Probably won't PR or win a race again... what's there to be motivated about?

Something isn't adding up, your goal your entire life was to get faster, but you haven't pr'd in 10 years. Set goals you can achieve. If you never hit your goals, they are bad goals. Read up on goal setting.

Bluntly said, but there is some truth to this. Running keeps me in great shape. I was out of shape for a few years, and would wear a swim shirt in the pool. Also, it just feels better to be super lean and healthy at your medical checkups.

3 years back to training in my mid 40s and I look better than I have since college and I’m approaching my PRs, although they were never that great. I have won 2 local races, so I’m not completely a slow runner

I won the masters division at my marathon last year. Just need to move the goal posts as you age, if you enjoy running.

Idk staying healthy. Increasing your life longevity?

Ok, well my overall goal was to get faster but since college that hasn't been the most realistic short term goal of each "season" I've been running since. PRs are from my sophomore and junior year of college, senior year I had injuries so I ended up running my slowest times of college. Then right after college I was coaching and worked back to solid fitness but off my PRs. Then I had to get a real job and the times went backwards. Throw in a couple injuries, the pandemic, and just the reality that work/life takes more time than it did in college and running faster just hasn't lined up with some other parts of my life. I'd still love to PR but it hasn't been as natural as it was in college fitting it around classes.

I hear ya. I quit having sex because I can no longer bang hot 18 year-olds.

If the old dudes think their running still has meaning then it does. That possibly no one else believes that doesn't matter if it's meaningful for them.

Well here is my story.

Ran in high school, was nothing special.

Ran some in college for fun but did lots of sports.

Ran after college and then into my late 50s. Raced, aimed for PR's but always felt the joy of running for running's sake. It sounds like you were only extrinsincally motivated as a runners and never become intrinsically motivated.

It is okay to stop running and take up other activities. I did (although not really by choice---severe osteoarthritis in a knee made running painful and unpleasant).

Do you love running? If so, just set yourself some process goals like weekly mileage, days of running per month, etc. Have those build towards something new that you didn't do when you were in your teens and 20s.

For me, those things included point-to-point adventure runs, uphill challenges, marathons, ultramarathons, trail runs, relays, etc.

I was never going to break my 5km PR that I set before I had kids and was in my 20s. But I can run the Wonderland Trail faster than I ever thought I could. It motivates me to train hard and it is a better life than grinding out repeat 400s just to watch my 5km times get slightly slower each year.

nps.gov

The Wonderland Trail - Mount Rainier National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

Link:www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/the-won...

I guess for me it comes and goes a lot for me. Part of that is also because I do pretty all my runs solo, so if I'm not feeling it, it's just a slog. I enjoy running when things are clicking and really love getting in a workout when fit but, again, it's not very fun to slog through solo work getting there. Honestly though, the main reason I've stuck with running so long is that it probably is the best exercise activity for me, since I'm a pretty solitary person and was never a gym guy (never had a gym membership). Since I'm firmly in adulthood, there isn't much of a chance of me picking up a new sport so I guess I'm stuck running unless I want to get even fatter than I've let myself become lol

I got news for you. Unless you win a gold medal (and that only lasts a few weeks), your running has little meaning no matter what age you are.

u can have Prs for each decade... also as many have already said u can try new events that require a completely different training approach and mindset. good luck

Do you have a nice running route? Listen to music? Are you running often enough to improve?

Starting back from a break or an injury is not fun.

I find even my “bad” days are fine since I run along the bay with nice views. I put anything from some Zeppelin, Smashing Pumpkins, to Kanye. 45-90 minutes all by myself before or after a day of mundane work is nice release.

At the very least, it’s the Joe Rogan mantra of “do something difficult” and you feel some accomplishment afterwards.

So currently I've had a good stretch of healthy training. Last major time off was last year but I've only had a couple small things crop up since. I took a short break after my "track" season and am starting to build up but it just felt like something was missing as I started to plan out my training. I guess I should just take it day by day and try to enjoy. I'm definitely someone who can get caught up in the specifics of training or just how I'm feeling on the day and let it drag my run down, so I appreciate the simplified advice.

This is what I dont understand. Im not fast, so I dont have that mindset, but people who are driven by PRs, what do you get out of that? Even if you crush your pr, you can probably look around and find a bunch of dudes faster. It just feels like a hollow motivation to me.

As an aside, I run because it stabilises my mental health, and when I run regularly, I perform better in basically all other aspects of my life. That is a hell of a driver for me. But again, I never raced D1 track or anything so just been a little bit faster means nothing when your nowhere to begin with.

Missing the point - old dudes running careers do have meaning to them.

I set my last PR - 3000m s/c - in my mid-30s, but I'm still training and competing at age 67. I found that up until my mid-50s I was still competitive for the win in many local 5ks.

That's past, but I still enjoy trying to run the best I can relative to my age group, and put in an appearance in the Master's Champs every five years or so when I'm at the bottom end of the age group.

I train by myself, and purely for the point of competing, although staying fit is a good side benefit.

My running has no meaning to anyone but myself, but to me my running career still has a lot of meaning, and I'm still goal setting.

So you "probably won't PR or win a race again." Are you going to train for your prs or not?

Either way the first step is to get faster than you are now. I wouldn't make pr'ing a short term goal until you are close again.

You are going to have to find a way to balance life and running. That might mean making sacrifices to run at ideal times of day (might be evening in summer depending on where you live etc.), going to bed early, etc. It might mean driving quite a ways to get on trails. It might mean pushing yourself to go further than you really want after shi-ty days of work. ETC.

Its f'ing hard as a working adult, even without kids. It takes so much more discipline both in life and in training than in college.

So are you going to be a guy who probably won't pr or win a race again in 5 years or are you going to train with a long term goal of hitting your prs and a short term goal of running faster than your most recent attempt at whatever distances you race.

My running has always had meaning for me. Who do you think you are that you can tell other people what does and doesn't have meaning for them?

Stop running. Do Foundation Training. Use Nordic poles for ultra long walks. Invest in WellnessFX. Collect your health data with Apple Health and analyze it with Python. Get annual, extra thorough checkups.

Live to 100 with healthy, flowing ankles, knees, and hips. Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones in our generation who gets integrated with the rise of bionic AI beings.

Get prescribed some TRT that you don't actually need, get jacked, and hobby jog some 20-minute 5ks in Alphaflys. The runner babes will be all over you.