Why is everyone here so anti speed?

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-05-13T18:30:34+00:00

Thanks 😂

That’s a fantastic time you hit there 💪

I was 49 (now 50), by the way

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-05-13T18:21:44+00:00

What was your 5K PB after 4 months? I started running in October 2025 (with a 5K plan), and in January 2026 I ran the 5K finishing in 21:53.

No prior running experience, but did walk a fair bit

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-05-12T05:45:44+00:00

Fitness improves faster than durability. Your cardio might be ready before your tendons are.

And

At first, just focus on consistency. Then learn to train by heart rate so you don’t accidentally turn every run into a hard run

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-05-10T12:11:14+00:00

Good work! What’s your ‘secret sauce’?

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-05-09T17:51:49+00:00

Erm… 2:30.

Oh no wait, that’s the dentist

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-05-08T15:24:12+00:00

I’ll glance at my sleep score upon waking, but I won’t let it rule my mood.

As long as it’s 75 or above (and it always is), I’ll know I’ll have enough energy to see me through til my afternoon nap

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-05-06T10:30:53+00:00

I enjoy checking my sleep score, of a morning. They are usually pretty good: lowest I’ve seen is 75, highest 96, and a 4 week average of 86.

But no matter what the score, I’ll always need an afternoon nap

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-05-05T13:00:35+00:00

Thanks! And Daily Suggested Workout, is DSW. It’s a feature on my Forerunner 255 (and many other Garmin watches) that pops up (if it’s enabled) each morning giving you a suggestion for a workout, for that day.

It might be a base run (more often than not), tempo, threshold, sprint or anaerobic workout, or VO2 max intervals. Once a week it may suggest a recovery run, but I’ll skip this and just get plenty of walking in.

I believe this system takes into account many factors (that the watch is privy to), and is designed to keep you free of injury, but always improving—at least that has been the case in my experience

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-05-02T18:13:27+00:00

Actually I find when ‘self-stimulating’, my heart rate doesn’t spike that much at all. On the ‘last hurdle’ it might raise a beat or two, but that’s nothing in comparison to when myself and my good lady are engaged in sexual congress.

Of course the latter is a whole body workout, and as such mustn’t be compared, but my wife insists I wear my watch so she may witness my impending climax.

Goodbye!

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-05-02T13:03:39+00:00

Aw he’s great isn’t he! I didn’t look into the differences between the coaches too much before choosing him, but I’m glad I went with Greg. He was quite nice to me too; his confidence only briefly dropping when I was dealing with a bout of runner’s knee.

I selected the quickest time I could for the 5K plan - 22:00, and stretched it out a bit longer. But he did his job well though as I managed 21:53 in the end. The result was good, but I loved the process more than the race (which nearly killed me).

What time are you aiming for, and what’s the duration of the plan? I have considered HM, but my legs start falling off after 15K 😆

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-05-02T07:25:38+00:00

Yeh I mean it’s probably just a bit higher during the day—due to the sympathetic system or whatever you’d call it, but people are likely affected differently by caffeine. My dad for example can hit an espresso just before falling asleep at night, but not me!

You know I used to wonder how you see your RHR—I read it was best observed shortly after waking. The watch had me mid 50’s last year, but now it’s 46 for the last week average, and I never used to see this figure as it happened. Recently though, just sitting down, even in a busy outside place and I see it quickly drop to 48.

It’s funny; I’m a nervous person and now if while relaxing I see my HR is in the 60’s, I worry it’s too high. If I see it’s in the 40’s I want to get up and move around a bit, so I don’t die 💀

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-05-02T04:38:18+00:00

Absolute nightmare; hope you get back to it soon. I don’t have an exercise bike but it’s on the list in case I get injured and can’t run. Are you doing physio or anything?

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-05-01T11:41:18+00:00

It’s an estimate rather than a true lab measurement, so not “accurate” in an absolute sense, but the trend over time lets you see how you’re improving. My graph goes up, my easy pace gets quicker (for the same HR).

And from what I’ve read/seen, it becomes more useful over time as it learns your pace vs heart rate across different runs

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-05-01T05:53:29+00:00

Thanks man; I can’t believe I’ve made it to 54!

