Ingrid Kristiansen: ‘I want to be a counterweight to the fitness frenzy’

I have to admit, my heart warmed a little when I spotted her on the street the other day. There’s something about that calm gaze, that particular sense of peace that only someone who has won it all, yet lost a bit of themselves along the way, possesses. Ingrid Kristiansen. For many of us who grew up in the eighties, she’s more than a former runner. She’s the very symbol of that Norwegian willingness to suffer, the one who would run from Moscow to London without batting an eye.

Now she’s back in the public eye, and I have to say, her message is spot on for the moment. Because this isn’t about chasing new personal bests or analysing your resting heart rate down to the last decimal. Instead, Ingrid Kristiansen is positioning herself as a clear counterweight to what she calls the ‘fitness frenzy’. And let me say this straight up: it’s about time.

I’ve followed Norwegian sport for years, and I’ve never seen a sharper divide between those who train to live and those who live to train. Especially in the Norwegian running scene over the last few years, a culture has emerged that sometimes feels more like a career pursuit than a leisure activity. Heart rate monitors beeping, algorithms dictating your rest week, and a lingering performance anxiety lurking behind every set of running gear.

Ingrid Kristiansen knows what she’s talking about. When she set the world marathon record in 1985, it involved a pain threshold that few of us can imagine. But she’s also felt the downside of the medal. In an honest moment, she’s spoken about the feeling of being misrepresented, of being reduced to just a machine that churned out races. Maybe that’s why she comes across as so genuine today. She’s been up there, and she knows that it’s not necessarily where most of us should be aiming.

Let joy take the lead

It’s easy to get swept up when the whole Instagram scene is screaming ‘just do it!’ and showing off perfectly timed interval sessions at sunset. But what Ingrid Kristiansen reminds us of is something simple: that exercise should be a source of energy, not a source of stress. She talks about listening to your body, not just your watch. About daring to take a day off without feeling guilty. About remembering that we started running because it gave us freedom, not because it was meant to be another line on our CV.

To be honest, I think this message hits even harder because it’s coming from her. If it were anyone else, you might dismiss it as whining from someone who can’t keep up. But Ingrid Kristiansen has credibility. She holds the world record. She can afford to say ‘enough is enough’ without anyone accusing her of being lazy.

• Listen to your body: Are you in pain? Are you tired? Maybe the smartest thing you can do today is go for a gentle walk, not push yourself through a session.
• Leave the heart rate monitor off sometimes: Feel what it’s like to run without being measured. It can be an incredibly freeing experience.
• Remember why you started: For most of us, it’s about health, wellbeing, and feeling the wind in your hair. Don’t let it become another demanding job.

There’s something refreshing in the way she conveys this. She doesn’t come across as a moralist pointing a finger, but as an older, wiser sister who’s seen it all. She doesn’t want us to stop running. She just wants us to stop ruining the joy of running.

A voice we need

In a time when young people struggle to find balance, and when more are dropping out of sport because it’s become too ‘serious’, a voice like Ingrid Kristiansen’s is worth its weight in gold. She represents what’s real, what’s down-to-earth. She reminds us that behind all the records and all the titles, there’s a person who has also felt the pressure, who has also felt left out when her shoes had to be put on the shelf.

So next time you tie your laces and feel that anxiety creeping in about not performing well enough, think about what the queen of the marathon herself says. It’s okay to take it easy. It’s okay to enjoy yourself. And it’s okay to be a counterweight, even if the whole world around you seems to have forgotten that.