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.
As far as dating goes, decent women won't drop you just for being skinny, and you can definitely get a girlfriend as a skinny distance runner if you're a good guy.
But as the relationship goes on after months, she will be more open to hinting that she likes it when you lift weights for your upper body... most women think it's hot. Just sayin'
12 years ago I was a running bum who dedicated his life to the sport, making running my #1 priority for a time. 80-100 mpw was normal for me at that time. Fast forward to today (late 30's) I think I've found the perfect equilibrium for maintaining my best self fitness wise. I run ABOUT 15-25 MPW, cutting out most easy run mileage but keeping long tempo's, progressions and track workouts with some short hill sprints sprinkled in from time to time. I also place more emphasis on weight lifting 3x a week. Studies show the older we get, the better it is to focus on weight lifting and HIIT type cardio sessions to maximize our fitness and general health. Super long runs and high mileage has the opposite effect: decreasing testosterone and substantially increasing injury risk, not to mention the effect of increasing muscle catabolism. No thanks.
I'm much happier, no injuries, and I look WAY better keeping things this way as compared to my former 'competitve running' days. I'd much rather be 180lbs of muscle and speed than 160 lbs skinny but able to crush half-marathons and marathons. In my opinion, if you're a man over the age of 35 and STILL running high mileage and not lifting, you're just plain foolish! Good luck!
Been around the sport for a few decades now, athlete, coach etc. Running is great but I have seen it reward some very destructive personality traits. OCD, paranoia, social isolation, eating disorders, the works.
There are great health benefits for sure, but often times I’ve seen running been as bad as drinking, addiction. It’s a pass time, not a life style. Enjoy the small things about the sport, the community, joy of training and racing.
It becomes a lifestyle with age. I will turn 63 soon and because few people in their 60s run, that turns the sport into one of de facto isolation. Runners over age 60 stick out like sore thumbs in a room filled with people their age. But give up running to be like one of them ? No way.
Disagree -- I'm 67, just ran long this morning with a 27 year old and a 45 year old. I have found running to be not "isolating" but a great way to spend time with younger folks. I will be surrounded by thousands of them in Boston!
i didn't read your entire post but i basically agree. i think there are way too many people in these forums that try way too hard when you already know that you have no chance at going pro and making money off of running. it's why i believe that running at the point of diminishing returns is the furthest you should go. let say that you are a marathoner. if you knew that mileage diminishes after around 70mpw but that you can still shave off a few minute by going 120mpw, should you really put in all that time and effect to run that extra 50mpw? whether you do or you don't, you're won't make a penny off of it anyway. as a matter of fact, you'll lose money because you'll need to buy more running shoes.
please, everyone. 50mpw is good enough for competitive runners. 70mpw is plenty good at the enthusiast level. anything after that is time out of your social life. please do not run doubles.
I've been injured for the past 5 months. I can't turn over in bed without pain on the left side of my groin. I can't sit up without pain. Progress on a diagnosis is very slow.
I was never a competitive runner and I didn't run in college, but it is one of the few things that kept me going. I have no partner, no friends. It got me out of the house. I have gained some perspective from all of this but honestly, this really sucks. Walking isn't the same.
I would bet a lot you have a sports hernia, I had the same symptoms for years, had surgery to fix it and was as good as new, look into that diagnosis
It sucks if running makes you feel that bad. If you are in it just to try to shave 15 seconds off a 5K, you aren't going to be in it for all that long. Competitive running is sustainable when you can find joy in the pursuit of your own fitness, not just how you stack up to a clock or competitors. Not everyone feels that and if you don't actually love the act of running itself, running is a tough sport. There isn't much else to it.
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.
Just saying this as an old guy that’s at a different point in life: the accomplishments that you have already had as a runner are pretty awesome. You’ll meet people when you’re out of school, raising a family, in your career, whatever… that will know track and field and will be impressed because their HS PR was 2:09 and they will understand how talented you are. Your PR might not turn you pro, but I am willing to bet that it will do you a lot of favors in the decades ahead that you can’t fully understand at a young age. Nice work.
I appreciate this thread. I’ve taken extended time away from running before, but over the past two years I’ve made running my number 1 priority in effort to maximize my potential and chase a big goal. I ended up qualifying to the Olympic Trials which Im very proud of, but every single day I go back and forth on whether I want to stay competitive after the trials. I’ll be 33 at the Trials, and at that point I don’t see myself having another jump in improvement. I think that may be the time to shift my life priorities and be proud of what I accomplished as a competitive runner.
“So why are you here? To fish for negativity and satisfy your need to be mad?”
Oh wow…you insult me and you question my search for negativity?
You seem to be exactly the person I predicted would come to this thread, emotionally charged via your perception that your favourite activity had been attacked.
Can I remind you that the original post was not mine…
I think running is a great sport when you’ve got the balance right, but its also incredibly brutal and unforgiving and like an earlier poster said rewards some of the worst behaviors that are bad for your mental health.
I’ve always been quite naturally talented as a runner (1.49 at 19) and I would say the majority of my twenty’s was dedicated to trying to make a team or run a big time. I think if you have a small amount of success early on it can skew what is realistic and what isn’t in terms of where you can go in the sport. I also think people don’t help when they call you talented as it puts a lot of pressure on to maximize that talent. I remember feeling bad throughout my time at University for missing runs or going to a party/night out, things that someone in their early twenty’s should be doing! Not in bed at 9.30 preparing for tomorrows session.
At the end of the day the people that really make something out of the sport are the super talents that you can see from a young age. Yes, you can get late bloomers but they are an exception to the rule. I was trying to make the Olympics in 2016. My relationship broke because of my selfishness and single-minded pursuit. Friendships were all falling by the wayside as I put this goal above all things. I didn’t care about having a career when I finished University and it meant my life was a complete mess for a good few years. I was never going to make the Olympics or any national team for that matter, I’d have had to run a 10 second 1500m PB in a season or two and even then, it would still mean having to beat the best in the country on the day.
After I realized that I needed to sort the parts of my life I had neglected, I had to really grind in my late twenty’s to catch my peers and try carve out a career for myself. It taught me a really tough lesson and running pretty much became none existent for a few years while I tried to sort myself out. Eventually I was able to start back up again but always under the condition that it came behind work, family and friendships. Even now I am probably on the line of doing too much, but I realize it and know that it’s only for a couple of months while I target a few races, after which I will probably drop back to 50mpw and train mainly for the social aspect. Something I do find hard to rationalize now I’m in my mid thirties is the thought that in the future I may regret not putting the work in and not getting the best out of my body while I was able to. However, I really hope that when I’m older I can look past this and see that it wasn’t about running the times or where I finished in races, it was the friends I made and the good times we had while being involved in this, strange sport.
“So why are you here? To fish for negativity and satisfy your need to be mad?”
Oh wow…you insult me and you question my search for negativity?
You seem to be exactly the person I predicted would come to this thread, emotionally charged via your perception that your favourite activity had been attacked.
Can I remind you that the original post was not mine…
Trollol. I never even addressed the OP. Just you distracting from its point. Which didn’t even attack running as an activity, but that the overly competitive side can make it a miserable experience.
I have exposed you, fraud.
This post was edited 2 minutes after it was posted.