It’s not hard to see so many very impressive workouts on social media. I actively try to avoid them and I still see workouts that I think must be from people who are significantly faster than me, only to find out that they are actually from people who are slower than me.
The real question we should be asking about any workout is simple: is this making you a better runner?
The goal of a workout isn’t to make you tired or sore. It’s to make you better. If it’s not making you better, why are you doing it?
However, so many people do workouts that are too hard, that are more about making them tired and sore than about making them faster.
The best workouts are almost always more moderate, more sustainable. Because, in general, you don’t get better by doing one or two heroic workouts that leave you exhausted and broken down for days after. You get better by going more sustainable so you can get another workout in two or three days later.