Why did you quit running?

My knees hurt too much while running. I suspect my knees are affected by my lack of hip strength and lack of flexibility.

Being a runner for most my life I wanted to live a normal life. Not so focused on the next race or my work out for the day. Took a few years off from training. I still ran here and there but not religiously. It was quite freeing and I was actually happier than I had been in a long while. I could start the day and not worry about when I was going to get my workout in or blah blah.

I started racing again this past year because I missed that good feeling after a run. Now I find myself enjoying it, I live life to the fullest, get a run/work out in when I can. Usually start my day with a run/work out and don't let it complicate my life. I take days off, easy days, and work out how I feel.

What I learned from my hiatus of running. Their is too much life to be lived outside of running. If you do it, do it for the joy of it, but don't let it BE your life.

altoona tuna wrote:

I put in 70-80 miles per week but can barely break 40 for a 10K. I am too damn slow to feel rewarded by running and it's embarrassing to be out there.

This is incredibly easy to fix. Start running 40-50~ MPW, possibly lower, and start doing lots of speed work. It'll be impossible NOT to run under 40. When you're doing lots of mileage and not seeing any "results" - then it's time to pull back and focus in more on workouts than mileage.

And how long did you put in 70-80 MPW? Were you trying to race off that mileage?

Too many people get discouraged through high mileage because they never back off the high mileage, or race off the high mileage, or just do it the wrong way (not having enough workouts, just doing ALL easy mileage, etc.) Either way, this is a poor excuse to quit running, and with some good training you're probably very close to a break through. That's my opinion at least.

... To respond to the OP, in the last two years I got married and have two kids, one just three weeks old. So I've really "quit" running in only the past 16 months or so, but I'm ready to get back into it and start taking the baby on stroller runs when she's old enough. I already take my four year old to the track when I have to do workouts, she loves running and watching me run.

Honestly, this is just me being ignorant, but I don't understand people "not having time to run" when they don't have kids. I personally found it very easy to run with just a wife and career. It wasn't until kids were thrown into the mix that it become very important to be spending more time at home with the children, then out on runs. But I probably work a lot less (teacher hours) than a lot of other professionals on this board.

The Stache wrote:

1. Injuries. I could actually still run, but it took too much time and effort to manage the lingering injuries.

2. I found a sport I was actually better at than running - racquetball. Plus, as I have gotten less fit with age, I have actually gotten BETTER at racquetball. I have not gotten better because I am less fit, but the skills and knowledge and decision making that come with training in this sport are skills which accumulate without really declining IMMEDIATELY if you take a little time off.

My story is just the opposite of yours. I started out as a pretty good handball player in NYC, moved down south (no handball here) and took up Raquetball. Ruptured my achilles during a game so I quit the hard stop/start sports and began running. I'm in my mid 40's now and run just to keep the weight off, roughly 30 MPW with some hiking thrown in. Nothing spectacular, I run 10 min miles and don't care if I improve or not.

Seventy-five hours a week, is overwhelming, regardless of whether or not you decide to resume running. I advise you find a job that allows for a better work / life balance. ( or if you have multiple jobs, quit one of them).

I think you should be able to get back to your PRs if you work at it, lose the 30 pounds, and stop smoking. Athletes at at their peak during the late twenties and early thirties, so you have many more years ahead of you with potential PRs.

If you are training primarily for middle distances, that would be far less of a time commitment than training for longer distances. Also, the extra weight and smoking may affect your performances in the shorter races less than the longer races.

I ran in high school and did not run much between 18 and 29, maybe one or two 5k races per year and ran maybe 10 mpw through most of that time (although I was a swimmer and rowed crew). I've started running again and its been a lot of fun, and am running similar times to high school. Basically I virtually stopped running competitively because I wasn't fast enough for my college team and wasn't really aware there were any running clubs around until a few years ago. Its a lot more fun to run as part of a club than on my own.

