If you think you have the bandwidth to lift, bike and run 4000 miles, by all means, hit that!
Nothing wrong with that… Just watch out for signs of over training and know when to take a day or week off…
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I’ll jump in on this thread too!
I focussed heavily on long distance triathlon from about 2012, culminating in a few decent national results, qualifying for Half-ironman worlds (which I declined) and missing on Ironman worlds by two places. For a number of reasons I decided in 2020 to step away from triathlon - at least for the foreseeable future - and get back to just enjoying running and using cycling as cross training.
Last year I massively increased the amount of elevation I ran, ending up at over 40,000 metres for the year, although my overall distance dropped slightly to around 1,800k.
This year I’m planning to continue with running usually three or four times a week: one long run of between 90 to 120 minutes, one interval session, and two ‘fun’ runs, and combing that with three TR rides a week.
I’m loving my newly resdiscovered love of running just for the joy of running. Don’t get me wrong, I never stopped liking running, and I certainly never even contemplated giving up running (I sincerely hope that never happens!), but I’ve found that I don’t always need massive goals to get me out of the door - just fun is enough. Having said that, I’d be lying if I said that UTMB wouldn’t be something I’d like to do!
Hope 2021 brings a year of wonderful running for you all!
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Hi All. A new year and looking forward to tick my first marathon off the books. I took the whole of December off basically due to covid. I got it in the beginning of the month and laziness towards the end of the month.
My question is after this how would you structure getting back into it and what mileage would you recommend. I was running between 25-30 mpw for about a month or so but was pretty consistent beforehand. What would a long run be as well at this distance. Looking to run about 4/5 times a week.
I was thinking of just doing easy runs for a month or so just to get back into it. What are your thoughts. I was thinking:
week 1 - 12-15 miles
week 2-15-18 miles
week 3 - 18-22 miles
week 4 - 25 miles
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I was keen on treadmill and Zwift Run but the treadmill died two weeks ago just as I went into six runs per week, 321 or BarryP training. Now I’m stuck with boring local real routes, and easy running.
Sigh.
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here’s a running Q:
My girlfriend is an avid Galloway runner. She had spine issues as a child and had the surgery with the rod and all of that, but it doesnt hold her back. Has a run streak of over 1,000 days and has Galloway’d MCM the last 4 years in a row. She’s a beast. A slow beast, but a beast.
Anyways - she’s doing a 5k plan and is going to attempt a 5k PR today without Galloway’ing - a big step for her. Her 5k pace will likely be in my upper zone 2, so I’m going to run with her and pace her.
Does anyone have any tips on pacing another person during a race, even if its as short as a 5k? I dont know if I should set a harder goal and push-her with the risk of collapse, or stick with a safe estimate and push the last mile? Maybe play mile 1 safe and push the last two?
Ive not done it but, stay with them don’t make them chase you. Ask her what pace she’s happy with, plan a negative split and just keep an eye on your watch…well that’s what I would do anyway.
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Pacing someone should involve you working to their goal. You ask if you should set a harder goal, it should be her goal not set by you.
Pacing will be dictated by the terrain. No point going for an even split if there’s a massive hill at either the beginning, blasting out of the gate at effort levels far too hard to sustain, or the end, having to charge up a hill when she’s likely struggling. If its flat you can head out either at pace or just above (I wouldn’t assume a negative split) and then hang on. If not you’re gonna have to bank time down and lose it going up.
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I have never paced, but I have been paced.
Your goal is making sure she stays on target. Ask her to trust you and you will set the pace.
Start slightly under HER selected pace (maybe 5 sec) then speed up to pace and hold, on the last mile SLIGHLTY increase pace to offset the early slow start and encourage a strong finish.
Always be by her side or slightly ahead of her…
YOU do your best not to go faster than her pace or push for much faster that she can at the end… you can push but know when she is about to break… dont get there…
Best of luck
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i appreciate the positivity and good advice all around. Negative splits are ideal if possible I guess. I will of course stick by her side and not go ahead whatsoever!
