A runner who caps summer training with a Labor Day race but aspires to run well in a fall classic is not that different from top athletes with multiple goals (save, perhaps, for a minute or two per mile). College athletes compete at regionals for the privilege of toeing the line at the national meet. Olympians must pass through an arduous Trials process, then ramp up their performance to medal at the Games. When you keep returning to the well, how can you make sure the bucket doesn't come up empty?