I don't understand why so many people quit running so abruptly. I understand not wanting to compete anymore, and even feeling burned out mentally, but it's amazing how many formerly good runners become disgusting fatasses or just become really unhealthy. Why not at least run or bike or do something 3-4 times a week? Is mindless competition and egoism the only reason they ran in the first place?

timelessness matters wrote:

I didn\'t quit as much as I stopped caring about competing and times. I stopped wearing a watch, not just for running but all the time. Getting rid of a watch did wonders for my psyche. I had no clue how fast, or slow, I ran.

Stress was lower. Finish times were slower. Eventually, I cared more about simply running and not about trying to beat the guy right in front of me. My running world became a much happier place.

Same for me, with a bit of an asterisk.

I did 8-15 hours/week of running, triathlon, and Nordic ski training from college through 30 years of age. Running was the baseline even when I was concentrating on tris or in the winter. Late 20\'s I started playing golf again after not having played since high school. Right around 30 I started getting into competing in state level tournaments. I\'m a guy who needs to practice a lot to get good and stay sharp. I was putting in about 20-25 hours/week playing rounds and was practicing another 10-15 hours/week. With that time commitment my running dropped to about once/week. Got down to a 3 handicap with a playing season of only April-Nov. In the cold weather I wasn\'t as motivated to put in the miles as I used to be.

After about 5 years of that I changed careers and started coaching college runners and skiers, that got me back into running. Of course 5+ years away from running did me in as far as any hope for decent results, but I\'m ok with that. Still love the motion of running, can\'t imagine I\'ll ever give that up unless I run into physical problems. It bugs me a little that redline when I\'m in shape now is about 4:00/km, but for the most part when I see a lot of people my age (47) or even younger in lousy shape I\'m just happy I can get out there and enjoy a few miles on a regular basis.

I was a competitive high school runner (9:30 for 2 mile) who enjoyed running but got injured during cross-country freshman year. Had a terrible case of knee tendonitis that would not heal. Even walking aggravated it. After trying to make several comebacks during the next 12 months and failing miserably, I quit for the duration of college. Then, literally only days after graduating, I started running again. I was about 10 pounds heavier, out of shape, and not able to run more than 20 miles a week (I had been at 55 mi/wk routinely). But I was so happy to be running I didn't care.

Each year, I added about 10 miles a week, and within 3 years was running pretty well (a 9:35 indoor 2 mile was a highlight). I had 2 kids after that and a dissertation, and some seriously down running years, but I never let myself drop below 10-20 miles a week. Kids are now 5 and 3, I'm running 40 miles a week, and ran a 2 mile the other day just to see (9:57).

I would never let myself quit again. I didn't realize how much I'd missed it until I started back up. And as long as you're not trying to set lifetime PRs (still haven't bested my high-school time and I'm 34 now), you can make running fit your life, rather than fitting your life around your run.

I can't speak for everyone but I quit because running was a constant source of injury. Once I had my ankle reconstructed, it just wasn't worth the chance of having to have another expensive surgery or the endless cycles of sprain-rehab-sprain-rehab. When I started up again after 10 years, and sprained my ankle after a year of running, I realized that the cycle was sort of worth it.

den bosch wrote:

I don't understand why so many people quit running so abruptly. I understand not wanting to compete anymore, and even feeling burned out mentally, but it's amazing how many formerly good runners become disgusting fatasses or just become really unhealthy. Why not at least run or bike or do something 3-4 times a week? Is mindless competition and egoism the only reason they ran in the first place?

got a girlfriend.

now I'm fat.

I injured myself by over training. My right knee, and ankle are basically gone. I can not afford a good doctor and therefore my career as a runner even a hobby runner is gone

Old Schooler wrote:

I work every day, so does it really matter how many days are in a week? You obviously have never worked shift work, days of the week become irrelevant, it simply becomes "what days do I work and what days do I have off."

Yes it matters. 73 hours in 9 days is not 73 hours in a week. It's like if I said I worked 56 hours in a week when I don't. I may work 56 hours in 9 days.

Not trying to be a jerk, I understand shift work is tiring and frustrating, but just saying you're working less than the 75 hours so that's more motivation to get out and give it a shot again. Maybe you have more free time than you think...

