There's a man in my local area, I think early 50s, who has run over 500 parkruns. Does it every Saturday without fail. He runs at least 60 miles a week every week, all at 9 minute mile pace. Completes parkrun around 17:50-18:40 every week.
I think it is a little bit strange, but mainly I don't understand how he can do it without his body completely breaking down. I'd estimate he is about 180lbs at 5'9, so not exactly slim.
You can start by STOPPING JUDGMENT OF WEIGHT AND RUNNING BY APPEARANCE.
I'm not even going to be nice or courteous here.
some of you are way too arbitrarily judgmental in a way that you don't have the way to be
And you need your a**** whipped by exactly those people
I'm not playing...you do.
Get my ass whipped by him? You must be joking. I am about 5 minutes faster over 10K and 15-20 minutes over half lol. Weight is a big factor in running, whether you want to deny it is up to you.
There's a man in my local area, I think early 50s, who has run over 500 parkruns. Does it every Saturday without fail. He runs at least 60 miles a week every week, all at 9 minute mile pace. Completes parkrun around 17:50-18:40 every week.
I think it is a little bit strange, but mainly I don't understand how he can do it without his body completely breaking down. I'd estimate he is about 180lbs at 5'9, so not exactly slim.
You can start by STOPPING JUDGMENT OF WEIGHT AND RUNNING BY APPEARANCE.
I'm not even going to be nice or courteous here.
some of you are way too arbitrarily judgmental in a way that you don't have the way to be
And you need your a**** whipped by exactly those people
I don't run much for LR standards (so no 180mpw and a monk life in Eldoret), but put some 40mpw Which for me, being most of them at +9 min/mile takes about +6 hours a week. I suffer from anxiety and probably OCD/obsessive personality type. Exercise is my medicine.
Running high mileage grants me the freedom to do any sort of event or explore any place I want without worry. When I was running lower mileage I was always limited in my options. Couldn't explore this road because my turnaround point is right at the entrance, can't run on these new trails because if I get lost I'm f*cked, etc. At higher mileage these concerns go away because I am more than capable of "brute forcing" almost any amount of distance or time. It's incredibly freeing to know I can causally choose a random road and bang out 10-15 miles on it without feeling beat up at the end of it.
If I ran less, I'd be even more mediocre than I already am. I'm far from elite, but relative to the general population, I'm damn good at running. Doing things you're good at is fun. Achieving ambitious goals is rewarding. I don't think elites are running all those extra miles solely for the most-likely meager paycheck. I'd wager the vast majority have a very similar intrinsic motivation.
There's a man in my local area, I think early 50s, who has run over 500 parkruns. Does it every Saturday without fail. He runs at least 60 miles a week every week, all at 9 minute mile pace. Completes parkrun around 17:50-18:40 every week.
I think it is a little bit strange, but mainly I don't understand how he can do it without his body completely breaking down. I'd estimate he is about 180lbs at 5'9, so not exactly slim.
You can start by STOPPING JUDGMENT OF WEIGHT AND RUNNING BY APPEARANCE.
I'm not even going to be nice or courteous here.
some of you are way too arbitrarily judgmental in a way that you don't have the way to be
And you need your a**** whipped by exactly those people
I'm not playing...you do.
I hear you but judgment of appearance will inevitably happen in both directions, high or low BMI, whether or not you vocalize it because women are known to find something like 23-25 BMI with low BF (12-15%) most attractive, a body type that is fit but isn’t in your face big and shredded and not too skinny either like our friendly neighborhood sub-20 BMI distance runner, and that middle-range fit body type is also correlated with great health, enough muscle mass to withstand age-induced muscle loss better, and is not too hard to maintain with good eating and exercise.
You can quibble about the exact numbers but this article roughly matches my intuition favoring the moderate over either extreme:
Most men want to have an attractive physique. Trouble is, few know exactly what that means. When men guess the degree of muscularity women prefer, they’re off by thirty pounds (study). To make matters worse, some guys have an...
I hear you but judgment of appearance will inevitably happen in both directions, high or low BMI, whether or not you vocalize it because women are known to find something like 23-25 BMI with low BF (12-15%) most attractive, a body type that is fit but isn’t in your face big and shredded and not too skinny either like our friendly neighborhood sub-20 BMI distance runner, and that middle-range fit body type is also correlated with great health, enough muscle mass to withstand age-induced muscle loss better, and is not too hard to maintain with good eating and exercise.
You can quibble about the exact numbers but this article roughly matches my intuition favoring the moderate over either extreme:
And before folks yell at me for “skinny-shaming” distancers, I recently worked hard up to a 20.5 BMI through weight training from a longtime sub-19 BMI and love it and only want to gain more muscle like at least 21-22, but that seems incompatible with running a lot of mileage.
I hear you but judgment of appearance will inevitably happen in both directions, high or low BMI, whether or not you vocalize it because women are known to find something like 23-25 BMI with low BF (12-15%) most attractive, a body type that is fit but isn’t in your face big and shredded and not too skinny either like our friendly neighborhood sub-20 BMI distance runner, and that middle-range fit body type is also correlated with great health, enough muscle mass to withstand age-induced muscle loss better, and is not too hard to maintain with good eating and exercise.
You can quibble about the exact numbers but this article roughly matches my intuition favoring the moderate over either extreme:
And before folks yell at me for “skinny-shaming” distancers, I recently worked hard up to a 20.5 BMI through weight training from a longtime sub-19 BMI and love it and only want to gain more muscle like at least 21-22, but that seems incompatible with running a lot of mileage.
