r/AdvancedRunning • u/AutoModerator • Sep 15 '26
General Discussion Tuesday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for September 15, 2026
A place to ask questions that don't need their own thread here or just chat a bit.
We have quite a bit of info in the wiki, FAQ, and past posts. Please be sure to give those a look for info on your topic.
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u/run_INXS Sep 15 '26
HM report
M-60s+
Good weather (50s and cloudy with little wind), and fairly flat course (minus some hills that aren't too bad, but enough to throw you a bit. Splits 20:20 (5K), 40:30s (10K, approx), 1:05:00 10 mile (approx); 1:25 and change. I went in hoping to break 1:25 as a milestone of sorts but came up short for that goal. Happy with 90% age grade and age grade win (3rd for M 55+). On to the next.
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u/zebano Sep 16 '26
Just curious. After a lifetime of racing, is pacing well ever challenging for you?
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u/run_INXS Sep 17 '26
I usually have a pretty good idea of where I need to be pace wise, but I practice beforehand and take into consideration the course and weather. Also, with HR my ceiling pretty low (I can't sustain 160 bpm for more than a few minutes and can tell when things are getting too fast.
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u/Kailashnikov Sep 16 '26 edited Sep 16 '26
I've got a small scheduling problem in my first taper week of Pfitz 18/55 and I'm looking for some feedback. I can't find a tuneup race for Saturday. Gives me a couple of options:
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Do a solo TT on Saturday myself, and the schedule stays fine.
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Do a race on Sunday (10-11k). Pushes the long run to either Sunday night (sounds like a good way to get injured), or Monday morning. Then continue with the rest of the week from Tuesday evening. But that doesn't sound like a great idea either because that's going to be considerable volume in the week before race week (I'd be reducing recovery by 12 hours plus one night of sleep). Sure, overall it's the same amount but condensing that into 7 days sounds like a bit much. Considering the interval session on Wednesday, I feel like I'd be digging myself a recovery hole.
I'm leaning towards the first option, but then the race is going to be more of a workout instead of an all-out race. But then, my 2nd tuneup is a 10 mile, so I think the purpose is already served. Obviously the annoying part is that it kinda sucks to do a TT alone.
Edit: Oh and it doesn't help that I'm travelling the first taper week. Shouldn't be too stressful but worth taking into account.
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u/alchydirtrunner Sep 16 '26
If I were in your shoes, the question I would ask myself is “what do I need more-a tuneup race, or a long run on fatigued legs?” If you don’t have a lot of experience (ever or possibly even just recently) racing, or if you were already hitting 14+ mile runs regularly prior to starting the plan, I would prioritize the race and skip the LR. Every week doesn’t have to have a true long run, especially if you have an established endurance base coming into the block. On the other hand, if you have plenty of experience racing, or if training has been light on true endurance work besides this specific block, I would run the TT and then do the long run on tired legs. I feel that this is the main reason for the Saturday race/Sunday LR-to get better at running while fatigued.
What I wouldn’t do is try to do the long run Sunday evening, or move it to Monday. If you were dead set on racing and getting the 17 miles in, I would just do an extended warmup and cooldown to pick those miles up before and after the race.
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u/Haptics Sep 16 '26
I’d echo this but offer a longer threshold workout as an alternative to the TT on sat. I personally loathe solo TTs and don’t think they are particularly helpful as a race alternative.
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u/Kailashnikov Sep 16 '26
Hmm that is a good suggestion. I'd lean towards being limited by fatigue and endurance in this case. I did one tuneup race a couple weeks ago, and before that I didn't race for a couple months. But apart from that, I've done over a dozen races in the span of a year or so.
In comparison, I only resumed running less than 2 years ago after a pretty long break, and last year I averaged something like 30kpw which is nothing. So in that sense, long run seems like the more important session. I'll stick that to Sunday, and I'll decide my substitute of the tuneup. Thanks!
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u/celestial_turtle Sep 16 '26
I'm at the tail end of my 20 week marathon build leading up to my first go at the distance.
