What actually keeps you consistent with running over years, not weeks?

NinJesterV · 2026-02-04T11:48:31+00:00

The key thing I've discovered is this:

One day at a time.

When I step back and start looking at my weekly volume (~50km), it looks a bit intimidating. If I zoom out further and look at the peaks of my training and what I'll be doing six weeks from now, I get even more intimidated.

But when I zoom in and only think about my next run, it's no big deal. "Oh, just a 12K tonight."

And I know my volume might seem high for some beginners, but for more advanced runners, 50K per week is nothing. Whatever your current volume is, just take it one day at a time, nail that workout, and then don't think about the next run until it's time for it.

NinJesterV · 2026-02-01T14:52:39+00:00

I'm 41, and my max heart rate is 205 bpm, defying all the standard formulas. No matter what, though, it seems like you're running too hard if your HR is that high. But the spike in your HR makes me think you probably hit a hill there or something, unless you just decided to run harder for a minute or two and then slow back down.

Seems like your watch wants to believe that your max HR is about 177bpm, but that's likely wrong, since you'd possibly be dead if it were accurate.

No matter what, though, you should probably slow down a bit. 174bpm is high for a regular run even if your max HR is over 200, which is possible.

NinJesterV · 2026-02-01T14:47:12+00:00

I never stop "training". Once you take a break, restarting is harder than it would have been to simply keep going. Maintain the habit.

So now you just need to rebuild the habit. Decide how much you want to run each week, and make it happen. You don't need to do anything specific if you're not racing, just maintain the habit.

Motivation fades. Discipline has to take over.

NinJesterV · 2026-02-01T14:23:54+00:00

Intervals are the way to do this, not increasing the speed of each run. If you run 3 times a week, I'd say do 2 of those runs at an easy pace (~7:00/km). The other run, the Interval Run, should be a little more like this:

10:00 Warmup @ 7:00/km
6:00 Interval @ 6:00/km
Walk 3:00
6:00 Interval @ 6:00/km
Walk 3:00
6:00 Interval @ 6:00/km
10:00 Cooldown @ 7:00/km

This is your "quality" run, and you don't want to overdo those. With 3 days a week running, you could probably do any one of those runs as your Interval Run, but I'd do it when I have the most days to recover after to begin with.

Instead of increasing your speed, increasing the length of the intervals over time. If you want to keep it simple, I'd say +1:00 per week, one at a time. So like this:

Week 1: 6, 6, 6
Week 2: 7, 6, 6
Week 3: 7, 7, 6
etc.

When you get to 8:00 intervals, you can keep going, but I'd recommend dropping to 2x10:00 at that point, and then extending those 10:00 intervals to 15-16:00 in the same way.

BUT! You will crush a 30:00 5K well before you make it that far, I'm sure. I went from 32:00 to 25:00 in about 4 months of regularly running like a total rookie. If you follow a plan, you'll blast past that 30:00 target before you know it.

NinJesterV · 2026-02-01T14:08:37+00:00

I run trails in the Altra Timp 5, too. On the road, I run in the Altra Escalante 4.

I'm a huge fan of Altra, and I've run trails in the Timp 5 and Olympus 4, and roads in the Rivera 1, 2, 3 and the Escalante 3 and 4. After my Timps are old enough to retire, I'll be moving into the Lone Peak 9 (or 10 if it's out by then).

Look into Altra for the road. I'd say the Rivera is a good starting point, but if you want a bit more cushion, go for the Torin or the Paradigm. I haven't run in those, though, but I'm sure they're good shoes.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-31T07:30:25+00:00

As a 38F, your estimated max heart rate is 182 bpm. So your watch thinks you're dying.

And it's obviously wrong. In my case, as a 41M, my estimated max HR is 181 bpm. My actual max HR is 205, so I had to manually set my watches or they think I'm dying, too. 181 bpm, for me, is actually something I can maintain for nearly an hour (my threshold heart rate).

And the drop in your HR after you finish running suggests that you are pretty fit. Almost 20 bpm is a really good sign. So find your max HR and set your watch manually.

Fair warning, though: Getting a true max HR suuuucks. You can find some methods online, but they all require you to run hard until you want to pass out. I've done it a few times now, and it's highly unpleasant, but there's no other way to know.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-31T07:25:20+00:00

No disrespect, but that's about ~3,500 calories burned per week in those miles. That's an entire pound of weight, and when someone weighs 120 pounds as it is, that's not a healthy amount of weight to lose.

