Competitive or Recreational Running

Question

The question What is the most popular running (and fitness) application for mobile devices? was closed (partly) with the reason "Running questions must specifically relate to competitive running."

But what exactly do we mean then with "competitive running" if that is the requirement? Does that leave out all the questions related to the training in-between races (competitions)? LSR? Junk runs? Or is it only the runners on teams that can ask questions?

Also, we should be careful not be appear too chauvinistic: Why should a mobile app be less good than a dedicated sports watch like Garmin? (With the current trends where everything is integrated into mobile devices as apps, this seems a bit peculiar to me...)

I understand that this question also relates to What should we do with equipment recommendations? and we might close the question for that reason, but that is a different story.

Answer 1

I completely agree that we need to have a clear line between Sports questions and F&N questions, because if not it will turn into a maintenance nightmare. In my opinion, and in order to avoid a lot of overlap with the F&N site, I think that we should only host questions about running (or any other recreational sport) that are specifically about the competitive aspect of the sport.

In that vein, questions such as "How should I pace myself on a 5K race vs 20K race" would be on-topic. But questions such as "Which mobile application should I use to help me stay in shape" would be off-topic. I realize that this is somewhat ambiguous because staying in shape could relate to training for the next race. However, I think that this should be explicitly outlined in the question along with things such as what type of race you are training for, etc.

I think that the main problem right now (along with the fact that so many other proposals were merged with this one) is that there is no definition about what is on-topic and what is off-topic which is leading to the confusion. In my opinion, this is something that definitely needs a clear definition.

Answer 2

Questions about apps are perfectly acceptable on Fitness. Questions about training, improving your technique or physique, or achieving an increase in performance are perfectly suitable for Fitness as stated in the faq.

Why does there need to be a differentiation between casual and competitive? Does that mean someone who is looking for something "recreational" goes to fitness and the "competitive" go to Sports. What if someone is looking to jump from a recreational activity into training for a competition?

Splitting the definitions of the Fitness.SE and Sports.SE as "casual" and "competitive" (especially when the Fitness scope has already been defined) is going to cause huge problems in the future. Saying Sports.SE is competitive when Fitness.SE allows for those questions is asking Fitness to have its scope redefined (again).

Answer 3

that question should have been closed for a different reason: its a shopping question (off topic on all SE sites with few exceptions). I'm up in the air about running questions in general. It will be hard to determine if they are about competitive running or about recreational running. They are probably on topic here regardless, however I'd much prefer we stick to competitive sports.

Questions like this one are exactly the kinds of questions I'd prefer we avoid. However I won't fret if they remain on topic.

Answer 4

I think "Sports" should tend towards competitive sports, not so much for fitness-y participation. For me, as a runner, I do think that there is a distinction between running for fitness, and "training". The kinds of questions that people would ask about the two would tend to overlap in some places (shoes), but would differ in most others, such as the question about interval training (not too many people who jog 20 min 3 times a week are worried about intervals). That being said, almost all people running 3 hour marathons (fast), started as 20 minute joggers, then did a 10k, then muddled through a marathon. So it's a continuum.

Soccer is another continuum sport. There are people who play for fun at lunch, and they might not be so interested in a question about offsides traps, or some technical aspect of soccer. So maybe they would feel more at home in F&N, asking about how to rehab a twisted ankle, or something. But many of those people will often play in a more competitive league, and/or watch professional soccer, and/or coach their kid's team.

For a site called "Sports", if it is to end up being a place where people involved in sports gather, then there are always going to be a fair bit of overlap. Does the lunchtime soccer player think she's playing a sport, or doing a fitness activity? Or both?

That being said, it seems odd to allow questions about competitive running, discourage questions from recreational joggers, and yet also encourage questions about sports that are being viewed on TV (pro basketball trivia). There's a disconnect there.