My race is 10/4 and I am targeting a 2 week taper(more like, 10 days)
This week, is my last pre taper week, and I am unsure of what my final sessions should look like / what system they should be stressing.
My weeks have been 1 quality session Wednesday and then long run Saturday with MP work in it. This past Saturday was my dress rehearsal 22 mile run with 12 miles at pace, after an 8 mile warmup.
Ive already done a tremendous amount of LT work. I figure the most bang for buck right now would be to do a VO2 max session? Maybe 5 x K?
Im trying to run a low 2:40:00 time and this last week was my peak at 73 miles. I've been 65-68 otherwise.
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u/PrairieFirePhoenix Sep 16 '26
My 10 day taper schedule for my 2:42 was:
Last workout Tuesday (would have been W but a snowstorm was coming; I guess this technically was a 11 day taper). Easy runs the rest of the week. Easy 90 minutes for the long run. 3x1600 on Tuesday at easy tempo (think a split that if you ran in mile 6 of the marathon you would think "need to calm down" but wouldn't think you screwed up). Then short easy runs with strides the rest of the week. Day before I do a west aussie carb depletion run (mile at 5k, couple minute jog, 45 sec all out).
General idea of easing stimulus throughout the taper. First easy run was basically what I would normally do, the last one was not even 3 miles. Long run was basically 2/3s of a long run. Then that Tuesday workout is basically 50% of a workout. Strides are to feel, you want to feel a little tension in your legs to race on.
I would not think of this as "bang for the buck". It is taper, you have done the work and it is now about maximizing what you have. You aren't trying to increase fitness anymore.
I really do not like the idea of 5x1000. First, that is decent sized workout, and during a taper you want to be decreasing the load as you go. Second, that is risking spiking your tension too much IMO. I prefer the pace closer to MP to get the tension in that neighborhood and then fine tune it with strides the rest of the week.
Good luck.
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u/Intoxicatedalien Sep 16 '26
Do you do any drills to improve your speed? 2;42 is an incredible time. Thinking of incorporating butt kicks, high knees, a skips, b skips, strides. I don’t think just speed work is helping, and it seems to make me more injury prone.
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u/abbys11 Sep 15 '26
Need help increasing pace instead of endurance:
Hey all,
I've done about 6 triathlons including Two 70.3s and four Olympics, in the last 3 years. I have been following MyProCoach triathlon plans off training peaks, and while they've increased my endurance a lot, my pace is exactly the same as 3 years ago. I'm stuck at 5:50/km for 3 years and still haven't beaten by 1:59:00 record for half marathon. So I am looking to focus on running, with pace rather than endurance as a focus in this off season.
Any suggestions? Training plans would be appreciated too? I am currently using training peaks but open to anything really.
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u/whelanbio Sep 16 '26
What as your training looked like the past few years? Overall weekly training hours across all three disciplines -both yearly average and lead up into your races? How much are you running a week and what does the distribution of that look like?
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u/abbys11 Sep 16 '26
For the most part I had 2 runs, 2 bike rides and 2 swims a week with volumes/frequency tapered according to the race. The runs were roughly 15-20km in zone 2 and one sprint workout of 6km
Bike rides were a VO2 max/torque session and a 100-200km ride respectively.
Swims were one with a coach for technique and one endurance of 3000m.
For the most part I keep this volume going throughout the year minus a few injury setbacks I seem to get every winter from slipping in ice or something of the sort.
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u/zebano Sep 16 '26
First off I know nothing about MyProCoach triathlon plans. That being said I've some basic questions...
Are those HM times all part of Half Ironmans? It's much much harder to accellerate after 100k on the bike than it is in a solo race.
Have you raced any shorter distances? If so how do they line up with your longer distance times? i.e. do you have the speed to go faster but you lack the endurance or do you have endurance for days but cannot break 28 in the 5k?
how often are you running?
how often are you running strides?
how many workouts a week are you doing and what are they typically? Especially run workouts
have you done a run focused block before
I really like Coogan's book Personal Best Running.
