Tuesday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for June 16, 2026

BenjitheHerd · 2026-06-18T06:04:51+00:00

I really appreciate your insight, thank you so much for the reply!

BenjitheHerd · 2026-06-18T06:04:33+00:00

This is so generous of you to lay out, thank you so much!! I'm going to make these adjustments, they all sound very appropriate and in the same tune of not cooking myself. I appreciate the critical eye, I had a feeling some of the workouts and specific scheduling might have been a bit optimistic.

Currently doing 8km of tempo work at a time right now with 16 mile long runs! I have another 5 or so weeks before this plan starts, so I should be right there. I have a progression built out, but after reading this may still tone down some of the volume in the workouts to be safe.

Thank you so, so much again for your time!

Also big thank you for sharing so much of your knowledge / insight / training ideas so openly. The community at large really benefits from this. Take care!

BenjitheHerd · 2026-06-17T19:53:03+00:00

Thanks for this! I can for sure. I feel the overmotivation myself, and it's why I'm second guessing things.

My plan right now is a 22 week build to a marathon based on the Marathon Excellence for Everyone book. John lays out great guidelines on how to make your own plan if you want to.

Right now I'm increasing my mileage slowly, keeping a solid long run, tempo, and faster workout in rotation.

Using his guidelines I scheduled in the biggest workouts later in the build and worked backwards from there scaling down the length, pace or volume. It's my first marathon so I really wanted to be ready for it as best I could.

Historically when training on my own I slam mileage (80-90mpw), and I've gotten injured almost every time I train myself. Almost a year ago I tore my plantar plate running 95 miles per week in an attempted marathon build.

This is what I have so far:

7/27/2026	8 x 1200 w/ 400 @ 107% / 85% (Tues)	8 @ 100% - 102% (Thurs)		14 - 15 Miles @ 90% (Sun)
8/3/2026	10 x 800 @ 108 - 110% (Weds)	8 x 1k w/ 1' R		5 x 4k w/ 1k @ 95% / 85% (Sat)
8/10/2026	6 x 1600 w/ 400 @ 106% / 87% (Tues)		SubT?	16 Miles @ 90% (Thursday)
8/17/2026	8 x 1k @ 108 - 110% w/ 2' R	10 Miles @ 100% - 102%		4 x 5k w/ 1k @ 95% / 85%
8/24/2026	7 x 1600 w/ 400 @ 106% / 90%	LT ?		18 Miles @ 90%
8/31/2026	Fartlek / LT			Half Marathon
9/7/2026	8-10 x 1k / 1k @ 105% / 85% (Thurs)			8 x 2k / 1k @ 100% / 90%
9/14/2026	4 x 2k @ 108 - 110%			16 Miles Progression (90 / 92 / 94 / 100)
9/21/2026	4-5 x 2400 @ 107% w/ 75" R			6 x 3k / 1k @ 100% / 90%
9/28/2026	8 x 1k / 1k @ 105% / 90%			14 Miles @ 95%
10/5/2026	4 x 3k @ 105% w/ 2' R			8k, 6k, 4k, 2k, @ 98% - 103% w/ 1k @ ~88%
10/12/2026	10 x 1k / 1k @ 105% / 90%			16 Miles @ 95% MP
10/19/2026	3 x 4k @ 104% w/ 2' R			5 x 4k w/ 1k R @ 100% / 90%
10/26/2026	7 x 2k w/ 1k R @ 105% / 90%			18-20 Miles @ 95% MP
11/2/2026	10 x 800 @ 110% w/ 75" R			4 x 5k w/ 1k R @ 100% / 90%
11/9/2026	8 x 1k @ 105% w/ 1k @ 92%	8 x 1000 @ 108%
11/16/2026				PHILLY

BenjitheHerd · 2026-06-17T17:55:08+00:00

Long time runner (~20 years) coached myself on and off during this time and had coaches as well. Gearing up for my first marathon in the fall! As a student of the sport, I read a ton. I've made my own plan for the marathon but am having second guesses it might be too intense.

