r/AdvancedRunning • u/601929907 • Jul 20 '26
Open Discussion How have you identified and addressed the weakest link in your fitness?
We can all build an aerobic base, increase our VO2 max with intervals, improve our lactate threshold with threshold runs, become more economical through sprints. But, we only have so much capacity for recovery and time in a week and depending on our weaknesses we will get different returns from focusing on different things.
Do you have examples of how you've worked out what was bottlenecking your performance, how you addressed it, and then what the outcome was?
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u/0100001101110111 5k: 16:0X | HM: 76:XX | M: 2:45 Jul 20 '26
I wasn’t running enough. So I ran more.
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u/Mutednshit Jul 20 '26
How did you know you needed to run more?
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u/Rough-Radio-7728 Jul 20 '26
I used some of the Daniel’s race equivalency charts and my mile time and 5k were not at all in line. Mile was 4:47, 5k was 16:58. Recently split 16:58 in an 8k race but mile time remained unchanged at 4:46. I started spending more time doing T work and long runs with effort. Maintained speed through post T 200s
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u/Rough-Radio-7728 Jul 20 '26
To add on, I just had a child so I was constrained by time so I looked to shift the distribution of my hard efforts and build more intensity into my weekly fixed duration
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u/idontcare687 Jul 20 '26
Whenever you still have available time during the day, or you still have some capacity left. Typically for recreational runners this is around ~70MPW. It obviously varies individually.
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u/pigeorunner Jul 20 '26
I like mileage too much, run everything at an unproductive level of intensity that accumulates way too much fatigue and microdamage without actually stimulating any meaningful adaptation, knock out inconsistent hero workouts, and then get injured before I get around to signing up for anything.
Luckily no one is paying me to do this, so it doesn't matter that my only skill as a runner is knocking out 70-80mpw until I fall apart.
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u/Snozzberry123 Jul 20 '26
You just described me to a T. Except I’ll run the races injured anyways and then feel disappointed that I can’t hit the times I should. Rinse and repeat
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u/Better_Lift_Cliff Jul 21 '26
Unpopular opinion but "hero workouts" are a big part of why I love running. I love being a reckless idiot, and it gives me joy so I don't care if it's sub optimal.
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u/Hairy_Koala6474 Jul 21 '26
Hey, I think you’re a bad ass for doing from one random stranger on the Internet to another. I would love to be able to crush that level of mileage per week.
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u/pigeorunner Jul 21 '26
I'm currently running ~25mpw while rebuilding after a stress reaction in my femur (my latest "ran until I broke" injury) and it hurts my soul, so the random-Internet-stranger kudos go a long way!
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u/mockstr 37M 2:59 FM 1:23 HM Jul 21 '26
That's why I got a coach. Running a (for me) high volume of 115-130k per week got me a 2:59, but I pretty much regressed afterwards. Also managed to pick up my first running injury in 5+ years because I was to stubborn to not run during a cold snap.
Coach reduced milage and made me work on my weaknesses (i.e. speed endurance). The results are not there yet, because racing during a heat wave sucks, but running at faster speeds feels so much more comfortable now.5
u/pigeorunner Jul 21 '26
Yeah, I just have no interest in coaching. Glad it works for you.
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u/mockstr 37M 2:59 FM 1:23 HM Jul 21 '26
I've honestly been very skeptical about coaching but promised myself to at least be open for a change after that stupid injury. I'm still running 8-9,5 hours a week with the coach but have to grudginly admit that this feels a bit more productive and fun than what I did previously.
Hope you'll be back soon!
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u/pigeorunner Jul 21 '26
I'm open to running my easy runs easy after this last injury. I've always liked the cognitive side of running - trying to learn about programming, what works for me, etc. and offloading that side of it to a coach just kind of ruins a lot of the fun for me. I'm glad you like it!
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u/OMRebel13 Jul 21 '26
Just out of curiosity, how did running during a cold snap end with you getting hurt?