It's also incompatible with being a fast distance runner.
Those of you in thirties or older with absolutely no chance of ever being an elite runner yet run 60, 70, 80 or more mpw, why do you do it? It takes time and you look skinny beyond the point of looking good — at least for men — and look more like an eating disordered person.
Health can’t be a reason because there’s little benefit beyond somewhere in the ballpark of 30 mins/day of running on average. Unlike the average (obese) person in America, you have the luxury of being in control of your body’s appearance, so why not look more like Noah Lyles instead of Galen Rupp?
I understand that you really like running high mileage or at least being able to run that much at your level of fitness and really want to maintain that fitness for as long as you can just coz; even though there’s no practical value to it. I can totally relate to inexplicable obsessions, but is there anything more to it that I’m missing?
To me, 60-70 a week at 9:00, even in one's fifties, doesn't seem like much at all. For someone who doesn't see this sort of load as demanding it will likely be less so than it will for someone who does.
interesting take on the mental side and perception of your load. I agree. I had a similar feeling on one of my long runs recently. One weekend, the pace was supposed to be sub marathon pace, I had this expectation it would be hard - it felt hard, I anguished, it was a tougher workout - didn't quite finish it.
Next week was a progressive long run that I eased into and kept telling myself the pace was easy and I could do it. By the end of the run, I was running the same sub MP paces but it felt much easier. I credit a lot of that to my mindstate during the workout - expecting it to be hard or expecting it to be inside my wheelhouse.
Could be the same for training load - how do you relate to the training. Does the load stress you out, or does it seem manageable and fun?
Personally, I've gotten to high mileage because I have a goal to run a 100 miler. I also like long easy days on the trails - I recover pretty easily from them and I can get to remote, pretty places. Long base runs are a great time for thinking and destressing. I've been training for a speedier road marathon the last months and I will say - I think there is a pretty big difference from running 60 mpw on the roads versus trails. Pace aside, the pounding hits different, and now I have more workouts I stress out about--looking at brutal tempo workouts vs. easy trails I know I'll just hike if it gets steep and my HR gets too high.
I enjoy running, being outside, and pushing my body out of its comfort zone. It beats going to the gym to workout on an elliptical and I do believe giving yourself an hour a day to your physical and mental health is important. Sometimes I think I'm crazy but at the end of the day it makes me feel better as a person and I enjoy it so I'm going to keep doing it...
seriously. some of y'all need to stop taking running so seriously when you know you have no chance at greatness. running doubles is not acceptable unless if you're getting close to hitting a sub elite approved milestone like qualifying for the olympic trials or breaking 4 minutes in the 1500 or mile. you guys need to cap it out at 50 miles per week. if you can't come close to accomplishing your running goals on 50 miles per week, then you won't either on 100mpw or on doubles.
seriously. some of y'all need to stop taking running so seriously when you know you have no chance at greatness. running doubles is not acceptable unless if you're getting close to hitting a sub elite approved milestone like qualifying for the olympic trials or breaking 4 minutes in the 1500 or mile. you guys need to cap it out at 50 miles per week. if you can't come close to accomplishing your running goals on 50 miles per week, then you won't either on 100mpw or on doubles.
What if your running goal is to see what happens if you run 100 plus mile weeks and doubles?
seriously. some of y'all need to stop taking running so seriously when you know you have no chance at greatness. running doubles is not acceptable unless if you're getting close to hitting a sub elite approved milestone like qualifying for the olympic trials or breaking 4 minutes in the 1500 or mile. you guys need to cap it out at 50 miles per week. if you can't come close to accomplishing your running goals on 50 miles per week, then you won't either on 100mpw or on doubles.
What if your running goal is to see what happens if you run 100 plus mile weeks and doubles?
The most I've run in one week is 75 miles. Last year I did 70-75 miles for 3 months and did reasonably well. Early this year I cut back to 40-45 and did intervals in lieu of the extra mileage and my times improved quite a lot. That continued until this summer when I plateaued again. My favourite runs are long slow runs on trail and I find it easiest to rack up the miles instead of doing workouts (also much less injury risk) but it hasn't seemed to be very effective for me. It's also discouraging when I see people running 30 miles per week yet getting close to my 5K times... basically mileage helped and I have been extremely consistent (at least 40 miles a week for 18 months now...) but I have seen no further improvement... the only improvement has come from new workout stimulus.
1. To keep in shape. I found that I was out eating my training at 25-30mpw. I worked on a better diet, and upped the mileage in the process. I feel so much better, so less stressed, and I still fit into the clothing I wore as a 15 year old and I'm 40 now.
2. At 70mpw, I estimate that running only takes up 10 hours of my week. That's hardly any time at all. Most people blow ten hours of their week watching TV, playing with their phone, playing video games. 70mpw is far less than an elite runner runs anyways, but allows me to spend ample time with family and friends and also allows me to win a lot of smaller 5K/10K races and run respectable times. I get dusted in bigger races...but it's still fun to finish in the Top 20-30.
3. To be competitive. I played D1 football in college but also was a soccer player and basketball player in high school. I didn't care for the toxic recreation soccer and basketball men's leagues so I was looking for something a little more chill where I could still be competitive.
I know I'll never get that Nike contract, but I do feel like running more is beneficial to every facet of my life. As a parent, we also are setting an example for our kids to push ourselves and prioritize healthy activities. PS - I do know "family" men who are just average triathletes who train far too obsessively to the point where they check out of family functions and other important things. I don't agree with this but it's not my life and really none of my business.
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