What I didnt say, and is the impetus of “pushing her”, is that her ideal pace … it just seems slow compared to what I know she can do, especially in a 5k. I think she’s selling herself short by at least a 30-60 seconds a mile. When I do a 5k, I try to end with nothing left in the tank and I dont think she has that mentality (or has ever really tried to push like that). Shes comfortable going slow and galloway’ing, but I know she is capable of more. There’s nothing wrong with that, I just know she’s capable of more. I’m rambling now.
TLDR note to self summary: as with everything in a relationship, dont make it about me or what I think, focus on her and her perceived needs. be there as support. thanks for coming to my ted talk.
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Indeed - I just run 30mins 2x week for bone density now but I ran 1:17 for a half on 35miles/week when over 40 and 2:47 for the marathon on an average of 50miles/week. I even managed a 2:48 marathon on 35miles/week plus cycling after I took up TT …if you young and your running 60+miles/week then 75min half marathons should be a decent minimum expectation 
So, in November my husband paced me to a 10k PB of 54:56. When we were talking about goal times, I said anything in the 57:30 - 58:00 range would be fine by me. He had a reaction similar to yours and convinced me that I could do sub 55. It wasn’t pretty, and I hated him in the moment from about 1.5k in, but without him pushing me I totally would have undersold myself and my training.
We had this conversation over about 2 weeks though, so it might not be the best thing to spring on her with only hours to spare.
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Theres no rush to get her best performance, if she’s changing her approach from run/walk/run then a continual 5k is likely to be the big win on the day rather than the time.
Then once she has confidence from that success encourage a faster target for next time.
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Anyone got any advice for dealing with cracked heels?
And let’s not forget that ANY PB is a step into the unknown. Just because we believe someone can do better than their goal shouldn’t take away from the fact that they’re doing more than they’ve ever done before.
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vaseline + socks when you go to bed
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My turn for this thread. I have been raving mtbs for almost 10 years. The last 3 I focused on off-road triathlon. Did great during the spring and summer lockdowns. When I was working from home, I really improved as I could train at lunch. Back to work and am routine started back up
Then winter hit. ZERO motivation. Normally a week or two off and I am good. Not this year. 2 months of limited riding, no runs since Turkey day 5k was cancelled, but lots of strength training.
So to this thread: Those that have used the 1/2 full distance (70.3) plans, how did you feel? How bad do the runs get on a dreadmill?
We have the Indy Mini in May. Or I can find another 13.1 in the spring. All equates to foundation in case I get interested and pursue my goal of off-road worlds again.
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Dreadmill runs are much like long trainer rides - adequate cooling and entertainment will get you through most. I find my RPE higher on the treadmill but have survived several Alberta winters running on them. If you can get outside occasionally it makes a nice change.
an update on the pacing of the 5k!
Pace wasn’t an issue – wearable tech was!! We had 3 devices between us, two apple watches and a new garmin. Nothing recorded the same distance. Her Garmin said 1.5 when my apple watch said 1.25. It was a mess and a clusterfuck, but not for any reason that I expected.
I did push her to meet 3.1 on my trusty Apple Watch, long after her Garmin and own Apple Watch brought up different results. So at the minimum she beat her goal time by 30 seconds/mile, at the best it was something ridiculous like 2:00mins/mile - which definitely isn’t true. Somewhere in the middle is probably most accurate. Disappointed in tech, but hopefully it helped her build some confidence~!
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Anyone else using the Runn sensor on their TM’s? I’ve had mine for a few months now and it’s been working pretty well for me, up until recently… It’s started to get much more erratic with its reported speed and today I had an endless amount of ANT signal dropouts, which I’d have to stop and restart the Runn each time to get it back to life. I’ve started a support ticket with NPE, but it hasn’t been useful yet.
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So who is still up for a 5k PB attempt in April? I’m thinking it pairs well with my next months of traditional base and am currently building a plan with Jack Daniels. Anyone wanna join the fun?
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