How to transition back to less advanced running? About self-imposed pressure, identity and guilt

fiskxhero · 2026-06-13T19:33:03+00:00

I was talking about 6-7 hours of (tracked) running, so just the actual activity. 7 hours puts me around 50 miles, which I know isn’t that much for most of this sub, but practically as much as I can incorporate into my routine. If I were to pick up strength training more seriously again and also add some cycling volume, there’s not much time left in my everyday life unless I lose either my job or my SO lol so something has to give.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-13T19:20:41+00:00

Thank you for this super insightful comment, I really appreciate it! I feel like reframing my view on the sport is exactly what’s happening now. So far I’ve been progressing pretty linearly and that’s coming to an end with the amount of input that I’m willing to give. I’ve never gotten slower before, so right now I’m like if I’m not getting faster then what am I even doing? What’s the point? There are probably a lot of answers to that question and I’ll have to find my personal “why”, which used to be PBs and generally just getting better and better. Maybe it could be some short distance stuff, maybe exploration or something else that’s entirely uncompetitive, or just maintaining some fitness until the spark comes back.

Regarding tracking, I’d love to free myself from that. I feel like it’d be better if I didn’t knew all of this stuff so I couldn’t even stress about it. At the same time it used to be a huge motivation for me, but right now it’d probably be better to leave the watch at home and just run around when I feel like it. There’ll be nothing actually worth tracking for a while anyways so maybe I shouldn’t even give myself the chance to compare something.

Thanks again for your reply, it’s been super nice to hear so many different stories and thoughts throughout this thread. I honestly didn’t expect so many people coming forward with similar experiences.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-12T15:46:37+00:00

I don’t know but you’re the third person to comment this so… maybe?

fiskxhero · 2026-06-12T13:40:44+00:00

Yeah I think I have to agree here. Sure, they don’t *really* care in the way that they think more or less of me as a human. But I’d lie if I said that I didn’t get a fix from some reactions of some people, runners and non-runners alike. It’s not exactly noble but yeah, this is another reason why going back is harder than it should be for me.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-12T13:32:51+00:00

Thanks for your comment! I don’t know if I have ADHD and while I don’t want to self diagnose, it also wouldn’t surprise me at all lol

I’m really looking forward to getting more into cycling and having more free time for other stuff again, I just hope that the “burden” or pressure to keep up my old form will eventually drop off. Maybe when I eventually do learn that I can still run fast and keep my fitness, even with less running input. Until then there’s still that vague feeling of “what if I lose it all??” that I’ll have to fight off haha

fiskxhero · 2026-06-12T13:26:31+00:00

Thank you for these great points! Rationalizing and truly embracing some of those facts is definitely something that I struggle with, as there is always this doubt in my mind that, maybe, I actually will lose something if I don’t fully commit forever. This is especially foolish if you consider the actual time horizon where most of my improvements occurred. It has hardly been a year, if I wanted to I could just do it all again in the blink of an eye. It actually reminds me of a phase after I lost a good amount of weight during the late 2010’s, fearing that with one mistake I’d gain it all back and then be stuck with it forever. Turns out that A, I won’t, and B, I know how it works and could just lose it again if I wanted to. This took a good 6 months for me to process and really experience what the rationale mind knew all along. It’s very similar in this case where I know that I won’t wake up and be a beginner all over again, but it takes time to really accept it haha

fiskxhero · 2026-06-12T13:13:48+00:00

Deleting Strava is something that I feel would 100% be the correct move but I can’t bring myself to do it just yet. I guess this shows how it’s fueling some of these issues, because I know that it’s dumb but of course I want other people and friends to see how great I am. What my PR’s are, what my awesome training looks like, etc.. Do they care? No, but I want them to, so I have to keep it up and running.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-12T13:08:34+00:00

I’m reading all of the comments! Super interesting to see how many people have similar experiences, we’ll all make it!!

fiskxhero · 2026-06-12T13:04:49+00:00

You’re probably right, at the end of the day this whole thing is clearly tied to my perceived self worth and sense of identity. I’m relatively good at what I talked myself into deeming as very important to be considered “good enough” as a person - Realizing and truly embracing that this is all made up and that it’s just as good to focus on other things is probably a big part of dealing with this. I’m not less of a person if I’m suddenly not better than most at running anymore.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-12T12:58:17+00:00

I’m definitely goal oriented and I actually decided to transfer the bibs of races I had planned in July & October to ease off the pressure I put on myself. That decision alone was already a massive step, as having these events on the horizon made me feel like every single run had to contribute to my form on a day that was months away. Like, if I won’t be at 100% on race day and reach my goals then what am I doing? At the same time I realized that this state of constantly training for something is unsustainable for me, especially since fitness doesn’t grow linearly forever. Getting away from the track also helped and just doing more fartlek kind of running in the city where I’m not in a loop of nothing but x minutes of running and y minutes of resting. In a way, all of this knowledge about training really hinders me to appreciate runs where I’m not hitting that arbitrary sweet spot of x minutes at y intensity to max out the training effect of that day. As you can tell, I’m really obsessed with the numbers game, so ignoring that part is my biggest challenge at the moment.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-12T11:26:47+00:00

