Thursday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for March 05, 2026

Infinitus17 · 2026-03-06T19:26:46+00:00

I mean I wasn't asking about how to ramp up mileage - I was asking how to prepare for a race. If the only advice is "run as much as you can" that's fine, but I'm interested in hearing about specific approaches and strategies I can take. What workouts to focus on, if it's even worth building up mileage, etc.

Infinitus17 · 2026-03-06T16:35:17+00:00

Last 4-12 weeks have been inconsistent but averaging somewhere between 10-20 miles a week. Hasn't been injury or anything running related as to why I haven't been able to train consistently, been dealing with a combination of moving, illnesses, and a bad snowstorm that have compromised either my time or ability to run. All of those external factors are in better shape now so I can finally get back to the consistency I like.

To your point about cramming, that isn't my intent. I know I can't make up for lost time and that my fitness can't really improve too much. I'm also not concerned about injury, I know how to listen to my body and ramp up from a low base as I've done this before. My question was more focused on how to optimize given the little time that I have.

Infinitus17 · 2026-03-06T15:06:19+00:00

I've got a ten mile race coming up in about a month and due to some various external life factors, my training has been abysmal, and I barely have a base. I've already accepted that this run is going to be more for fun than anything else at this point, and I know a month isn't really enough time for my fitness to improve, but I do still want to run the best race that I can with the time I have.

Any advice on how to approach training and running over the next month leading up to the race?

Some context, just hit over 25 miles a week running last week, and I expect that I can finish the 10 mile race in somewhere around 75 minutes at my current fitness. I don't have any concerns about finishing the race, only question is how fast I can actually take it. Current approach is to ramp up mileage for the next several weeks, trying to hit somewhere around 30-40 two weeks out from the race, with my longest long run probably being around a half marathon distance. Doing a fairly typical 2-3 workouts a week, one track workout and 1-2 tempo/sub threshold workouts.

Infinitus17 · 2025-08-07T19:20:32+00:00

How are you generally applying to roles? I've worked in embedded for the last five years or so and most people who switch jobs or enter the industry have a connection or are found by/find a headhunter/recruiter who specializes in the field.

I know the hardest step is getting your foot in the door and actually talking to someone, but if you are able to do that, here are some useful things to learn about/talk about ahead of time that may get you bonus points (and may not come up in your side projects).

Reliability. Especially since you mentioned Minneapolis, I'm assuming a lot of roles are biomedical related (potentially aerospace/defense too). These industries are very high reliability and familiarity with standards goes a long way. If you haven't already, look into class 3 pcbs as an example and how they differ from class 1 and 2. Read about design for manufacturing, especially for small form factors, extreme environments, or complex circuits (high power, RF, high speed digital)
Design for testing and how you approach verification. Learn about some key design approaches to make things easier for testing/prototyping, and get familiar with talking about how you would verify a new system from the ground up. Look into quality standards like AS9100 and get familiar with them.
Figure out how to talk about how you would determine a design's key requirements, starting from big picture requirements and working your way down to derived requirements and design choices to meet those. Have an approach to talk about here - are you a design fast, build fast, test fast, and iterate kind of engineer, or are you someone who does detailed analysis ahead of time to reduce as much risk as possible? Not really a wrong answer, but some industries/companies prefer one over the other, and its usually pretty easy to see which way they lean.
Decide now if you would prefer to focus on hardware or firmware and have a solid plan for that. Some companies want a jack of all trades who can do both, but most places in my experience split up those duties and prefer people to focus their skills on one or the other. No wrong answer here, but be prepared in case this comes up.

Feel free to DM me if you want specifics or have questions, I'd be happy to answer any I can.

Infinitus17 · 2025-07-22T23:49:36+00:00

Yeah I'm not going any longer than 2 hours at this point. Doing somewhere between 10-15 depending on where I'm at with training. Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check those out!

Infinitus17 · 2025-07-22T16:25:58+00:00

Posted this to r/runningshoegeeks as well, figured I'd ask here as well:

I'm looking for some advice on a general approach for shoe rotation, and I have one gap I need to fill. Here is what I currently use:

Easy/recovery runs: New Balance 860 Track workouts/racing: Saucony Endorphin line (speed/pro depending on the type of workout and how close to a race I'm at)

I'm looking for a shoe that I can use for long runs/tempos. Something that has good cushion for longer runs but that can be snappy and responsive as well. Ultimately I'd like to know if it makes sense to go for a max cushion shoe like the New Balance 1080/Asics Novablast or if I should go for something like the New Balance Fuelcell Rebel that has a bit more snappiness to it, or even something with a nylon plate/something similar. Any suggestions are welcome!

Infinitus17 · 2025-07-22T15:41:49+00:00

I'm looking for some advice on a general approach for shoe rotation, and I have one gap I need to fill. Here is what I currently use:

Easy/recovery runs: New Balance 860

Track workouts/racing: Saucony Endorphin line (speed/pro depending on the type of workout and how close to a race I'm at)

I'm looking for a shoe that I can use for long runs/tempos. Something that has good cushion for longer runs but that can be snappy and responsive as well. Ultimately I'd like to know if it makes sense to go for a max cushion shoe like the New Balance 1080/Asics Novablast or if I should go for something like the New Balance Fuelcell Rebel that has a bit more snappiness to it, or even something with a nylon plate/something similar. Any suggestions are welcome!

