Definitely true. That’s why it’s important to remember that the calculators give you ranges as a guideline for your efforts not exact paces to hit. Just like power zones, they aren’t written in stone. You need to utilize the full range based on what your body tells you/how it responds to the work on a given day. 8 mpm is my steady/MGP+ pace and 9 mpm is my easy pace. 8 absolutely feels easy sometimes, but I know it isn’t. On the reverse end, if I go for an easy run and 9 feels hard then running is the last thing I should be doing and it’s time to rest.
You can say the same thing about HR though. HR is highly variable and fluctuates from day to day based on outside stress/training load/sleep/etc. If you are doing MAF then HR is your metric. Otherwise I prefer pace, or power if you are a Stryd user.
Lifelong runner here. Started when I was 22. I’m 58 now (!!!). Discovered cycling in 2005. Have gone back and forth the past 15 years between running or cycling as my focus. Last fall I got up to averaging 55-60 miles per week for about four months. Ended up messing up a ligament in my knee and was off running for three months. Since then I’ve reintroduced it back into my training. I have times where I would love to get to that level again, but for now it’s 15-30 miles per week. Looking forward to spending a lot of time reading in this thread. Thanks!
If anything the hilly running has definitely made you stronger and most likely more injury proof. Your road speed and turnover will come back quickly if you start another marathon build.
I don’t know about a PB. Maybe an old man version of me PB But, I do want to run a 5K for time sometime in 2021 Q1. I haven’t run a 5km for time in over a decade, but I can still remember the pain of a 5km
Its a process.
Hopefully your will be smother than mine.
Ive been hitting speed for about 5 weeks now, and I have seen little to no progress (arguably according to my coach).
I am slightly discouraged about my chances, but given that i havent done any serious speed work in over year and half, i cant expect to get my legs to move quick in 6 weeks… can i?
Absolutely. But the HR can give you a better indication of what you should do.
I have run 7:50 mpm pace hitting 140 bpm, and I have run 9 mpm hitting 150!
7:50 is border line E run, but my HR was telling me, that for that day it was a “recovery run”. In hindsight i should have let my HR go even lower and rest my legs… but you know… Strava.
Hmmmm, not sure I agree. I think you can make better decisions if you learn to listen to how your body feels. If you have an elevated heart rate but feel great, press on. If you have a normal heart rate but feel like shit, call it a day and live to fight another day. Feel and HR are often closely related, but not always.
Plus I prefer to look at my watch as little as possible (let’s face it, that gadget on our wrist is just a distraction, albeit a useful one) and learning to listen to your body/interpret its signals is an invaluable skill.
Anyone train for ultra marathons and long distance cycling events within the same year? I’d appreciate any advice on meshing the 2. Specifically, I’m looking at a couple 50 mile trail running events, and some 100 - 200 mile gravel cycling events.
I’ll be building a plan inspired by Jack Daniels. Not going to follow a full JD 5k plan, as I am not sure I can take the prescribed mileage and intensity. I’m currently looking at 4-5 workouts per week, with the key interval run taken from the JD plan, everything else being easy mileage runs. I hope I can build to sustain between 45-55k per week, but that’s ambitious for me and carries a high risk of injury. I’ll be pushing my long run to 25-30k just because I currently enjoy running longer distances with my mates. Or with upcoming social distancing rules, one of my mates.
Wanted to post my experience with running + TrainerRoad and see if anyone else has had similar progressions. (I’m a 21 year old for reference)
I started running about 2.5 years ago and ended up running following a Hal Higdon plan for a marathon which I ran in the high 4 hour range after 6 months of running. Exactly a year later (last fall) I ran another marathon following Pftizinger 55 and ran a 4:05. Since then I’ve ran a 6:00 minute mile this past summer and my yearly mileage has looked like this:
2018: 804 miles @ average pace of 11:04 min/mile
2019: 791 miles @ average pace of 10:05
2020: 750 miles @ average pace of 8:55
This year definitely felt like a slog since there were no running races to look forward to and I also found cycling this year putting in 240 hours (3600 miles) since March. My FTP has gone from 200 → 250 and I’m at 3.3 W/KG right now. It feels like my cycling has progressed a lot faster than my running has (probably because of previous fitness??).
I feel like I’m very untalented with my running (seeing my friends who have never ran before post every run in ~7:30 min/mile range and running 1000+ miles this year injury has been demotivating to say the least). What I’m getting at is, is this progression normal, and do I really need to put in a lot more run volume to improve? It feels like my cycling hasn’t really benefited my running too much either so just curious what other people have seen progression wise. It may be foolish to say now with my current fitness, but I do one day want to run a BQ and go sub 20 for a 5K and all that jazz. Ultimately, I just want to know if my goals are achievable and what kind of progress I should expect to see from here on out.
You won’t know your run potential until you really do some running. 750mi for the year 2020 is ~14 miles or ~22km per week. That is not nearly enough to really improve or see your potential. You’re going to need to gradually increase the mileage to meet your goals of BQ.
I know a guy who a couple years ago did his first marathon in just over 4hrs. He is now a 2:40 marathoner. He also started running more, a lot more, avg about 140km/wk. Not saying you need to run 140km/wk. Also not saying if you do, you can run a 2:40 marathon. My point is that mileage/volume matters a lot. For a 2:40 marathon, talent also counts quite a bit.
For those looking in a bit worried, not all of us are fast,
I’m in my mid 50’s and just like getting out there I’m fit not fast
I like daft races on top of IM, i quite like ultra running and running multi day races
But, I do want to run a 5K for time sometime in 2021 Q1. I haven’t run a 5km for time in over a decade, but I can still remember the pain of a 5km 