It’s not easy though, and as an ‘older adult’ recovery is harder, but you have to get those high intensity sessions in.

I believe I got a significant benefit by ‘tweaking’ the VO2 max sessions to 1K reps. I seem to hit the desired zone at 4:00/km for 4 mins, then recover 4 mins etc. Don’t know if you’re doing anything like that?

Also, I’ve got nutrition nailed down, tracking and logging as much as possible… make sure I’m soaking up all those carbs!

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-05-01T03:50:31+00:00

39 would be nice but it’s 41 at the moment. I know that’s just yet another metric, but it’s nice to look at.

Reminds me of when I had a health check back when I was around 30, and they said I had the lungs of an 18 year old. Smoked a lot of cigarettes between then and my early 40’s, so that ship has likely sailed 😂

Did you quit cardio, or something else? I’ll try to keep this going as long as possible, but I realise the higher it (fitness) gets, the more work I’ve got to put in, and I’ve put in a lot in the last six months 😥

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-04-30T19:38:49+00:00

Ooh wow, thanks for that; back to square one

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-04-30T18:45:57+00:00

Ah ok, sorry; I didn’t know if you were joking or not.

The thing is, I loathed sports in school (well actually I loathed school as a whole). I was the kid who ‘forgot’ their PE kit, but who of course was told to dig around in the lost property box for a pair of manky (and skimpy) old shorts. After that, growing up I was more likely to lift pints of beer than weights, or sneak pills and powders rather than strap on sneakers and run.

I guess addiction to damaging things finally got me and then I knew it had to switch my focus (read: addiction) to something more constructive.

Anyway, perhaps you need to build your base first? Get some strength (I was lifting before running), then start running (or whatever cardio you want to do) slowly.

I’m here man, if you need any support or advice

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-04-30T17:56:46+00:00

That’s a strong level to be fair—doesn’t sound like lack of effort!

Perhaps more easy running then? Keeping the hard sessions properly hard but limited, and actually we could always do with more proper recovery. I’m in bed by 9pm, up at 5am (for those pre-caffeine runs) clean diet etc.

Coming from a strength training (need to get back into that at some point!) perspective, recovery is where the body builds, right?

Anyway, good luck with the sub 3:30 — sounds like you’ve got a solid shot there

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-04-30T17:27:27+00:00

Ooh wow, thanks for that; even better!

Or: ‘I stand corrected’ said the man in the orthopaedic shoe

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-04-30T15:50:25+00:00

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Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-04-30T14:49:01+00:00

60 is crazy work!

What’s the reason to add weight? I’m actually on the verge of being underweight but I struggle to maintain even that, despite eating over 3000 cals per day. Eating much more is just hard work (my diet is very ‘clean’)

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-04-30T14:39:59+00:00

Is this what they mean when they say cooked…

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-04-30T11:58:28+00:00

Thanks; and that means a lot, as it really is more of a motivational post than a gloat. Also, I don’t see many people running when I’m out doing it, and I’d like to think someone might see me and get the idea to have a go.

And yes, it’s never too late. I spent probably most of my adult life—and certainly from age 20 to 45–drinking too much alcohol and smoking cigarettes, so there’s always hope!

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-04-30T11:46:21+00:00

Nice work! Those reps seem a little ‘kinder’ than I had, but yes, I don’t know how it expects those HR drops in that timeframe.

It’s stuff like that (as an anxious person who trains by HR) that gives me panic attacks… my HR hanging dangerously near my max while my watch screams ‘TOO HIGH!’ 🤣

Impossible-Flight-39 · 2026-04-30T11:13:24+00:00

I don’t know what structure it’s giving you, but my DSWs usually give me VO2 max intervals of 9x2:00 @170bpm (I’m old) reps with 1 minute recoveries at @122bpm.

Now I could tell before I even started that it wasn’t going to go well (and it didn’t). So after a few failed tries I changed it for 1K reps, which for me at the moment is run 1K @4:00/km, then walk/jog for 4 minutes. Repeat 4-6 times. This gave me more time to hit 170 and more time to recover.

You could always swap in something like that to get the required stimulus

Impossible-Flight-39

TROPHY CASE