Is Sharing Caring?
Another thinly-veiled food analogy
There was once a chef at a great Italian restaurant. He was an ambitious, competitive chef and he wanted his restaurant to be the very best. Over years of experimentation, he dedicated every waking moment to perfecting his recipe for lasagna. His livelihood depended on his ability to reliably produce a better lasagna than anyone else. He used only the finest, freshest, locally-sourced ingredients. Inevitably, about once a week, a patron of his restaurant would ask for the recipe to his lasagna. Does he owe it to them to share his secret recipe?
Even if he shared the recipe, would the result be the same if that person made it using canned tomatoes, dried basil, and store-bought garlic powder? Or if they didn’t hand-make their pasta each day? Do they have the knowledge, experience, and skill needed to execute the recipe and produce the perfect lasagna even if all of the ingredients and tools were set out in front of them?
Listening to a couple of podcasts lately got me thinking about this. First, Tom Evans on the Freetrail Trail Runner of the Year recap episode briefly lamented having shared some of his training staples like uphill weighted hiking, as it may have allowed competitors to close the gap on him as they imitated something that had given him an edge. Then, Finn asked Rachel Entrekin about her take on Tom’s perspective on a recent Singletrack episode. Rachel went far in the opposite direction, saying that she was an open book and didn’t see why she’d ever want to hide anything from anyone, and that she wanted to share advice freely to help other athletes, including competitors.
I think I can see a bit of each side of this. It’s great that there are some people out there sharing generally accepted training theory so that others can learn how to safely push their own limits in ultrarunning. Sometimes what is shared and what trends gain traction with the public could be helpful, like the focus on fatigue resistance that seems to be all the rage these days. Other times, it could be detrimental, like DBo interpreting weighted hiking as uphill and downhill reps in a weight vest despite Corrine’s pleas for him to not do weighted downhills. ;)
It’s also one thing to give your friend the recipe or teach an intimate cooking class, and another thing entirely to have an influencer come and film a viral behind-the-scenes TikTok showing exactly how the lasagna is made. Including specific training ideas in a niche book about uphill training theory vs having articles, podcasts, and social media reels published about it right after winning UTMB, in Tom’s case, may feel different.
But the exact recipe for ultrarunning domination is still unknown. There’s not a clear one-size-fits-all formula, and right now one of the best parts of competing at the top end of the sport is that you’re facing athletes who have taken a huge variety of training approaches to get to where they are. Pro ultrarunners are constantly engaged in a process of trial and error, fine-tuning their approaches with each race. Even those working with coaches are, in my experience, often doing so collaboratively and their training program is significantly shaped by the athlete’s feedback. They all have their own variation of a secret recipe for the best lasagna they know how to make.
That opens up another can of worms and this might be where my lasagna metaphor breaks down a bit. Who owns the recipe? Is it the chef who’s on the front lines every day, making micro-adjustments as he tastes the sauce and serves his plated dishes to the world? Is it the mentor of the chef who gave him the original lasagna recipe that he’s now adapted to his personal style? I don’t have all the answers here but I’d think that the chef should at the very least have a strong say over whether or not his personal recipe is shared.
Although having the recipe, ingredients, and tools at your fingertips won’t necessarily mean you can replicate the perfect lasagna, I wouldn’t expect the chef to divulge his secret recipe. I certainly wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t. Leave sharing recipes to the YouTube cooking tutorials, the recipe book authors, the Italian grandmothers, and the teachers at culinary school.
