Lately I've noticed a lot of people worrying about their pace on their runs.
Judging themselves.
Finding themselves coming up short.
Wondering if perhaps they weren't actually runners because their splits looked too slow.
It's ridiculous, really.
Because if you have the courage to lace up your shoes and head out the door and lift both feet off the ground for a moment as you make forward progress, you are a runner. (If you leave one foot on the ground at all times, then you are technically a walker, which is cool too.)
I "ran" 15:40 minute miles last Saturday. I am insanely proud of those slow miles. They were tough. I earned them. And to think that they meant less because they weren't as fast as the 9:21 min/miles the winning female churned out is pretty silly. We all need to remember that this running journey is about our own experience; what others can or cannot do has nothing to do with it.
Comparing ourselves to others is an easy trap to fall in to. I realized that during my runs, I was worrying about how fast I was running. I won't lie. I wanted to post a few faster runs because...well, that was the problem. I didn't know why. It was the pressure I was feeling from the faster runners I follow, I guess.
So I decided that I would just quit posting my time and just put out the miles. I could just as easily record time only, but I am a miles junkie. If I feel like I need to remember how I ran on a certain day for a training review, I might slip my pace into a hidden keywords section, but otherwise, no one knows how fast or slow I am running. The pressure is off on my runs, because even if I nail it and fly, I won't let myself put the numbers up.
I hope in some small way this shows the other runners I am friends with out there that we should all be unified by our workouts. We don't need to organize into fast and slow, long and short, beginner and experienced. We are all athletes, and that is enough.
One of the reasons I changed to time-based workouts is so the pace wouldn't matter, just total duration. Set me free!
ReplyDeleteI think Daily Milers encourage all paces and distances. But, you should do what's best for you...whatever keeps you running!
ReplyDeleteI don't concern myself with splits except in speedwork and tempos. All easy, recovery and long runs are just getting one foot in front of the other!
ReplyDeleteI used to really be hard on myself because I was running much slower than a lot of others out there. But then I stopped worrying about it (after I hurt myself doing too much too soon). I'm better about comparing my times to other runners' times now, but I still like to have the info so I can go back and see how I've improved...or not.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. :)
Well said. Thank you for posting this! I'm not overly concerned about times but unfortunately some in my running group are. It's hard to go out and have fun with these people on a run or a get together when they are so hung up on times.
ReplyDeleteI agree that dailymile is encouraging of all paces - don't get me wrong! Some of the fastest dudes are also the most supportive. I'm talking more about the fact that people look at faster paces versus their own and feel like they are coming up short, when they don't need to. I'd rather not give something for people to compare themselves to, because really, the only thing they should look at is their own progress...
ReplyDeleteI definitely look at pace when people post and it helps to know the person better. You know when they run a sub 10 and that is a super fast day for them, or a sub 13 and so on. Trail running or road running or flats or hills or elevation all have an influence on pace and really it doesn't matter. It matters to me when I want to gage or push, but I never want to judge anyone on pace. Thanks for keeping it up and posting this because it really helps others see that people do not judge and you always should do what is best for you.
ReplyDeleteThere was a time when I was a little concerned that people who had similar PRs were doing their every day runs much faster than me. In fact, I do most of my runs SLOWER nowadays than I used to despite being much faster. The benefit is that I can hammer during workouts and races without burning out. It's funny how the most common comment I see on DM is "nice pace" or some variation. I usually chuckle because half the time it's talking about an easy run. I keep track of my time/distance but only to make sure I AM doing the easy runs as easy as I ought to. I find it mostly amusing (and borderline frustrating) the fact that a site like DM has seemingly created this obsession amongst runners with comparing their paces and whatnot.
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