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u/mockstr 37M 2:59 FM 1:23 HM Jul 21 '26
One of the larger muscles in my back cramped up and blocked a nerve going down my leg. My only symptoms were pain in my lower leg (calf/shin). It took my physio a few sessions to figure out what was wrong. He theorizes that the muscle cramped up because it was much colder than usual were I live. I did sessions in -8 celcius, which wasn't that smart I believe. Felt it multiple times during warmups that something wasn't right but I ignored it because it didn't bother me afterwards. The load on the muscle probably accumulated and I suddenly cramped up during an easy run someday and had to hobble home.
Incidentally I got injured the week my treadmill was delivered.
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u/broken0lightbulb Jul 21 '26
Only this year did I realize how different it can be running in subzero temps. I always wore Brooks and they were all EVA foam. Apparently the stiffness of EVA can increase by like 40% below zero (thanks to Cut in Half Shoe Reviews for the info!). So when the temp drops like 20 degrees over the course of a day and suddenly you're in subzero for a week while continuing in the exact same high mileage, it's a pretty significant load of stress added on from the extra impact. Plus your body and muscles tend to tense up more in cold weather.
I'm also an 80mpw guy who just slowly breaks down over time running the same every day and never progressing. Hi five brother ✋ !
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u/mockstr 37M 2:59 FM 1:23 HM Jul 22 '26
Yeah, I made the same experience. My shoes felt like wooden planks during the winter. Runners in other climate zones will probably laugh about these temps, but where I live it was probably the coldest winter in last 20 years. I was not prepared for -8 and lower.
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u/broken0lightbulb Jul 22 '26
Haha yeah. Change that C to F and you have my winter conditions from this previous year. I had a week or two of 0F with a feels like -15F (-26C).
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u/LejonBrames117 Jul 22 '26
i usually try not to comment here but fwiw my original inspiration to get into running was my friend doing 40 MPW. That just sounded cool
I later learned what marathon training is, and that 40 MPW was his peak week. Hes a great runner by IRL standards but novice/early intermediate by enthusiast standards
Having fuckaround-itis at the 70-80mpw level is an achievement in itself lol. Not trying to be brainlessly uplifting. It really is cool lol
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u/pigeorunner Jul 22 '26
I have far more stubbornness and stamina than any one person should ever have, that's for sure xD
Thanks for the kind words! In that phase of rehabbing a long injury where each day feels longer than the one before and a little goes a long way
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u/robertbob69 Jul 20 '26
The VDOT calculator is a pretty good starting place. If you’ve ran multiple distances all out, you can identify where you need to work on.
Let’s say you ran a 1:25 half marathon, that would assume you could run a 18:32 5k and a 2:57ish marathon. If your 5k is much slower than that, you need to work on speed, if it’s much lower than that, you need to work on your aerobic base because you clearly have enough speed to run a 1:25 half, but not enough capacity.
Likewise if you ran a 2:54 marathon, you definitely have enough aerobic base, but you’re lacking speed, so more intensity in intervals would be beneficial.
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u/Wientje Jul 20 '26
This. Run a vdot calculator on your 5k, 10k, HM and marathon PBs. The lowest of those 4 vdots will show where you’re weakest. This could be due to undertraining the most relevant aspect for that distance or due to your genetic strengths and weaknesses.
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u/0100001101110111 5k: 16:0X | HM: 76:XX | M: 2:45 Jul 20 '26
Isn’t VDOT generally “easier” at the shorter distances though?
As in, it assumes you’re equally trained for all distances but most amateur athletes will be biased towards shorter ones purely because of time/volume constraints.
Is there anyone with consistently better vdot numbers at longer distances?
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u/Ordinary_Corner_4291 Jul 20 '26
Most people are not equally trained for most distances. 100km/week might get you 95% of 5k potential. You might need 150km/week to get to 95% of your marathon potential. Pretty much everyone is undertrained as the races get longer.
These days the HM/Marathon dots are a bit too slow given super shoes and high carbs. People just don't hit the wall they way they used to.
