n9 wrote:
I like how so many people are in denial that their 100 mpw is not damaging to other aspects of their lives.
I personally average about 75 miles year round but sometimes can spend 3 straight weeks at 100-120. I used to work from office 3 days per week before the pandemic and rely on treadmill to save some time, now I'm wfh with maybe 1 ride downtown per week and treadmill hasn't left the shed since spring 2020. I get up at 5:30 am, meditate, run, have breakfast with my wife (no kids), read a book for half an hour, maybe get a 15 minute nap if it was a hard workout day, then start working. After a day of work I would clear my ming with a short 30-40 min recovery run, or sometimes I won't (if it's, say, winter and I have to put on lots of clothing). 2-3 hours left to have dinner, watch a movie, have a glass of wine. 7:30 to 8 hours of sleep. Can go fishing or rock climbing or mushroom hunting on weekends. I also squeeze in at least 20 minutes of writing my own book every day.
Now I could say this is a 'full life' but that would be a lie. It's a schedule I'm currently comfortable with, it even seems pleasant most of the time. But you have to follow it and that's pressure. Some days you're just too tired to work. Sometimes you want to meet some old friends or maybe make new ones but you just can't fit that into your schedule. To get up at 5:30 you'd better be in bed by 10pm. Some people only leave their office to bar hop at that time.
I like running and I enjoy this life – for now. I'm also painfully aware it is not sustainable in the long term. There are races I want to try and win and times I want to hit, and I should do it before I'm 40 or have kids, and I'm prepared to become uncompetitive and recreational at that time, even though I don't particularly like the idea right now.
This is a good take. I train about 10 hours/week, officially as a nordic skier these days so there's running and hillbounding and rollerskiing and of course skiing all winter long, but bottom line it's around 10 hours of aerobic stimulus a week. I have two kids, and I work roughly half-time, maybe less (spouse is the main wage-earner, I'm the main caretaker), which is what allows me to get the training in and still be available to my family.
And endurance sport is, by a huge margin, the dominant factor in my life/social life. Like you, I'm pleased with the choices that I've made, for the time being, and with the fitness and the race performances that I have, for the time being. But it is pure sophistry to pretend that 10 hours/week of training - which is realistically closer to 20 hours/week once you count showering, extra eating, getting back to real life, and even minimal driving to trailheads - is not going to massively affect your life.
Not saying what the "right" answer here is, for anyone, and clearly I can't say what the right answer is in terms of sheer numbers. But I think that that self-awareness is key, and I applaud you for getting at that so well.