Pretty bad car wreck back in September. Dumb, drunk, sorority chick ran a red light at 3am and I hit her doing 55mph. So not my fault at least. So I could work or run for 6 months because of my injuries. In that time I started smoking cigs and drinking to much beer.

However I am proud to say that I am running 45 miles a week and slowly getting back into it. Ran a 17 flat 5k a week ago. So another 6 months of hard training and I can be a mid 15 guy again or get back close to my old PR's in the 14's.

superstud wrote:

randomcoach wrote:

My father, a retired lawyer, averaged at least 75hrs/week when I was a teenager. I remember one time I called him on working too much, and when he added up the hours of the previous week, it was slightly over 100.

He sleeps less than anyone I know of, so when he woke up at 2 or 3am, he would and just go in to start his day because he was bored.

He wasn't working that many hours. He was having an affair. Did you ever meet his second family?

More likely he was billin suckers a hun hours and porking the receptionist

Ran 29:35 in the 10,000m at Stanford, walked off the track and put on 50lbs (racing weight 123lbs) building an HR career that is paying off. Don't miss it.

Been running 36 years.Would love LOVE to run 1:28 again. I'm 52 and never thought I'd get this slow... But this is my come back year (again ;-))Best wishes on the prostrate thing!

carpe diem 8197 wrote:

Never quit...

.. just re-calibrate...

...55 y.o. been running for 45 years. Sometimes fast, sometime slow, but always running. 1:28 half marathon @ 53; three weeks later diagnosed w/ prostate cancer... but still running!!

I ran in HS and was obsessed with it. I was never really that good (17:56 5k as a dude for XC) but I was proud of my times and I put a lot of work in. One winter I woke up after a 10 mile run with calves that looked like balloons. I never got to run senior track which destroyed me, esp since dr's could not properly diagnose me. Finally, my freshmen year of college I was properly diagnosed with a severe case of COMPARTMENT SYDROME. I had to get all 4 compartments released in both legs. I was happy because I thought i'd be able to run again.....

The surgery went fine but I could not run more than 2 miles without my leg shutting down near the ankle because i had so much scar tissue build up on my muscle near my ankle, over lapping to the bone. I then went to get an operation to remove the scar tissue....

The surgery to remove the scar tissue was a success except i got an infection that landed me in the hospital for 1 week and made them have to go into the incision again which in the end CAUSED MORE SCAR TISSUE. I obviously am in a catch 22, I have all of this scar tissue in my lower ankle that prevents me from running more than 1-2 miles, seriously. Every doctor says the same s*** "see an A.R.T. practitioner, get a deep massage, etc" A.R.T. SUCKS. I wish it was the miracle f***** worker people say it is, but for me it wasn't.

So here I am four years later after this mess, haven't run more than 3 miles in 4 years and it kills me. There's nothing like going on a nice run in the streets at night time in the summer or running the trails through the fall. Hopefully someday there will be a cure for this problem I have but I dont think there will be unless a laser comes out that can zap away scar tissue.

FYI: I had all my surgery done at the Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC which is one of the best hospitals in the country, my thinking is that if they couldn't fix me, if countless physical therapy couldn't, or a.r.t magicians, then I'm screwed. I basically excepted that I will never really run again but sometimes, like now, I can't help but flip out because of how bitter I am about it. I f****** miss it.

I was never built for this sport in the first place, but just loved it because it was a sport that you could do alone..

You didn't have to search the world over trying to find someone to pitch you a ball or guard you in a basketball game..

80,000 miles later, I had to quit, becuase of knee problems, just pain every step..then the back went and had to get 5 epidurals..

Then my wife was diagnosed with brain cancer and the radiation treatment left her with dementia...

So, just to help relieve stress, I started again, but in moving to Arizona (the valley), in the summer, you only have a small window of time to train and try and take care of my wife..

So, every step with escrutiating pain, at 5a.m. or try and train in the evening when your wiped out from caregiving..

No fun anymore.

But, oh what fun it once was.

I quit because I doped. I made my money, I made my fame, and I broke the records. If I go any longer, I may get caught.