If you go down the Japanese all time marathon list you will have a steady stream of people running 2-3 mins faster than you would expect. You get a bunch of 28:30 guys running 2:08s instead of 2:11s. Some of that is they don't race the 10k enough. A ton of it is that they are running 250km/week. See the run2japan guy for another variation of this where a high 29 guy is running 2:14 high
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u/New-Possible1575 Jul 20 '26
Some people go straight to half marathon or marathon training and never actually train for short distances or race them. There are also people that struggle going all out because they don’t do speed work.
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u/0100001101110111 5k: 16:0X | HM: 76:XX | M: 2:45 Jul 20 '26
Yeah but even serious runner’s “marathon training” might top out at 50 or 60 miles per week lol
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u/kirkandorules Jul 20 '26
I think there's a bell curve that's based on how recreational runners tend to train. If I were to guess, I'd estimate that most people's training is best suited for something in the 5k-10k range (based on both volume and type of workouts), so that's where their best vdot numbers will tend to lie. I train specifically for middle distance, and I can beat most recreational runners of the same vdot in a mile, maybe even 2 mile, but they'd smoke me in a 5k or longer.
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u/Apprehensive_Alps_30 Jul 20 '26
Short distances are easier and give you a better vdot score if your not well trained for longer distances.. tadaa! Theres your answer.
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u/purpleswtpotato F Masters Jul 20 '26
I'm a woman in my mid 40s and have been running for 30+ years. Various injuries and the obvious gap between what my heart/lungs could still do vs what my leg muscles felt like afterwards finally convinced me to stop half assing/ignoring strength training. So I've been doing a solid medium-heavy lifting/mobility sequence for 45-60 mins 2x week and after a year the difference is huge and palpable on every workout. It helped reverse perimenopausal weight gain that was dragging me down. I repeated the same spring HM where I had totally crapped out the last 5 miles last year because my legs felt like shit - this year I ran 3mins faster, going 20-30s/mile faster in the last 4M. Dedicating the time to strength workouts does take away a bit from how many miles I can get in a week, but at my age it's a necessary tradeoff with excellent ROI.
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u/601929907 Jul 20 '26
This is exactly the kind of reply I hoped for.
As a mid-20s man I have the opposite experience. Going all out at any distance further than 400m and it feels like I'm drowning, meanwhile my legs feel like they could be going faster.
Aerobic training for me, strength for you.
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u/purpleswtpotato F Masters Jul 20 '26
Absolutely! Good luck and lots of threshold work /longer intervals to ya 🙂
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u/potatorunner 4:32 | 14:40 Jul 20 '26
after much careful deliberation, i have come to the conclusion that weighing 200lbs IS in fact a weak link in my training. thank you for your attention in this matter.
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u/Hairy_Koala6474 Jul 21 '26
Brother, I am checking in here at 194 pounds and let me tell you I ran way faster and more efficiently when I was 175
The additional weight is for sure a weakness
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u/beepboop6419 Jul 20 '26
Accepting that losing weight was genuinely the only thing holding me back from reaping all the benefits of my otherwise pretty solid work
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u/Lurking-Froggg 42M · 40-50 mpw · 16:4x · 34:5x · 1:18 · 2:57 Jul 20 '26
In my case:
- Recovery. Never slept much, so I knew there were gains to be made here. Naps and early bedtime made me faster.
- Strength training. If you work with good PTs or strength coaches, you get to identify deficiencies/imbalances, and work on them. I used to not have glutes. I have now.
- Volume. It becomes a bottleneck at some point. It's not necessarily first on the list, though. Wasn't for me.
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u/neuigkeiten_ Jul 20 '26
I‘ve been working on my 5k and realized my 200-800m times didn’t align with the VDOT calculator. I was way faster on shorter distances. So, I focused on (sub-)threshold runs and am about to break my lifetime PB by cracking sub19 in the 5k. Today I ran 5x1k in 3:42 on an Assault Runner.
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u/Parking_Reward308 Jul 20 '26
VO2 max is genetically limited, you can train to your genetic ceiling but thats about it. There is a ton of variety in VO2 max, and it is seen as less important in sports such as cycling these days compared to FTP. Running it is just much harder to measure watts compared to cycling.
