This is a really honest and refreshing perspective. Competitive running can absolutely take a toll mentally and physically, and it’s important for people to hear that stepping away doesn’t mean failure—it can mean growth. Glad you found strength and balance in other areas; that’s a win bigger than any PR.
Something I've noticed on strava: every runner seems to go through a phase where they become obsessed with running. I saw a woman on there this morning who I recognise from local races. She has gone from running a few hours a week to logging 70 mile weeks and more hours of cross training. Recently ran a 1:21 and a 2:59 marathon. The marathon makes people do crazy things.
I barely give a crap about running these days. It wasn't a conscious decision, I just got bored, lost motivation, got injuries etc. It doesn't help that I live in a dump of a city. I stopped bothering to come on this website too. One day I just stopped trying to make sense of the bs on here.
Bike riding and hiking for fitness is more fun. Golf for leisure is more social. I'm not great at either, but there is also no pressure (past exploits, message boards, competitions, rankings, ego) to justify huge sums of money and time to prove myself. Added bonus: I'm a better spouse, parent, and co-worker without a neurotic obsession to define me.
Something I've noticed on strava: every runner seems to go through a phase where they become obsessed with running. I saw a woman on there this morning who I recognise from local races. She has gone from running a few hours a week to logging 70 mile weeks and more hours of cross training. Recently ran a 1:21 and a 2:59 marathon. The marathon makes people do crazy things.
It's not an elite time but it's a very respectable time, especially for a woman
I suggest those who are tired of running to switching something else - probably to another endurance sport.
I found rowing to be excellent since it utilizes whole body. It is pretty unique in that it's not just an endurance sport and requires strength as well. It is a perfect combination of strength and endurance, so it requires you to get stronger but also focus on endurance to improve aerobic capacity. It is still mainly aerobic (standard 2000m lasts about 6-8 minutes depending on your level) but is very synergistic with gaining strength. I never felt that with running, and now we know that both strength/resistance training and aerobic training are key to health and longevity, IMHO this is "the" sport that combines them beautifully.
If you are interesting in improving and comparing where you stand among others, there's also online rankings where you can enter your results and see how you are doing:
I still love running and go out for a run often, but I find this to be very rewarding. Keep in mind that a 2000m all out rowing is very demanding. To be honest it's quite brutal since more muscles are engaged than in running.
Anyway, if anyone is interested, watch the video in the second link (as form is crucial) and give it a try in your local gym as many of them have rowing machines, ideally concept2.
Just my 2 cents if anyone is looking for another outlet.
I recall the early morning I was running 800s with short recoveries, things to do, places to be, and I was grinding away hoping to take 8 seconds off a 5K PR that was sitting there for nearly three years.
I see many crazy runners who trains too much and don't enjoy it. But they have some issues outside sport also.
If You are healthy person, without addictions You can train hard and enjoy process.
I am running for 20 years and will do that for all my life. I'm 800m runner, have quite a bit muscle mass and do around 50mpw. I enjoy easy runs, tempo runs, intervals, sprinting, lifting, plyometrics. I just don't like stretching.
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.
That's what I did, but now even 30-40 mpw feels like too much hassle. Now I am down to 3 runs a week. Maybe soon enough it will be 2?
I think this is an awesome post. It’s something I’ve really been struggling with as I’m at a bit of a crossroads with my running.
Last year was nothing but exciting for me, because I had just made a D1 track/XC program, and I shaved off 8 seconds in my primary event, the 800m, over the span of a year.
This year, track is more stressful than it is fun. Running a 1:53 distinctly went from a “holy crap! That’s awesome!” To “what do you think went wrong today?”. Going from 1:57 to 1:49 in one year made me naively feel like maybe I was going to be something special in the sport. Now I’m seeing athletes run 1:46 and 1:47 who aren’t training as hard as me, or even worse, training exactly like me. I’ve come to the realization that although I am in that top talent pool, I’m a tad bit off of that threshold of being talented enough to potentially go pro, or to NCAAs, or to the trials.
I get stressed and think, maybe if I lift more, maybe if I run more, maybe if I run faster I’ll shave those seconds and be a 1:46-1:47 guy, but any addition to the training that got me to 1:49 seems to injure me, burn me out, or slow me down on race day.
The fact that 2-3 seemingly impossible seconds of running is what’s dictating between me being able to go pro and to do this for money for a while or just being that one guy that ran in college sucks and it really weighs on me. I’ve still got this outdoor season and maybe 2 years during law school to see if I can make that small yet massive leap to the next level, but it makes me wonder, if this doesn’t work out, is all of this work I’m putting in, time and relationships I’m sacrificing worth it if I don’t ultimately become what I want to become? The bar always moves. I said “if I break 2:00 I can happily leave competitive running behind.” And then make my college team, and then run sub 1:50, and now I feel like I’m pressured and expected to make ncaas which I don’t even know if I’m physically capable of doing. I don’t want to work my butt off and sacrifice my well being for the next 3 years to be disappointed in myself and have my coaches disappointed in me at the end of it all.
Ive tied running so closely to my identity that unsuccessful running is an unsuccessful life, and I think I need to change that. Thanks for the perspective.
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