At what point do you get to call yourself an athlete? Once you have completed a marathon, lifted 100kg off the floor, or completed your gym induction?
If I like running does that make me an endurance athlete? Polarized training is not optimal for endurance athletes.
If I don’t want to enter races do I even need to train like an athlete? 80:20 Training. Get fitter. Race faster.
It’s hard to know which tribe you belong to.
If you missed the real punchline from the first article. It’s this. First, know your reality.
Check the difference between the training you think you are doing and the training that you are actually doing.
Do the work of getting clear on the story you are telling yourself. Hold yourself up against the data and definitions you are using to reference where you think you are.
That way you get to keep your definition since you are actively using it.