When Hailey Swirbul walked away from professional skiing in 2023, it came as a bit of a shock.

“She’s definitely one of the most talented athletes that’s ever presented themselves on the landscape of U.S. cross-country skiing,” U.S. Ski Team program director Chris Grover told me on a recent phone call, pointing to the fact that the Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club alumna is the only skier in history to claim two individual world junior medals.

“Jessie (Diggins) doesn’t have that, Gus (Schumacher) doesn’t have that. Rosie Brennan, Ben Ogden don’t have that,” Grover continued. “I think we all felt in the community that she was stepping back too early when she hadn’t really untapped her potential.”

Swirbul announced a comeback this fall. We sat down with her at the end of October to learn more about why she stepped away in the first place, what’s she learned in the interim and what her path will be in trying to qualify for a second Olympics. One thing I found pretty interesting was Swirbul’s “experimental” approach to training.

Instead of checking every box, she’s interested to see just how rigid training has to be.

“I kind of want to figure out where can I go with this through the lens of curiosity rather than perfection,” she said. “And just having that mindset is so different. It’s so liberating to just do this process and be part of this journey.”

It reminded me of something I also heard from Zak Ketterson on a later podcast and Ben Ogden on an earlier episode of the Devon Kershaw Show. Both spoke to this idea of letting go a little, realizing scheduled intervals can be moved and — perhaps most foundational — that the key to maximizing the stress-recovery balance is listening to the body. This hyper-individualized training movement seems to be a thread moving through the endurance sports circuit, particularly with more experienced athletes.

The message from Swirbul, Ketterson and Ogden really resonated with me. Even though I’m not an elite athlete, over the last 10-15 years, I’ve approached training with a lot less rigidity. It wasn’t totally by choice.

Some of the jobs I’ve had have been so time and energy intensive that I’ve come face-to-face with the reality that factors outside of workouts can actually impact stress more than the intensity or duration of intervals. In other words, I learned there’s a cost-benefit to scheduling out the ‘perfect’ workout plan. Sure, it might be more ‘scientific’ and even more effective…but if the psychological and neurological cost of conducting L4 on this day and L1 on that day doesn’t mesh with real life, you’re not going to improve. Period.

So, I’m kind of a fan of this organic method.

But I think there’s a noteworthy caveat.

The ability to personalize your training within a more flexible framework later in your career is at least somewhat dependent upon operating within a more rigid framework at the beginning. That’s because physiological introspection requires a language, one built by traditional terms, workouts, etc. So, young athlete: don’t abandon your coach or your team, even if the plan isn’t perfect for you. Be a sponge. Use this time to absorb all the knowledge you can. Plot data points. Believe. Be a good teammate. Be a good pupil.

Older athletes, especially ones who are outside the organized sports world: don’t dwell on ‘past mistakes’ or periods where you “trained wrong.” Who knows, maybe you were actually applying the right kind of training, but other factors prevented you from seeing improvement at the time. Perhaps it’s time to fold a few old ingredients back into the mix.

The bottom line is, there are so many hidden factors to improvement, and comprehensive understanding is an elusive pursuit in the world of sports science. There’s a sign hanging in my entryway that I think sums up what I’m ultimately suggesting as an honorable pursuit — whether you’re trying to make a World Cup comeback, coach a young junior, or qualify for the third wave of the Birkie.

It simply states, “Work Hard. Stay Humble.”

*****Keep on Striving. Keep on Skiing.

To read my whole story, with more thoughts from Grover as well as APU coach Erik Flora, go here.

To listen to my full interview with Hailey Swirbul, go here.