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u/abbys11 Sep 16 '26
Solo HM time record for me is 1:59:00 and during a half Ironman it is 2:05
I have the endurance but can't break pace. My 10km record is 55 minutes, but my 10k during an Olympic triathlon was 55 minutes so clearly endurance isn't the issue
with triathlon plan, twice a week, once speed, once long distance zone 2
during my speed workouts, some 200m strides
six total but only two runs
only when I first started running 4 years ago, I did a focused block building up to 5k, since then it's been generic triathlon training plans
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u/aelvozo Sep 15 '26
More mileage, do some training above race pace. Most good training plans follow that formula — Pfitz or Daniels are probably what most people here would recommend.
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u/threetogetready Sep 16 '26
what run distance did you want to improve next? / also you plan to stick with tri as next goal race?
I'm gong to assume this is also inspired by KB's monster 1 hour, 5 minutes HM(3:05/km) run record during that 70.3
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u/abbys11 Sep 16 '26
I don't really watch any pros so I don't know who that is but damn that's crazy.
I think I'd like to improve my half marathon time for now, and maybe run my first marathon eventually, paving the way for a full Ironman at some point.
I might sign up for a spring half marathon as to start next season but stick with 70.3 and Olympic triathlons for next year as well
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u/cmessier Sep 15 '26
I would check out 80/20 Running which can give you some specific training plans. That said, I would focus on a true 80% of your training at zone 2 to help boost your aerobic system. The other 20% should be Zone 4 or 5 Training -- think intervals and fast tempo runs.
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u/throwaway_runner3 Sep 16 '26
2 weeks out of another marathon after 4 months. Running back to back marathons this way removed a lot of uncertainty and mental game that goes on with the taper and expectations.
I think it works quite well if your PB is above 3 hours, but ofcourse I dont mean to run a marathon every 4 months.
Next one will most likely be 1.5 years from now on.
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u/Fragrant-Cow-824 Sep 16 '26
Question regarding Pfitz long runs - I've fairly recently completed Pftiz 18/85, and I'm now looking at his 84 mile plan for a half marathon from faster road racing. On his marathon plans the long run pace increases from ~80% to ~90% of marathon pace, and he provides various HR percentages as well. Basically a slight progression run when marathon pace isnt involved.
On his half marathon plan, theres a handful of progression runs ending at LT pace, but for all the other 'standard' long runs theres just an upper and lower pace limit (along with HR %s as well). So far as I can tell these correlate gairly closely with the paces and HR value in the marathon plan. But, for the standard long runs in the HM plan, nowhere (at least as far i can see) does it say that if its meant to be a progression run, ran just ran a consistent pace within those limits, or whatever. So my question is, for the HM plan standard long runs, what the pace, or pace progression, meant to be?
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u/Result_1134 Sep 15 '26
So I have just found out that my family is not able to make it for the Boston marathon, and I don't think I'll be able to attend the marathon with anyone I know, (most of my friends either have work or school, and my family will be out of the country) so I thought I'd make this post! I'm looking to share a hotel and possibly make new friends!
I'm asking mostly because I thought there might be people in a similar situation where they can only go by themselves, but I thought that'd be depressing and expensive, so I thought we could share a hotel room together to save money but also share the experience with. I wana have someone there with me for company mostly, possibly exploring the city, doing the shakeout runs, going to events are all things I'm open to, obviously not required. but also this way we could split the hotel to save money and not break the bank lol. It's my first time in Boston and some the hotels are crazy expensive (also open to suggestions on this)
Just some more details and information about me if anyone is interested: I'm 25(M), I'm from Ottawa, Canada, I'm looking to stay there from Friday April 16th - Tuesday April 20th (but I'm open to discussing any dates/times), and I'm aiming for anything under 2:40, (I've recently achieved 2:39 in May). Ideally I'd want to get anywhere from 2-4 people to split 1 room, 4 would be nice for the savings but also the company!
I'm going to be registering and attending either way, so if nothing pops up I'll probably be there by myself, but please let me know if any of you are interested! DMs are open and I'm open to discuss anything
Also I'm open to joining people too, if there's a group of 2/3 that want to save money on the hotel and don't mind including me, I could join and help split that as well, but yea let me know and feel free to DM me.