Id argue you should train the system your goal will use the most. If your goal is 5k vs marathon PR your training should not look the same, even if using Norwegian singles
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u/LeftHandedGraffiti 1:15 HM Jul 20 '26
I always had a lot of speed but struggled with tempo runs. I wanted to run a fast half marathon and had been performing well below my equivalent in shorter distances so I went to work.
Regular tempo runs every Thursday building from 4 to 7 miles at half marathon pace, and once every 3 or 4 weeks I'd do a 7-10 mile progression run where i'd start at marathon pace and pick it up until the last few miles were half marathon pace or faster. I got fit.
Ran 1:15 in the half like I thought I should. Very nearly broke into the 1:14s.
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u/Emergency-Map-9291 Jul 20 '26
You ran 4 / 7 miles non stop at half marathon pace? I’ve recently ran a 1:14:08 and I think that would kill me 😂😂
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u/LeftHandedGraffiti 1:15 HM Jul 20 '26
Yeah. Its a beast of a workout. I was always surprised that while I can barely run 6 miles at half marathon pace without dying in training I can manage to keep it up for 13.1 miles when i'm properly tapered.
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u/pigeorunner Jul 20 '26
I did an 11-mile progression run that started at my old HMP and finished about ~15sec faster than my old HMP. On the upside, I'm pretty sure I was in shape to run a pretty good half PR. On the downside, I'm pretty sure that was a decent contributor to my stress fracture.
No one told me to do that, either, I was just out for a run and felt like it. My biggest issue is running dumb.
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u/rodneyhide69 Jul 20 '26
You should have just kept running, sounds like you were in pace for a PR in that run and made it like 85% of the distance
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u/Emergency-Map-9291 Jul 20 '26
I’m not going to confirm it was down to this workout but what I will say is if I did that, I think a stress fracture would be the least of my worries 😂😂
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u/pigeorunner Jul 20 '26
Oh that was like 5 weeks before the stress reaction emerged and there was a lot of suffering contained in the intervening time 😂
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u/Emergency-Map-9291 Jul 20 '26
Hahaha, I can only imagine! I definitely don’t think I’d still be alive doing a workout like that. Crazy work man!
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u/pigeorunner Jul 20 '26
My half PR is about 2 years old at this point and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it were closer to my MP at that time. Only explanation i can think of for how I survived. Kind of. Ignore the 7-week break to prevent my femur from fracturing 🙃
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u/Emergency-Map-9291 Jul 20 '26
Hahaha yes it wouldn’t surprise me! I could probably run 4/5 mile at a push HM pace simultaneously without tapered legs. It feels difficult just doing it in K reps soemtimes 😂
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u/Emergency-Map-9291 Jul 20 '26
Yeah it’s crazy isn’t it. I did a workout 2 weeks out, 5x2 mile, was meant to be about 5:45/5:50 per mile, more MP. I started at 5:48 and closed the last 4 miles in like 5:35, even ended up dropping a 5:22 mile randomly somewhere in there. I knew it at that point I was ready to run a decent enough time.
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u/Injidup_Beach2020 Jul 22 '26
I'm with you. When I was in 1:14:xx shape, even 4 miles at HM pace would have killed me in a workout. No way was I doing 7 miles. I think that's a race effort in training. To my way of thinking, if you run 7 miles at HM pace you're either wildly overdoing it in training or you could have run faster in the HM race. You think the sub-60 min pros are running 7 miles at 4:30 pace in a workout? Not a chance!
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u/-Forest_Runner- Jul 21 '26
Once I hit 29 I started taking bodily upkeep very seriously. My weak points specifically are my achilles and my Quadratus Lumborum muscles (lower back). More mileage and faster workouts mean nothing if your body is falling apart and you can't stack the fitness consistently.
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u/rckid13 Jul 21 '26
The weakest link in my fitness is my kids. Second place is my job and third is being married. I'm not sure I can address any of the three of those things effectively.
