diff --git a/crates/rle/src/rle_tree/node/leaf_impl.rs b/crates/rle/src/rle_tree/node/leaf_impl.rs
index 941c13b5..b1e5a4c4 100644
--- a/crates/rle/src/rle_tree/node/leaf_impl.rs
+++ b/crates/rle/src/rle_tree/node/leaf_impl.rs
@@ -477,6 +477,7 @@ impl<'bump, T: Rle, A: RleTreeTrait<T>> LeafNode<'bump, T, A> {
         ans
     }
 
+    // TODO: refactor
     pub(crate) fn apply_updates<F>(
         &mut self,
         mut updates: Vec<(usize, SmallVec<[T; 4]>)>,
@@ -506,6 +507,7 @@ impl<'bump, T: Rle, A: RleTreeTrait<T>> LeafNode<'bump, T, A> {
                 }
             }
 
+            // TODO: try merging here?
             Ok(A::update_cache_leaf(self))
         } else {
             let mut new_children: SmallVec<[_; 64]> = SmallVec::new();
diff --git a/crates/rle/src/rle_tree/node/utils.rs b/crates/rle/src/rle_tree/node/utils.rs
index be07aab6..1f5d6573 100644
--- a/crates/rle/src/rle_tree/node/utils.rs
+++ b/crates/rle/src/rle_tree/node/utils.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 /// distribute the num to a array, where the sum of the array is num
 /// and each element is in the range [min, max]
 pub(super) fn distribute(mut num: usize, min: usize, max: usize) -> Vec<usize> {
-    debug_assert!(num >= min);
+    if num <= max {
+        return vec![num];
+    }
+
     let n = num / min;
     let mut arr = vec![min; n];
     num -= n * min;