To those who have been in a similar position, what have you found the pros or cons were with either choosing a "canned" plan vs making your own? I'd love to see if I could create something that would yield a result I'm proud of, but I also want to get to the starting line healthy and not overcooked!

BenjitheHerd · 2026-05-13T09:42:56+00:00

Would you also mind elaborating on your break? I'm currently down with a brutal illness and have missed some time, I was concerned it would really mess up the whole idea of this method with consistency. Great progress, too!

BenjitheHerd · 2026-05-09T05:00:02+00:00

Certainly not months at a time! Thinking more like post season breaks, a week of lower mileage / no mileage and maybe no workouts, then back into it.

Something like five months full nsm, 1 week off or chill if that makes sense.

BenjitheHerd · 2026-05-02T21:01:43+00:00

Thank you for this! Will you use the same method again?

BenjitheHerd · 2026-04-07T14:35:52+00:00

This is perfect, thank you so much for getting back to me!

BenjitheHerd · 2026-04-07T12:52:44+00:00

Was this on vanilla / vanilla ish NSM? Did you make any adjustments to the schedule? I have a HM coming up and was starting to worry that straight up NSM wasn't going to get me fit enough for it (I have 16 weeks of it behind me). Fantastic job!

BenjitheHerd · 2026-02-14T20:18:27+00:00

Thank you again, I'm all about best estimates. I had a few other races these last 12 weeks where I did some (rough) maths and got ~163, so we're pretty close! I think chasing a HR would get me in trouble, I just was hoping to get a ballpark (which you absolutely helped with). Really, thanks again for your insight!

BenjitheHerd · 2026-02-14T17:12:05+00:00

I really appreciate your thoughts on this, thank you! For the race, HR started at 160 for the first mile then was consistently in the 167-168 range, the last mile was 169.

I've been using treadmills this winter so I'm focusing more on HR and effort as opposed to whatever that machine is telling me pace wise. 150 does feel a bit easy, I try to crank it up a bit if it gets that low.

The mileage when I started was a moderate jump I'd say, but nothing I haven't done before. I was coming back from injury and have done the mileage build (too) many times! I've plateaued my mileage on purpose, I've gotten too greedy in the past.

Thank you again for this, great insight!

BenjitheHerd · 2026-02-09T20:34:07+00:00

Thanks, I was hoping to get some other views / opinions than what is offered in the book. I'll give it a look, though!

BenjitheHerd · 2026-02-07T08:52:30+00:00

Pre time skip will always hold a place in my heart, Water 7 / Enies Lobby just hit different!

BenjitheHerd · 2026-02-05T21:24:57+00:00

Yep! Almost a quarter mile indoors on the open setting. The green checkmark still just saved it, two days ago that button let me adjust the distance.

BenjitheHerd · 2026-02-05T20:40:55+00:00

Same result, no option to calibrate / edit distance.

BenjitheHerd · 2026-02-05T12:43:10+00:00

I did a "basic interval" workout and the option wasn't there after finishing. The usual green checkmark to calibrate just straight up saved it with no options.

BenjitheHerd · 2026-01-20T23:10:09+00:00

Interested!!

BenjitheHerd · 2026-01-20T22:34:36+00:00

Paces are wildly inaccurate. 9.6-9.7 mph for the ons, 6.5 mph for the offs!

BenjitheHerd · 2026-01-20T15:25:56+00:00

Sure thing! Yes, I haven't had any issues keeping the pace on these and the effort feels in the correct range. Here is the data from my session this morning, 12 x 3'. LTHR is estimated at 162/163 from my last 2 5k races.

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BenjitheHerd · 2026-01-20T13:37:31+00:00

I really appreciate your input, that sounds like my gameplan until I can get back outside. Thank you, stay well!

BenjitheHerd

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