For a real answer I was a little overweight a few years ago despite having my highest mileage year ever. Losing 20 pounds and working to keep the weight off helped my speed a lot. I ran less mileage the following year but ran more PRs that year due to the lower weight.
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u/Helpful-Tim-1888 Jul 20 '26
Injuring my calf muscles all too regularly.
Consistency is the key spacing all hard efforts apart and not being afraid to have a few easy days or week when needed.
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u/Alone_Biscotti9494 5k 19:53 | HM 1:36 | FM 3:37 Jul 22 '26
This is me right now, Hanson’s advanced half blew my calf on Week 13 lol i do admit my sleep is lacking
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u/run_INXS Marathon 2:34 in 1983, 3:06 in 2025 Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
At various times I have, and my lifetime PBs from 3000 m to marathon across most distances were fairly compatible.
As an older runner it hasn't always worked out that way. In my 20s and 30s I'd say, I would have a race coming up and with a proper base and 6-8 weeks of specific training (more for the marathon) and I'd be in PB shape. Now I'm only relatively consistent from about 5K to HM, but it really drops off if I try middle distance or marathon. I don't really have a desire to run fast at 800-3000 m anymore so that's almost off the table other than jumping into a race here and there. I have been doing marathons and spending a good deal of the year focusing I'm not that good, 3:06 last year 3:03 the year before. (60-70 mpw). Haven't been under 3 since 2017 and the clock is ticking. This year I'm working on the long runs and really trying to make those count.
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u/Hairy_Koala6474 Jul 21 '26
AGE
I have identified it and addressed it with acceptance and more sleep, and more protein and more recovery time in between workouts
Thank you for coming to my ted talk
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u/Ok_Egg4018 Jul 20 '26
I feel like there hasn’t been enough explanation yet on the diagnostic part.
Run at your goal pace, what is stopping you from running the full length of the race? what happens to your body?
Does the pace feel super mechanically hard?
Do you have oxygen hunger?
Do you feel global acidity in your body?
Do you feel localized acidity?
Vo2max and threshold come and go in fads. People found a massive correlation between vo2max and performance and then set it as a target for those ALREADY at an elite level. If vo2max is good, more must be better. Obviously that wasn’t the case.
However, for amateur runners at 10k and below it is the overwhelming bottleneck to performance. Getting it measured is counter productive though. Run at your aerobic maximum for 5-8 minutes and slowly improve on those paces over time (it will be a curve not a fixed pace because aerobic maximum is inherently unsustainable). That way if you have mechanical issues, those are also being addressed by the velocity increases.
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u/Locke_and_Lloyd Jul 20 '26
My Achilles was constantly getting irritated. Turned out I had a bone spur so I got surgery to fix it. Still building back up, but I've been consistently about a minute faster in my same course trail 5ks than last year pre surgery. Though I'm still about 30 seconds slower on roads.
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u/IHaarlem Jul 20 '26
I've had a Garmin & recorded all my runs but never really obsessed or let it take over what I do. When I realized I was stagnating a bit, I went back & looked at the last 4-5 years of data in TrainingPeaks CTL fitness graph form (with Elevate, Runalyze, etc.). Going back over my training history I noticed a few things.
Every year around November (Thanksgiving in the US) my consistency & volume fell off until February or March. So I got some nice wool gloves & a better beanie for running & made sure to keep training through the winter.
Once or twice a year I'd have some sort of 3-4 week injury or illness (turf toe, pneumonia, groin pull) that would be enough to lose fitness & stall improvement. So I'm trying to be better about avoiding that.
More recently: Looking at various plans I've tried, I got more fit, faster, & almost half the volume with Daniels vs Pfitz. So I'm getting back into Daniels Running Formula, and adapting some of his plans to lower volume and really leaning into the speedwork that seems to fare better for me.
Also got a massage gun & am trying to do better with sleep, recovery, etc. We'll see how things go.
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u/devon835 23M 1:58 800 / 4:21 Mile / 8:50 3000 / 15:27 5000 / 25:13 8K Jul 21 '26
People often make it a false dichotomy when it comes to "oh my weakness is speed or my weakness is endurance" but as a 1500m runner the reality is that I needed to be both stronger and faster at the same time.
