"Everything in moderation" - The complete opposite of how competitive runners live.

the trailblazer wrote:

Moderate is an odd term in running, I dont like to take easy days or days off, I always want to keep working on getting better. If you push yourself to hard you will either get injured or start to over train. Either one of those can delay if not stop your progress. For the world of competitive distance running I would say it is appropriate.

I completely agree in pushing yourself hard to improve and get better in running. But one thing I have learned in nearly 40 years of running is that easy days and the occasional day of is necessary in preventing injuries and aiding in the ability to train harder. In college I trained hard every day, often running 80-100 mile weeks, never taking a day off with the belief that I would lose "the edge" by taking it easy. Boy, was I wrong. I was always tired (even though I ate well and got plenty of rest) and had lots of injuries. Take time to rest and take easy days. It will improve those hard days.

OP will never be a fast runner

Thank you, Steve, for a very thoughtful post. I am interested in the use of this word "obsession," not only by you, but by many others in various contexts. My friend, who I think would qualify as "laid back," accusses me all the time of "obsessing" about one thing or another. My standard reply is "I am not obsessing; I am thinking about it a lot."

Where it passes over into "obsession," in any arena, isn't at all clear to me. At my best, I was only a 2:44 marathoner runner. I am nearly 60 now, and when I tell young casual runners now I ran that, they are impressed. I had very little talent. A friend, a one-time 2:15 marathon runner, asked me a few years ago, how much I was running when I was at my best. When I told him about 80/mpw, he said, seriously, "You probably would have done better doing 100 mpw. I laughed. My friend might have been right, but I was never going to make a living running and I had a full time job. I am sure most would consider my friend "obsessive." I'd call him a serious runner. he's good natured, easy going, and seems entirely well adjusted to me.

I enjoy classical music, and living in Washington, DC, I have ample opportunities to go to concerts and see many remarkable performers, many quite young. I have no idea what it takes, or whether they are or are not "obsessive." I do know this for certain: my life would be immeasurably poorer if I did not see them perform, just as my life would have been immeasurably poorer had I not had the opportunity to see that Olympic men's 10,000 last Summer, whether the competitors were "obsessive" or regular guys who train really hard.

Thanks again, and Merry Christmas to the brojos and all their readers.

This is not rocket science. An obsessive runner is not measured by how much they run, how fast they run, or even how much they think about running. Obsession is measured by how one-dimensional your life is. If you depend on running just to get through each day and cannot see yourself living without it, it has become an addiction or unhealthy obsession. The best way to conquer this is to make sure you have a good job, build a nice family, and go out of your way to do things for other people. Running by itself is a very selfish activity.

You want to be really good at something, you gotta work for it. Moderation is not the key to success in running, or really in rising to the top of anything.

What Aristotle meant by moderation was something like 'the right proportion in relation to a purpose.' His primary metaphor was an arrow aimed at a target. "Moderation" meant taking aim and executing so that the purpose is hit.

Of course we moderns pit the moderate against the extreme, but for Aristotle the opposite of moderation was not the extreme. It was something like laxness or lack of purpose.

Actually in Again to Carthage, when Cassidy talks about running as "making himself into an arrow", he brings to mind Aristotle.

Of course, sometimes our purposes or targets impede our development, and we need to go a little crazy. This post at Logic of Long Distance talks about striking the balance between having a purpose and then needing to let go of purposes altogether.

http://www.logicoflongdistance.com/2011/12/drawing-arrow-some-reflections-on-our.html

Maybe the real slogan should be "Most things in moderation". Nobody does "everything" in moderation. Sleeping 6-8 hours a day seems pretty obsessive and not very moderate. Working 8-10 hours a day also seems pretty obsessive. In reality, everything, except the things about which one is passionate, should be done in moderation.

Anyway... Merry Christmas.

Someone who lives a balanced life often get accused of being moderate. Balance has been key to keep me running healthy and sane.