The reason you guys quit was because you stopped winning, or never won in the first place. Winning feels good, losing feels bad. Justify to yourselves however you want that you are slow and uncompetitive, it’s ok. I got a participation medal for y’all.
I’m actually really okay with being uncompetitive. Younger me wouldn’t have been…but it is liberating to have the feeling that you can do something because you want to, not because you feel that you have to, or need to, in order to fill the requirements of some training program or to tick off another stage of a structured training plan.
That kind of freedom ( and joy) comes via experience and a shift in priorities, plus the confidence to let go, and know that the whole world ( your own “little” world) that you know, won’t crumble around you.
And there it is…the key word “hobbies”. Which is what it is really ( for 99% of us)…a hobby.
Too many on here look at running as a “calling” or some even look at it as a possible career option, even though in most cases, that is extremely unlikely.
I know this is an old post - it got bumped and I want to reply.
While it is certainly true that it's okay to quit running, it is also okay not to quit.
My college track days ended almost three decades ago, and I still haven't quit running. I don't find it pointless and I don't invest too much of my time, energy, or money into it. It's my hobby.
I like getting up early to run before work. I like entering a race almost every weekend. I like being fit by old guy standards. I like having my doctor tell my I have the lab results of a man half my age.
Most of all, I just really like the process of hobby training and racing. I enjoy the actual act of running and the challenge and excitement of racing. That hasn't changed since I joined the 7th grade track team and I don't imagine it ever will.
You were right until the last sentence. The most challenging part for anyone trying to achieve a desirable physique is becoming lean and getting their body fat close to or below 10%. Runners already have they part down. Now all they have they have to do is gain 20ish pounds of muscle, which is actually quite easy if you're not running 100 MPW.
I cut back my mileage from 80-100mpw to 30-40mpw and added 2 full body workouts each week. Basically I bench press + dick around with the only "rule" being that I hit each body part at least once. I cannot believe how much better I look after a year. I gained 15lbs of muscle - I'm heavier but my body fat and waist line are exactly the same as they were before I started lifting. Had I hyper focused and actually followed a plan and good nutrition, I could've added 25lbs of muscle in that same time period.
I basically cut out most of the easy miles. Now I do 1 hard interval session, 1 hard tempo run, 1 moderate tempo run, and one easy long run of 8-10 miles, that's it. And some random 2-3 mile treadmill runs after lifting if I have time to kill.
Sad thing is my 5k time has actually gotten better. Of course I'd get crushed trying to run anything longer than a 10k LOL.
I mentioned this is another thread and got downvoted. People don't understand fatigue.
Audiobooks give me the ick because the voice in my head isn't mine lol. I know that is exclusively a me problem but also I usually listen to music and read at the same time so an audiobook usually isn't enough
Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win a LetsRun t-shirt.Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win one of 10 LetsRun t-shirts.