What were your biggest misconceptions about running when you started?

holier-than-none wrote:

That it would, someday, get easier.

That I would, someday, achieve a "runner's high."

^^ THIS

Also that I could improve endlessly until reaching school records.

holier-than-none wrote:

That it would, someday, get easier.

That I would, someday, achieve a "runner's high."

^^ THIS. Especially the second one.

Also that I could improve endlessly until reaching school records.

That runnimng was a bounding, gliding feeling, liem flying. Now my cadence is above, like 140 and my footplant involves actual heel contact I can say it feels nothing like that at all. It's better, but more joggly and bustling than I presumed.

I also thought you could just get out there and run. Then I thought you had to take some time off. Then I realised you need to take it slower than that. THEN I realised even building a base is a months-long undertaking of running way less than you want, slower than you want for longer than you think to even have a chance at avoiding overuse injury.

I never realised runnimng was so injurious and hard on the body.

In order, that 5 miles was a long way to run. That 30 mpw was a lot of training. That I was in good shape running 40 mpw with no speedwork. That I couldn't tolerate more than x amount of training without injury (increases with time!),

Anybody else have the experience of quick breakthrough early in high school followed by incredible stagnation for the rest of their career? I was under the delusion in those first couple years that if I ran 2:01 after one years hard training that eventually I could someday hit times like like seb Coe! Haha was I wrong, my lifetime pb only was 1:57

That I would win an Olympic Gold Medal in the Marathon, get interviewed by all the major talk shows, bang A-list actresses and supermodels, make millions of dollars, become super famous, and be the envy of everyone.

I thought if I worked harder than everyone else, I would be better, but that wouldn't be the case.

That speed naturally comes with endurance.

1. That a mile was a long distance. I ran that for a year and was very proud to be a "distance" runner...then worked with guys who really did run distance and realized it wasn't.

2. That my form was good...until I saw the dreadful truth in pictures and video. HUMBLING! =8-0

3. That you had to get fast before you could run a road race. I had this fear of being embarrassed/last/etc... I never realized that slow people ran races.

Biggest misconceptions about competitive running: that I would be average (I turned out to be a little better than that). And I was not completely sure I would be able to finish that first 20 km race. It looked so long.

I ran for fun/health for years and had no clue how I compared to others.

CrossFan wrote:

2. That my form was good...until I saw the dreadful truth in pictures and video. HUMBLING! =8-0

I was never worried about my form at all. Until I saw a film of me finishing a marathon. I concur: there can be a huge gap between what we imagine and the truth.

I overestimated how good I could get over time with solid training. Even after logging tons of miles several off seasons in a row, I still wasn't that good. Natural talent plays a huge factor, bigger than how hard you are willing to work. That was the case for me.

Good thread.

Cliche', but running isn't a sport, but a way of life. Never would've known otherwise. Joining the XC/Track team can pay dividends your whole life. Not sure baseball or football do- at least not as much.

- that strength training is worthless to distance runners

- that long slow distance jogging makes you fast

- that girls like distance runners

- that SCRAWNY = healthy

- that sprints are worthless for runners

- that a 5K running time is a great assessment of "fitness"

Actually, I never believed any of that BS, but most people on here do.

Granted, I was only 14 at the time, but I was puzzled when my dad explained to me I would be doing training runs longer than the distance of the typical HS XC races I'd be doing. I thought, if I'm racing 3 miles, I should just practice running 3 miles as fast as I could.

I also just assumed you needed to take at least one day off per week. I don't think I ever went over 40 miles for a week in my HS XC career. This was late-80s.

That a typical runner's physique and a fluid-looking form necessarily translated to a faster runner.

Soon realized that chubby-looking dudes, and guys with really crazy running form often blow the doors off of the sleeker-lookin runners.

That running sub 3 marathon was an almost elite achievement and I would never come close to that. This was when I was 200 lbs at 5'6" smoking 2 packs a day.

Trainability. I assumed all were born equal, and the hardest workers were the fastest.

I should PR in every race I ran