I read Avoiding Stupidity is Easier than Seeking Brilliance this morning which focused on the idea that ~80% of winning points in professional tennis are caused by the winner, whereas in amateur tennis 80% of points are lost are caused by the actions of the player losing the point.
Simply put, not making mistakes often is superior to being aggressive and overreaching. In no sport is this more prevalent than running.
You often hear things like being 10% undertrained is better than being 1% overtrained, but few people align their training to ensure this happens. Frequently gains in fitness are misinterpreted as signs to push harder, but that often results in injury and overtraining.
Avoiding pushing too far also allows for the accumulation of solid training week after week and year after year. When people see huge results, they often look to that one workout that must have caused the result, but in actually it usually is the compounding effect of fitness that has occurred over the course of months and years.
Sometimes simplicity and consistency isn’t sexy, but it’s not stupid, and it works.