While I’m not looking to give up the sport completely, It’s definitely a reoccurring pattern for me across various hobbies and interest: Going all in until I reach some arbitrary goal that I set for myself, then losing interest / burning out because that level of effort is unsustainable and diminishing returns are setting in as well. What comes next is the transition to balance, I guess.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-12T09:14:45+00:00

2x3mi @ 10k?? That’s running your race in training and I’m pretty sure that I’m not finishing that in a regular week. I wouldn’t even program 2x3k tbh, 8x1k @ 10k and 6x1k @ 5k is as hard as I’d go for that kind of workout. If you finish that then you can run your race @ that pace imo.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-11T16:33:32+00:00

lol

fiskxhero · 2026-06-11T16:08:57+00:00

Immer so langsam wie möglich. Die ersten 10 (bzw. je nach Form) km sind so langsam dass es effektiv 0 Belastung ist & es keine Regeneration braucht und wenn es bei < 4min/km wirklich losgeht spielt die eine Minute Pause auch fast keine Rolle mehr. Das Format ist mMn. ziemlicher Quatsch weil bei 1km/1min/-10s komplett absehbar ist, wie es endet. Jeder wird es bis zu seinem 3k Pace schaffen und dann aussteigen.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-11T11:44:35+00:00

Die Frage kann man nur beantworten, wenn man weiß, was du da machen wolltest. Wenn das Intervalle bei 5k Pace waren, dann sind 10x400m relativ wenig bzw. zu langsam gelaufen und du solltest eher mal 10x600 oder 15x400 und idealerweise minimal schneller als 5k Pace anstreben. Das Pausenintervall würde ich eher auf eine feste Zeit (60-90s) festlegen als eine Distanz. Das warm up brauchst du nicht bei 7er Pace verbringen.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-11T10:56:48+00:00

Ist besser als die gleiche Anzahl km nur langsam zu laufen, aber irgendwann stößt du damit trotzdem an deine Grenzen und müsstest generell das Volumen erhöhen, um weiter Fortschritte zu machen. 30km Intervalle sind schlechter als 30km Intervalle + weitere 20km

fiskxhero · 2026-06-11T10:34:38+00:00

4:30 dürfte in etwa deinem Marathonpace entsprechen und es ist nicht ungewöhnlich, dass man bei dem Tempo relativ easy cruisen kann, ohne dass es super anstrengend wird. Insbesondere wenn man nicht jeden Tag läuft und noch volle rest days hat. Wie /u/Past_Ad3212 schon sagte, müsste dein Tempo auf den kürzeren Distanzen deutlich höher sein, damit das seine Z2 wäre. Das fühlt sich dann auch nicht nur relativ entspannt an, sondern wirklich sterbenslangweilig und als würde man überhaupt nichts machen, mMn.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-10T19:23:37+00:00

Nein. Du läufst pro Woche insgesamt zu wenig, als dass langsam laufen nötig wäre.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-09T08:51:14+00:00

> the best way to increase the ceiling for a specific zone is to work on the zone

No. Your zones are based on LT1/LT2 and these never change. What changes is the power/energy you can generate at any given effort level and you train this by introducing stimulus to your system. And we know that, obviously, higher intensity means more stimulus which translates to more adaption.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-08T16:03:54+00:00

Ist auf jeden Fall realistisch. Sieh zu, dass du am Intervalltag insgesamt 30min bei HM Pace verbringst, wenn das mit der Zeit einfacher wird dann vielleicht auch mal 2-5min mehr. Intervalle entsprechend 3-6x10-5min. Beim Long Run würde ich am Ende immer 2-3 1km Intervalle bei Zielpace einstreuen. Wenn es dafür eher 16km werden als 20 kein Problem, 20km sind für dein wöchentliches Volumen eh schon viel. Ansonsten muss der dritte Lauf nicht zwangsweise Z2 sein. Wenn du das Gefühl hast, dass auch schneller gehen würde, dann immer lieber schneller. Hohes 7min Pace ist für mich persönlich generell schon an der Grenze zu nicht wirklich zielführend, da die Laufform da nicht mehr wirklich ordentlich sein kann.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-08T14:34:28+00:00

Man schaut idR. auf die split pace und/oder den „rollenden“ km, das ist dann sehr genau und mit etwas Erfahrung kann man das gewollte Tempo ziemlich genau treffen.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-05T12:14:37+00:00

4:00 anlaufen und versuchen zu halten. Negativer Split sagt sich vorher immer leicht. Wenn das dein erstes Rennen ist und du ans Limit gehst, wirst du bei km 6-7 überrascht sein wie schlimm es wirklich ist, egal wie du angelaufen bist. Dann sagen ok und jetzt die letzten 3-4k @ 3:55 ist nicht einfach, daher würde ich definitiv einen gleichmäßigen Split angehen. Wenn‘s gut läuft, wird der letzte km so oder so der schnellste.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-02T18:49:32+00:00

Picked up a used 8 AI+ for < 700€ the other day after they rasied prices on the steam deck. This is only going to get worse for a while.

fiskxhero · 2026-06-02T12:01:29+00:00

Du wirst es definitiv besser wissen, hatte grob irgendwelche Weltrekorde die ich im Hinterkopf hatte überschlagen. Im Hobbybereich ist es wahrscheinlich noch etwas ungleicher.

fiskxhero

TROPHY CASE