How to define a hobby jogger

If your goals in running are something other than winning races then you are a hobby jogger

I think it's more training based. Someone who only does 3 easy 6 mile runs a week and runs an 18:00 5k is more of a hobby jogger than someone who has less natural ability but runs 6 days a week with a proper training schedule including interval days, tempo runs, long runs, etc but can only get 19:00.

Co-worker said she was doing a color run this weekend and it took great strength to bite my tounge.

0/10

This has been beaten to death.

It's been beaten to a pulp, I'll grant you that, but apparently it needs more beating, because it's lying on the ground, moaning.

Hobby jogger spotter wrote:

If your goals in running are something other than winning races then you are a hobby jogger

30 years ago you'd have been right, but these days19, 20, 22 minutes are good enough to win 5Ks. For men.

The OP has a reasonable working definition, although this indeed has been hashed out kicked around mulled over and otherwise yes, beaten to death.

Are you getting paid or supported by running? If NO then you are a hobby jogger. Period. So 99.9+% of us here. Get over yourself

I think it has more to do with the effort put into the training than the results.

I know a 60 year old woman who runs 5K's in the 24 minute range. That may not be a fast time for a younger woman, but this 60 year old woman runs every day and does track workouts. In my mind she is not a hobby jogger.

old guy 70 wrote:

I think it has more to do with the effort put into the training than the results.

I know a 60 year old woman who runs 5K's in the 24 minute range. That may not be a fast time for a younger woman, but this 60 year old woman runs every day and does track workouts. In my mind she is not a hobby jogger.

There are no hobby joggers. There are no professional joggers. There are no little green leprechauns. But keep pretending otherwise, s'il vous plaît.

Jimmy21 wrote:

I think it's more training based. Someone who only does 3 easy 6 mile runs a week and runs an 18:00 5k is more of a hobby jogger than someone who has less natural ability but runs 6 days a week with a proper training schedule including interval days, tempo runs, long runs, etc but can only get 19:00.

I'd would consider the second person you described as more of a hobby jogger. Someone who tries hard and still sucks.

If you are stopped by a train.....you might be a hobby jogger

I think the OP is on to something. Whether he's picked the right standard or not is debatable, but I kind of like the general train of thought. Basically he's saying that if your 5K race pace doesn't keep contact with easy pace for someone qualifying for the 5K Olympic trials, then your activity and the Olympic athlete's activity are fundamentally different. It gives some objective athletic criteria to 'hobby jogger,' rather than relying only on subjective or financial criteria.

Once you figure out the logic behind the standard, you can express the standard more simply in terms of a VDOT value, which in this case is 54.6 or an 18:30 5K time (or 38:20 10K, 1:24:50 HM, 2:57:03 marathon).

My only suggestion is to use age grading for a definition instead of VDOTs. Running an 18:30 5K at the age of 25 is 70% AG. So is anything above 70% AG not hobby jogging? That's similar to breaking 20:00 at 45, or a 60-year old woman running 26:00. I can live with that. Just figure out whatever AG% works for a definition of hobby jogger.

Bitetounge wrote:

Co-worker said she was doing a color run this weekend and it took great strength to bite my tounge.

I know an ex-competitive college runner who likes to run colour runs.

This is exactly what I mean, and the age grading thing is a better way to look at it. Another way to think of it: If you can't do any any sort of extended running (i.e. Vo2 Max intervals/5k race, not 50m-600m sprint workouts) past the easy pace for an Olympic trials guy, then that means every second of running the olympic trials qualifier does, could be faster than you can muster in an all out effort, which just puts them on a different universe of running than you. If they did an easy run with you, I don't think they would see any aerobic benefit like they would had they been running their own easy pace. The only way you could run together and have both of your training paces be actively helping both people train is if the OTQ person was on a recovery run.

The Only Correct Answer wrote:

Are you getting paid or supported by running? If NO then you are a hobby jogger. Period. So 99.9+% of us here. Get over yourself

By this definition all high school runners are hobby joggers.

Never understood this definition.

So then wrote:

The Only Correct Answer wrote:

Are you getting paid or supported by running? If NO then you are a hobby jogger. Period. So 99.9+% of us here. Get over yourself

By this definition all high school runners are hobby joggers.

What makes you think they are not?

I'm not very bright, please give example workouts. Track work, fartlek, tempo, etc.