Healthy training vs. running addiction: Does running make me fit or addictive?

As a trainer of many different people who come to me with very individual goals, demands, and desires, I sometimes walk a fine line. What may be a necessary motivational boost for one person may be toxic advice for another.

But let's start from the beginning: Running is the best solution. The positive effects of regular endurance running on health are well known. Running is child's play, yet so strenuous. But it's precisely this effort that makes running the most effective endurance sport, because there's no water to support the body, no wheels to roll downhill, and no partner to support or complement us.

When we run, we are alone and confronted mercilessly with our own bodies, step by step. This not only challenges the cardiovascular system, but also the musculoskeletal system with all its tendons, ligaments, bones, cartilage, and, last but not least, the entire musculature. Anyone who runs three times a week for 30 to 90 minutes and maintains a balanced mix of longer runs at basic pace and short, high-intensity tempo sessions is doing everything right. Finally, full marks for health promotion are achieved when regular strength training and a balanced diet are also included.

In addition to all the positive physical effects, running also has a number of psychological benefits. The release of various hormones ensures that we feel better during, and especially after, running. Stress is reduced, negative emotions fade into the background, and the pride of completing a run can be the emotional lifesaver of the day, especially for people who struggle with depression.

Sometimes it even goes so far that our endocannabinoid system gives us a veritable "runner's high." It's not the endorphins triggered by running that put us in a euphoric state, because these neurotransmitters don't actually cross the blood-brain barrier. Rather, it's the body's own receptors that make us feel happy and well-being during and after running.

Nevertheless, the happiness hormones endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin obviously also have an influence on the mental state of runners. There would be nothing wrong with that, if, in my twenty-year career as a coach, I hadn't also seen the darker sides of this otherwise so healing and happiness-bringing sport.

What I mean specifically by that? Long-distance runners limping in pain, bones broken from fatigue, tears of disappointment instead of happiness, socially isolated amateur athletes...

From experience, I know that running carries the risk of becoming addicted. While that might sound like "fruit and vegetable addiction," it could become a problem if our training behavior puts our health at risk. For example, bones break, pain becomes chronic, nutrients aren't replenished in time, let alone sufficiently, or the stress of exercise overwhelms our good running mood. Let's take a look at the characteristics that indicate an addiction problem:

• Characteristic 1: “I need this” – strong desire

• Feature 2: “I can’t stop it” – Loss of control

• Feature 3: “It’s no longer possible without” – Inability to abstain

• Characteristic 4: “I always need more” – tolerance building

• Feature 5: “I am no longer myself” – withdrawal symptoms

• Characteristic 6: “It’s getting lonely around me” – withdrawal from social life

Of course, these six characteristics are aimed at substance use. But what runner hasn't experienced it? "If I don't go for a run now, I'll go crazy." "I'll just run quickly, and I'll feel better afterward." "I'm irritable because I haven't gotten to run yet today." Of course, without ambition, there's no great sport, and that's why it's a balancing act. Sometimes running goals push us beyond our limits, and we only achieve them if we stick to them without compromise.

But sometimes the time comes to question the necessity of this growth. This isn't a questionnaire developed by psychologists to determine whether you have a toxic relationship with your running. This text is simply intended to create awareness. With a few thought experiments, enthusiastic runners are encouraged to simply question their relationship with running for themselves.

What has fatal consequences in drug addiction is something we coaches encourage: tolerance development! Training plans are designed to repeatedly push athletes to the edge of their comfort zone, sometimes even exceeding it, in order to ultimately improve their system. Nobody writes to me: "I want to stay the way I am." So we coaches do our job. We want you to always need, want, and be able to do more. Higher, faster, further. Those who train systematically want to improve and thus interfere with existing structures.

If someone writes to a coach about their desire to lose weight and run a marathon someday, the coach will help them with weight loss plans and then accompany them with advice all the way to the starting line and even to the finish line of their marathon dream. And finally, we're happy that they're no longer themselves after this process.

We want to become the best version of ourselves through running, and we have every right to be proud when we've achieved that. Sometimes we hear people around us say, "You've gotten so thin." Or, "Is all those marathons still healthy?" In those cases, we should first be happy that we still have a community and haven't run into total loneliness due to too much training and too little social contact.

But then we should question whether the concerns of those around us are justified or perhaps based on a little bit of envy. Of course, it's not easy to generalize about the addictive nature of running. Everyone has their own mind and body. But if mental health depends on a healthy body, true to the motto "Mens sana in corpore sano," then physical condition should always be the benchmark.

Here are a few parameters to check yourself:

• How often have I been sick in the past 365 days?

• How “round” is my walk from bed to the toilet in the morning?

• How often do I take painkillers (before running)?

• Have I ever had any injuries caused by running?

If you shake your head at questions like these and can say with a clear conscience that you are in excellent health despite or because of running, then I recommend briefly considering the following:

• Do I always do more or less than what is stated in the training plan?

• Do I count the kilometers I run per week and am I only truly happy when I reach a certain number?

• Can I run without a watch and recording?

• How important is it to me to share my training on social media?

• Can I run only with music, podcasts or in company?

Regardless of how you answer these questions for yourself, I thank you for simply thinking about it. Now, please continue running. With a healthy mind and a healthy body!