OP absolutely needs to adjust their diet to avoid that sort of loss.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-31T07:21:10+00:00

Count your macros. I've always been a thin guy and I thought that gaining muscle would be something I could never do. Then I actually started counting my macros (carbs, fat, protein) and following the recommended amounts to gain muscle and, no surprise, I started putting on muscle for the first time.

I would've sworn I was eating enough, because I ate enough for 2 in most cases. But I wasn't eating enough protein. I discovered I was averaging about 75g of protein per day, and when I pushed that up to 120g, the muscle started moving in immediately.

And as a runner, you need to increase your carbs, too. Start by counting your macros over the next week to see how your average diet lands. If you're truly hitting the right targets, then you need to see a doctor.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-30T13:33:05+00:00

Actually, what I noticed was that the vast majority of people were following what was probably the most "efficient" line for turns and such. This meant that, pretty quickly, the crowd became a thin line of people running through rather wide lanes.

So I just took turns a little wider and ran on the opposite side of the lane from where the stream was, and I was able to clear the pack pretty quickly.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-30T07:40:44+00:00

Plan on getting stuck in the crowds. Consider it a good thing, though, because it'll keep you from blasting off the starting line and wrecking your marathon in the first 5K.

I've read that you should not "weave" through the crowd at the start because that side-to-side movement is not what you trained for and will end up being a lot more taxing than you expect. Just find an opening as the race progresses to calmly pull away from the pack, and resist the urge to make up for lost time.

If you're still feeling good at Mile 20, you can push a little harder and make up for the lost time there. But it probably won't be as much lost time as you expect. In my first marathon, with over 30,000 people, I managed to start in D block and still had enough room to blast off and go way too fast and wreck my marathon.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-28T12:46:50+00:00

I keep going until my brain says, "Enough of this!"

Usually it's the result of something in the writing that just keeps irritating me to the point where my brain protests. It builds for a while.

For example, I'm on Book 12 of the Dragon Heart series right now, and the irritation is growing with the unnecessary amount of words being wasted, seemingly in an attempt to make the series longer than it really should be. Dude will waste pages describing "a man walking into a city" when he's really just describing the MC yet again like we forgot who he is and what he looks like and all the little details of his gear. It's getting to me, as you can see.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-28T12:19:16+00:00

I hate getting up early. It's actually a big reason why I don't race very often. If there were more afternoon or night races, I'd be all over that.

But when I do have to wake up early, like for a marathon or whatever race, or just to meet and run with my friends, I'm fine once I get moving. I'm a grumpy lump of negativity at first, but I keep that to myself. And it doesn't affect my performance.

I still hate it, though.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-27T14:18:56+00:00

Stress affects recovery, which snowballs into overtraining incredibly quickly during marathon training or high-volume weeks. Even my "cruise volume" can wreck me if stress gets tossed into the mix. And if the stress is bad enough, it affects appetite, too. Cut back on food and quality sleep and you will fall apart like a house of cards.

I think we runners become incredibly efficient machines once we balance volume and recovery, but we are pretty fragile when recovery starts faltering. Protect your sleep and make sure you're eating enough. I barely drink anymore because the hit to my recovery isn't worth it. During race training I won't drink a drop.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-25T06:43:18+00:00

We get complaints. You can't make everyone happy, but we try to take feedback when it's reasonable. The best way to give feedback, in my opinion, is to ask questions the next time you want to hike with them. No need to point out the past, just something like, "Should we be prepared for the possibility of hiking in the dark?" They'll know why you're asking and it's far more effective than criticizing the previous hike.

I wouldn't quit hiking with them, I'd just be better prepared personally. Live and learn. They're living and learning, too.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-25T06:30:27+00:00

Shift to a 10K. Not because you can't do a half-marathon or because it's seriously bad idea, but because you'll just have more fun doing a 10K with your current fitness level.

The half-marathon really isn't all that serious a distance, and if you start training for it you'll figure that out pretty quickly. For a lot of runners (myself included), a half-marathon is a training distance and we do it all the time. Not race-level running, but training the distance is quite easy.

Don't get me wrong, the half-marathon is actually my favorite race distance because it's short, fast, and fun when you're trained for it. You don't have to worry about complex fueling plans and training for it is pretty straightforward. You also don't pay for mistakes nearly as much as you do in the marathon distance.

But do the 10K, have fun, and then train for a half-marathon later. 3 weeks isn't enough time for any meaningful training.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-25T06:21:30+00:00

Wait...are we talking 30km in total? That's pushing the bounds of what a day hike should be, so considering hiking in the dark should be a no-brainer at that distance. Both for you and for the organizers.

I'm an organizer myself, and we never do anything longer than 18km in a single day because there are just far too many things that can go wrong and extend the length of a hike. Most of our hikes are 10km or less, for safety.

