The Q:

The Q:

One the one hand (your left) you have quantity. Volume. Distance, long, steady and sometimes slow. You have the plural. More than one, perhaps many. You must take constant inventories to keep tabulation of the total. It satisfies our need to amass and horde. The more the merrier. Stuff. Sometimes necessary, most times simply useless possessions that take up valuable space.

On the other hand (your right) you have quality. The good stuff. Your prized possessions. Trophies. Intensity and passion. The rewards of focused effort. The singular. The ONE. The unique. No inventory necessary because it is always with you. Takes up no extra space because it is a part of you.

Weighing these handy scales we make value judgments as to the better of the two.

Would you rather have:

Two apples or one watermelon?
Two oreos or one fig Newton?
Two blue-plate specials or one gourmet dinner?
Two dime store novels or one classic hard-bound?
Two trips to Tacoma or one to Taos?
Two clunkers or one Prius?
Two cheap guitars or one Stratocaster?
The boxed set of the Bee-Gees Greatest Hits or the re-mastered Let it Bleed?
The entire collected works of Ed Wood or The Godfather?
Ten guppies or one koi?
Two pair of off the shelf Costco jeans or one pair of Levi's 501s?
Two tickets in the cheap seats or one on the rail?
Two seconds or one first?
Two so-so runs or one great one?
Two sloppy laps in the pool or one perfect one?
Fifty easy clicks or twenty-five killer miles?
Ten nondescript races or five excellent ones?
Two paragraphs hastily assembled or a single well crafted one?
Two 70.3 RCVs or one IM RCV?
Two in the bush or one in the hand?

Training Q, then. Does one need more quantity or more quality in the always limited and sometimes compromised allowable time to train? Should one do more, easier, or less, harder? What is the trade-off between the Qs? Which will give me the most return on time investment? A twenty mile easy ride or ten miles of hill repeats? Ten LSD miles or five all out? 2,000 meters in the pool or 1,000 for time.

Q: Which do I need when the choices are reduced to successful training?

A. YOU NEED BOTH*

* sorry

Pix: Two black pawns or one white Queen?