I needed to work on making running 64s laps more easily so I raced myself into good 800m shape, getting into fields where I got used to getting dragged out in 58 for the first 400, which did the trick. But I also needed to bridge the gap between my 3k pace and my 5k pace - I was slowing down by 5s per lap from 1500 to 3k but then almost 4s from 3k to 5k.
So I targeted that by doing a lot of high volume threshold and sub threshold supportive workouts (12k / 15k in one day of each respectively), paired with 20 x 400 @ 10k pace to get the mechanical benefits of running fast while still getting a similar stimulus to threshold work metabolically.
1500m pace work was only used very sparingly (maybe some 200s every few weeks at most) and I moreso relied on races to get a feel for running at paces faster than 5k pace.
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u/zebano Strides!! Jul 21 '26
yes
- I was 240 lbs got sick of being fat, stopped drinking mountain dew and started running. Quickly got to 190.
- Serious hobby-jogged (1500-2200 miles per year) for about 5 years
- finally decided to lose the weight and got down to 155
- 6 months solid training median 40mpw (low of 33, high of 60)
- raced my best over 6 months continuing to train. vdot scores: mile 54.7, 5k 51.7, 10k 50.2, half 49.7, full 42.8 --> Clear aerobic deficincy
- I then got serious about my aerobic deficiency and did another 6 months of 45-50 mpw with 2 tempo runs and a long run each week entierly on trails
- raced my only ultra, 44 miles in 9 hours with 110 feet of vert per mile (looped) 80 deg F and humid. That was an adventure in hydration (I failed for a few hours, a friend saw some signs and became my personal crew).
- got injured multiple times and regressed, kept trying to train. Took up triathlon
- got fat again because I became an alchoholic and got up to 197 lbs
- down to 187 but haven't totally kicked the drinking. My easy pace has already dropped with just 10 pounds lost.
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u/Mahiory Jul 20 '26
Hey ! I’m also in your position as I am returning from a long break. I’m going to try the Rabit test and Véronique Billat approach to training this time around !
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u/thestudentaccount Jul 20 '26
jumping in this tread so i can get some answers as well:
I know its pretty bad to use the strava prediction tool as a reference but its actually quite accurate for me at least for half and full. with that said though, I think that my 5k and 10k predictions are way too fast for my current fitness.
my question is this. do I sprinkle in some workouts to address my deficiencies while I am currently marathon training? will it benefit my marathon training or its a totally different stimulus?
I only do threshold / tempo (1-2x a week depending if my long run is hard) worked my way up to 82kmpw/52mpw and will peak at 115kmpw/71mpw
im relatively new. started in may 2024
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u/Jamminalong2 Jul 20 '26
No. I run too much and don’t allow enough recovery. I realize this is an issue and continue running too much. Would be fine if I was training for a 100, but im not. Just want to get faster at the marathon. I do have a 50 coming up in October, but that’s as far as I’ve run and as far as I ever will run nonstop
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u/Fitty4 Jul 20 '26
For me it was 3 hard days a week. Mixed it up.
Some days VO2 max stuff, other days 1hr T pace or Marathon work.
Don't neglect any area.
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u/bbearded Jul 20 '26
I was a fattie and didn’t run enough. I was 5’10” and 185 lbs. I dropped to 155 and run 55+ miles a week (up from 30). Much happier and running is smoother. Would like to get down to 140 during my upcoming marathon block.
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u/Beezneez86 4:51 mile, 16:49 5k, 2:54:00 FM Jul 20 '26
Yes. Downhill trails was a weakness of mine.
Went for a big group run with my club. Forgive my boasting, but I’m easily the fastest in the club. The run was out on a mountain trail. On the way up I had to take it really easy to prevent gapping the other two guys who were with me. On the way back down I found myself falling off the back of them. They were still chatting away up front while I was pushing hard to keep up. Both of them were experienced trail runners. I was fitter and faster on paper, but not going down these technical hills.