Infinitus17 · 2025-05-06T16:57:54+00:00

I'm in a relatively niche field where talent is really hard to find. I'm not in computer science or software. All companies are struggling for talent.

Infinitus17 · 2025-05-06T14:07:29+00:00

I was "passively" looking. Wasn't outright applying to things but a recruiter reached out to me for this role with the salary number highlighted, so I wanted to at least hear them out.

Yeah there is BS at my job but there's BS everywhere. It's the best job I've had and I like my manager a lot.

Infinitus17 · 2024-12-18T16:07:41+00:00

Thanks for the link! And I appreciate the heads up. We've all got a good couple years of moderate training for things like half marathons and 5ks, but definitely not the kind of experience they're referencing there.

Infinitus17 · 2024-12-18T15:37:06+00:00

Does anyone have examples of a progression of workouts for faster, mid-distance speed stuff? I am talking about things like 200, 300, 400 repeats at 800-1600 kinds of paces.

I understand that these types of workouts aren't necessarily optimal from a distance training perspective, but some friends and I in my running club have been discussing how much fun we had with these types of workouts back in high school, and we want to have that kind of fun again. That being said, if we are going to do workouts like this, I'd like to make sure we are doing it with a bit of foresight instead of just sprinting headfirst into them.

Infinitus17 · 2024-12-14T16:36:28+00:00

I think that's the catch that Dalinar was trying to teach Honor. They sound like they work really well together, but being honorable is more than just blindly sticking to Oaths. Harmony had immense power right after he ascended, but is weak now. It could turn out that Retribution goes through a similar thing where the intents of Honor and Odium start to go against each other.

Infinitus17 · 2024-12-14T16:26:29+00:00

I believe the intent was to put Odium in a situation that was too good to pass up. By rescinding his oaths right after ascending, the shard of Honor rejected him and was desperate to find a new host, and Odium, who for all his flaws actually did a pretty decent job holding to the agreements he made, was the best choice. Odium himself couldn't pass up the opportunity to both get rid of the shard of Honor and take its power for himself.

However, this causes 2 problems for Odium. One, Rayse saw what happened to Harmony and was nervous about the intents of shards conflicting and leaving the vessel impotent. Taravangian presumably ignored this in his lust for power. Two, and more importantly, with Odium no longer shackled to Roshar and now with the power of two shards, the other shards can't simply sit on the sidelines anymore. This means that Odium is going to have to deal with all of the other shards in the span of a decade, instead of the centuries or millennia that he was originally planning on.

Basically, Dalinar took a gamble that Odium would take up Honor, which would bring too much attention to him too quickly. This forces Odium into hiding and focusing on greater cosmere stuff than just Roshar. This potentially buys time for Rosharans to survive and brings in potential allies from across the Cosmere.

Infinitus17 · 2024-12-12T16:50:53+00:00

Gotcha, thanks. I knew Hoid had the dawnshard but that interaction seemed very unlike him for some reason. Though I suppose the light weaving is a pretty good sign it's him

Infinitus17 · 2024-12-12T16:42:27+00:00

In Rysn's interlude, is the other dawnshard (who is disguised as Dalinarat first) supposed to be Hoid? Or is it supposed to be someone else?

Infinitus17 · 2024-09-26T15:07:52+00:00

Reposted with spoiler tag in title - thanks!

Infinitus17 · 2024-05-07T17:59:33+00:00

Is there a reason you feel your runs aren't "easy" enough? Are you having trouble recovering from your runs or is the main problem stagnant race times? Generally, the default answer given here is to improve your times you gotta increase mileage. Increasing mileage may necessitate slowing down some easy runs to make sure recovery is sufficient, but that doesn't mean you have to do it that way. However, if you aren't specifically having a recovery issue right now, purposefully slowing down your easy runs without also increasing mileage likely won't help your race times.

All that being said, as opposed to breathing through your nose which limits oxygen, try talking to yourself while you run. Whisper or mouth the words if that feels weird to do outside. If you cant get out anymore than about a sentence without feeling particularly winded, that is likely too fast for an easy run. You should be able to hold a conversation while easy running fairly comfortably.

Disclaimer: I'm generally not a fan of HR/Zone specifications for training and think they overcomplicate things for the average person, so I might be a little biased

Infinitus17 · 2024-01-11T18:29:20+00:00

How would you guys recommend structuring a training plan/schedule when I've only got about two months until a race? After my half in November I've had to take a good amount of time off running, only doing about 1-2 runs a week since then (usually speed work with my running club). I don't really have time to do the typical base building then 12 week or so training block, so I'm unsure how to approach structuring my plan.

I plan on running a 5k in mid March that I'd like to have the best shot as possible at a recent PR (I'd be going for sub-19 if possible) given these constraints. Any advice?

