We're all guilty of it. Whenever someone is talking about something that we happen to be very interested in (running, perhaps?), we feel the need to offer our unsolicited opinion. After all, years of amateur running, reading internet blogs about running, sports articles about running, thinking about running, planning running, talking running and training around the water cooler to anybody unfortunate enough to get sucked into conversation...
We are experts by now, right? We know our stuff. We know how things work. And with so much passion, who's going to challenge us?
Somewhere between stretching out before my first day of track practice in junior high and my current "career" as an amateur 5k road racer, my ideas and opinions about running and training have become facts. When asked, I answer. No "I think...", just an answer. Confident as a doctor diagnosing something for the 1000th time. As natural and fluid as simple math (something I do in my real career as an engineer).
Seeing the problem here yet? I'm not an expert. I don't have a formal education in athletic training, I've never done research into nutrition and human performance, and most importantly, I have no gold medals hanging around my neck. Yet I will look you in the eye and tell you what is wrong with your training as if I am the be-all, end-all authority on the subject.
I often frequent the running section on the website Yahoo! Answers (my profile, for your review). I've been doing this for 4 or 5 years, advising beginners, answering questions about training, running and weight loss, the roll of strength training in running, nutrition, etc. I answer questions with an authority derived simply from my tone of voice and my high educated (meaning fairly well read and grossly over confident) attitude. Am I right about any of it? Who knows. My opinions have shifted greatly about a great number of things since I started, based on reading newer research studies, my own training, and the training of others.
Y!A is a very dangerous site. Completely unreviewed. People can and do advise anything, with no thought to how wrong they may be or the damage it could end up doing if they are. I feel like I try harder than most to know what I am talking about, and I'm careful to avoid advising anything that could cause harm. I just hope I am doing more good than damage with my knowledge/opinions.
And the light reading promised:
Running with the Kenyans: part one
A runner from Britain who writes for the Guardian is going to live in Kenya for the next 6 months (family and all) to learn about their culture and lives, as well as their running. This is the first of what should be an interesting and informative series of articles. I am very interested in other cultures, having never had the opportunity to travel much (I'll spare you the details of my poor upbringing for some day when I haven't already written a novella about myself earlier in the post). I look forward to following his journey.
Guess I should talk about my running just a little on my running blog before I go. Two days in a row this week, legs feel fine, easing back into training hasn't been too bad. I think I'm still overdoing it in the weight room, I'm very sore from lifting, but I'm really eager to have my muscles back to the way they looked in college.
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