Thoughts on "training"

The CR forum often has threads on Training - how much, what sort, etc. What training did you do this weekend? I've been thinking about the term "training", and what it means. People who "train" are obviously in training for something... otherwise what's the point. There are training plans, and training diets; speedwork, fartleks, intervals, tempo runs, tapering, etc, all with some future goal in mind. Some reason to get up in the morning and go for a run. Motivation to put a tick beside each task and add up the kilometres for the week.

I don't "train." I go for runs. Sometimes I go faster or further. I might have a future goal in mind (Puffing Billy), but I'm not particularly training for it.

I guess it's a Journey vs Destination kind of thing.

I'm lucky in that my motivation comes, not from a training plan, but from the group of people I run with every week. I don't need to fixate on some race weeks or months into the future - my goal is my run tomorrow. I don't know until I get there whether it will be hilly or fast; 9+ kms or 7 kms; and it doesn't matter, because it will be different from the run before.