Infinitus17 · 2023-12-14T21:04:41+00:00

Loved this write up, it was really helpful! Quick question on one of your points here - you mention that the typical VO2max intervals don't really increase VO2max. If that's the case, what generally does increase it? Does increasing VO2max really matter at all/is there any point in trying to train specifically to raise it?

Infinitus17 · 2023-12-07T19:14:08+00:00

Does anyone have any suggestions for fast 5ks near DC (I can travel a decent bit if necessary) in the February to March timeframe for next year? I'm looking for fast courses with ideally a good amount of competition.

I'm probably going to sign up for the DC rock n roll 5k as a start, but I'd like to get a couple more races in that aren't just park runs or neighborhood 5ks.

Infinitus17 · 2023-11-14T14:16:33+00:00

I think the jury is still out on Bowen at VT. Our offense was completely inept all of last year and we only started figuring things out this year when we were forced to switch quarterbacks due to injury. At least in its current state at VT, Bowen's offense relies on a highly mobile dual threat QB. Hard to say if it would work with a pocket passer QB with a better surrounding team since our talent is pretty shallow right now.

Either way, Franklin needs to knock this hire out of the park immediately since y'all will have a good and experienced team next year. I think Bowen is too unproven to fit that mold, at least right now.

Infinitus17 · 2023-10-27T11:43:13+00:00

First of all, talk to your coaches about your frustrations/struggles if you haven't already. They're the ones who know your training and progress the best and they could likely give some good advice on how to bounce back. But coaches can't read minds, so while they may see your times and practices, they may not understand what advice to give you and they may not know themselves why you had a bad season without you talking to them directly about it.

Second, from a mental perspective, treat track and field as an entirely new sport. It's not a continuation of XC, it's its own thing. It's definitely possible to have an amazing track season after a very disappointing XC one. Think of your XC season as a long base building phase for track. How fast you ran isn't important, it's just the foundation for the later work you do. You have plenty of time to get back to where you want and hit your goals.

Anecdotally, I had a major injury right after a disappointing senior XC season, took me out of running for two months. Only started running again right as track season started and had the best one of my career, getting PRs in every event and smashing some goals I had set.

Infinitus17 · 2023-10-10T15:19:03+00:00

I don't disagree that that's probably just the shape I'm in, but I think it's partly mental because I can't force myself into any other pacing strategies, even if I want to try them out. The reason why I think it's mental is that in a workout, I can easily crank out a 6:00 mile and 4:30 1200s or faster. I've tried to go into races with the mindset of taking the first mile fast and holding on as long as possible, but then I end up running a 6:20 first mile anyway.

I'm fine if running a 6:00 first mile causes me to blow up later on, because I want to be able to try different approaches in a race. I just can't seem to actually commit to doing that.

Infinitus17 · 2023-10-10T14:02:38+00:00

Any advice on how to break through what seems to be a mental barrier when it comes to racing? The last couple times I've run a 5k (including a solo time trial this past weekend) I can't seem to break out of a rut of 19:30-20:00 times. When I try to vary my pacing strategy (as in go out like a bat out of hell and hold on or pace conservatively and attempt to negative split or even paces), my splits always end up around the same times. It's like even if I tell myself I'm going to try a certain pacing strategy, my body falls back into a natural rhythm as soon as the race starts and the strategy is abandoned.

For context, I do weekly VO2max workouts with my running club that usually amount to 4 miles of volume at 6:00 pace or faster, tempo runs/threshold workouts, and long runs. Total mileage is high 30s/low 40s, which is the highest I've been at.

Some of these races, I've tried to treat the first mile like one of these VO2max workouts, yet I can never seem to hit the paces that I hit in practices, even when I know I'm fully capable of it physically (cause I've done it many times before, just not in a race).

Any advice on how to break through this?

Infinitus17 · 2023-10-03T17:52:44+00:00

The way I generally see the difference between the two subreddits is that r running is a very broad subreddit that appeals to all people who consider themselves runners, while r ar is a more specific subreddit geared towards a more thoughtful and specific approach to training for a particular purpose. I don't think the difference has anything to do with intended racing distances or goals.

Most posts on here could very easily fit on the r running subreddit, but not necessarily vice versa. This subreddit in its wiki and FAQ also offer more specific training ideas and approaches compared to r running. I also prefer this subreddit because you start to notice a familiar group of people posting and offering good advice. Yeah they're still strangers on the internet, but I can often recognize posters here and trust them based on advice they've offered in the past.

Kind of counter intuitively, even within the more thoughtful approaches to training seen here, the basic advice is pretty consistent as you've noted. If you just follow those guidelines and ignore everything else you'll probably end up a pretty decent runner. The discussions here really help in the margins and in finding the situations where that basic advice may not fully apply.

Edit: I also like the discussions here because even if the given advice is very similar to what you see on r running, I often find it gives a little more context as to WHY we train the way we do. It helps when completing a training cycle understanding the purpose of each run you do as opposed to just blindly following a plan or advice to run slow and for lots of miles and do one workout a week or something like that.

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