors that it’s only a light connection and maybe as misleading as not. For example a slower swim time may be connected to a faster bike/run if more energy was conserved however it could also be a current or rough sea swim. You need to know much more information before you can build a useful picture.
- Take-away: Use data that is helpful to what you want to achieve. Be careful with the information you are following. The dog should wag the tail….if you suddenly start to wiggle, look behind you and check the tail (numbers) are not making you wag!
Reductionism – Shrinking lots of data “stuff” into smaller data “stuff”
- There is a strong tendency to take a complex set of individual data points and look to combine it into a single reduced data point. The can be super useful for creating a simpler understanding. However be careful, the reduction can remove really vital information.
- A 10 year old infant went to the cinema to watch a movie with their 70 year old grandparent. Average age of the audience is 40 years old. This average is a very different demographic to the actual audience. Imaging if the movie producers then made the follow-up movie to target 40 year olds.
Take-away: Be aware not only of the simple data summary but also the wider data picture particularly with reductions like averages.
Comparison – Numbers on their own get lonely. They like to be compared to other numbers, especially changes over time or between people.
- A number is isolation usually isn’t very helpful. Its often used to tell a story. I’m running a certain pace – the story…how does it compare to the pace I want to run or how I’m feeling or how I ran the last time I did this route.
- This can be some of the most powerful uses of numbers to compare and balance against other subjective measures.
Take-away: Be mindful of the story you create with your comparison. Often decide ahead of time what your comparison process will be.
Summary : Numbers can be very useful to create a factual and non-judgemental view. Once we add our own perspective and story to the data however it can influence our emotions and behaviour. Use this to your advantage for motivation and empowerment. Make the numbers work in your favour.
Listening: Have a listen to a number chat! https://podtail.com/en/podcast/how-they-train/road-to-the-pto-european-open-episode-3/
Action: Next time you are looking at numbers, pause and reflect on the story you are creating and decide if it is empowering or disempowering.