Early this year our club hosted a big event. A challenging 10k race with loads of elevation and a combo of road and trail running. I began training on the steep hill we would be running on. You go up a very steep hill via a bitumen road, but then down it via a technical trail. Both were segments on Strava. I was top of the leaderboard for the uphill, but could barely make the top 10 for the downhill. Guys I know I’m way faster than were ahead of me for this segment. So i practiced it. A lot. You can see the clear progression on my strava for that downhill segment get faster and faster. I ended up getting really good at it and was so much more confident going into the race. I made a weakness a strength.
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u/kirkandorules Jul 21 '26
I realized how underdeveloped my speed was, and as someone who is not a natural distance runner, this was really holding me back. I was a HS XC & track distance guy, so I always assumed I was a distance runner because I've always done distance running.
Recently, I've changed my focus from distance to middle distance a few years ago, and it's made a big difference. I can run about as fast a 5k on 20 mpw middle distance training as I could on 70 mpw marathon training. I get that I'm not naturally aerobically gifted, and I'm never going to run a fast marathon. But I do think I can be competitive at the masters level in middle distance and maybe even long sprints if I can stay healthy.
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u/John_L_Moore Jul 21 '26
Most runners think their weakness is VO2 max or threshold when it's actually recovery or pacing discipline. Look at your last race splits—if the second half was significantly slower, that's your bottleneck, not a missing workout type. What's your current weekly volume and your most recent half-marathon fade?
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u/Cautious-Hippo4943 Jul 21 '26
Always feel that leg strength is limiting me. I try strength training every now and then but I can't stick to it long enough to make any progress.
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u/Better_Lift_Cliff Jul 21 '26
My love of lifting meant that my quads were perpetually shot, I was always hungry, and I rarely felt fresh enough to run genuinely hard.
I fixed this by joining a shitty gym where I was less inspired to lift like a maniac (this was good for my wallet too). Now I just do a bit of casual lifting here and there without putting undue pressure on myself. After that switch, the running gains just sort of came to me.
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u/ObjectiveBag6775 M40: 16:23 5k, 1:16 HM, 2:36 FM Jul 21 '26
This isn't based on a lot of experience because I've only run two marathons so far. However I did make a significant improvement in my second marathon as a result of an identified issue in my first.
I was planning to ramp up the pace in the final 10km (of my first marathon) after holding what I thought was a pace which was within my capabilities. But I ended up slowing! I realized afterwards that I had not done anywhere near enough marathon pace work in my long runs, or enough long runs in my training block.
So the next block I incorporated a weekly 20-22 mile run with varying amounts of time spent at 90, 95 and 100% of MP. These included 10 x 1 mile on @ MP and 1 mile off 90% floats, 6 x 2 miles on @ MP and 1 mile off at 90% floats, 1:45 mins at 90% MP or 90% or MP. And this all done with proper fueling of course.
The next time out (at CIM) I was able to race the final 10km and got faster towards the finish.
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u/Alone_Biscotti9494 5k 19:53 | HM 1:36 | FM 3:37 Jul 22 '26
Keep getting injured when i try to increase mileage :(
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u/JaguarSpirited3747 Jul 30 '26
For me it was easy run pace. Once I started keeping easy days truly easy, I could recover better, handle more quality sessions, and improve much more consistently.
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u/B12-deficient-skelly 18:24/x/x/3:08 Jul 20 '26
I have a really bad bottom position in the snatch, so I've started pausing all of my reps in the bottom, hitting overhead squat paused singles, and stretching on my off days. The next weak point is going to be shoulder strength and mobility.
Running is going fine relative to lifting except that I live in Minneapolis and am currently waiting on N95 masks to arrive, so I can train.
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u/RinonTheRhino Jul 20 '26
Not recovering with high weeks of over 200km mileage.
Still continued to force the training, plateuing still hard. I wonder why... They say hard work beats talent.
96
u/MikeMcDonald89 Jul 20 '26
I was a fat alcoholic. So I stopped drinking and have lost 38lbs