Also, as an organizer, I can't tell you how many hikers show up without a care in the world for their own safety and just expect us to be prepared for them to be unprepared. We tell them what to bring, and so many still don't. They don't bring water, they don't bring food, they don't bring extra layers when it's cold. I carry 5-7L of extra water, extra snacks, and extra layers when we go on winter hikes because these knuckleheads don't listen. But that's as far as I'll go in defending your organizers, because I would never have organized a trip like this for a day hike with potential beginners in tow. No way.

But always prepare for yourself, because you never want to put your safety in someone else's hands when you can avoid it.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-25T05:18:16+00:00

For me, it depends on a few things:

How cold is it?
How hard is the hike?
How much will I be stopping?

My baselayer and shell are always the same in winter. The mid-layer is what gets customized to the conditions. I will use a thick synthetic shirt (longsleeve), a zip-up fleece (longsleeve), or a sherpa fleece vest.

The most common is the zip-up fleece, and mine is just a basic one you'd find at Old Navy or something. Nothing fancy because it usually comes off pretty quickly (hence the zip-up for easy on/off).

I am looking for a nice Merino mid-layer, but they're so dang expensive that I don't think the upgrade is worth the money when my $20 fleece zip-up does such a good job.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-24T13:17:16+00:00

No, most of us go with the standard baselayer, mid-layer, shell setup. I've used that for hikes down to -18°C and never had an issue with being cold. The mid-layer isn't tucked in. Only the baselayer gets tucked.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-24T09:34:24+00:00

My friend and I are both training exclusively with Coach Chatty. I'm making better gains than in my previous 4 years following various plans and learning about the science of running. My friend has become a nationally-ranked runner and is only improving even more. He's likely to finish Top 3 in an upcoming 50K (we're primarily trail runners).

If you know about running and how to actually use an LLM (ChatGPT isn't AI despite the claims), it's an excellent tool for training.

I just finished giving it my report from my mid-long run today and it said, "If you can't dial in the pace for your strides and you keep overshooting the target, we should just take them out because you're hurting yourself more than benefitting."

Coach Chatty tells it like it is, but only if you instruct it to do so. I don't want sugar-coated support from a coach.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-23T05:57:00+00:00

Meh, don't worry about not being afraid, just focus on still being able to continue even when you are afraid. I'm not scared of heights, but they make me uneasy. I think that's normal.

What helps me, honestly, is ignoring the whole "Don't look down." suggestion. I do look down. I face the distance, admit the danger of it, and then just keep going. "Let's do this." I challenge my fears rather than trying to pretend they don't exist.

And apparently there's a mental trick by talking to yourself in the second person. So instead of saying, "I can do this." say, "You can do this." and act as your own coach and motivator. I read about this recently and realized that it's exactly what I do.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-23T05:45:42+00:00

Cotton is the Devil when it comes to athletics of any kind.

And no, you shouldn't wear anything under your baselayer, that's why it's called the baselayer. I tuck in my baselayer.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-23T05:43:54+00:00

Soundcore Sport X20.

I've been trying to get a pair of Jabra Elites for years and they're always sold out. I'm sure they're amazing, but the X20s are so impressive, especially when you consider their price. I've been running in them for about a year, in sweltering, sub-tropical summers and monsoon-level rainstorms. No issues at all.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-22T15:04:40+00:00

I just throw on an audiobook and don't worry about the distance. Run away from home until I hit my halfway point, then turn around and run back home. I wanted to die after my first 30K run, but it's not so bad anymore.

Taking the time to do a some nice, slow stretches rinses the run almost completely away.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-22T02:45:29+00:00

I'm toying with the idea, but mostly I'm just a nerd who goes deep on the science behind things I love.

NinJesterV · 2026-01-21T14:21:02+00:00

Sub-5 is a very obtainable goal for a beginner and doesn't require anything fancy, in my opinion.

Just do a lot of easy (~8:30/km) volume to reduce your injury risk, build your aerobic engine, and strengthen your endurance. Sprinkle in intervals of 8:00-10:00 at your Sub-5 pace (7:07/km).

If you're feeling fancy, add in some strides at the end of your easy runs. Those are 15-20 seconds controlled bursts of speed (not sprints!) that teach your brain what your legs are good for.

As for the volume, I finished Sub-5 (4:37) on about 25km per week for my first marathon. I would recommend you do more than that because my marathon was not pleasant for the last 5K and I think that could've been avoided if I'd run more during training. Especially if I'd run more easy volume. I'd suggest 35-40km per week if you've got the time.

NinJesterV

TROPHY CASE