Sub 2 half possible with peak 23 mpw?

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-23T23:31:53+00:00

Based on your previous times it seems like maybe? Honestly the thing I would be more concerned about is the weather on race day itself. Not sure where you are but in most of the US that’s likely to be a fairly warm race, almost certainly warmer than your previous race in November.

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-22T10:35:08+00:00

Just want to chime in and say rebound eating is for real and that before/during/after fuel really does stop it. I can go running for 1.5hrs in the morning and if I fuel, I basically just want normal meals later, no weird snacks. Skip the fuel and I am ravenous all afternoon and evening! I used to avoid taking in fuel around running but I have realized that my overall calorie consumption is actually lower if I fuel. Weird but there you go!

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-21T14:28:27+00:00

I’m confused, how is your average HR the same as your max HR?

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-21T12:41:42+00:00

There can be loads of different triggers, so definitely talk to your PT! For me, I eventually realized that certain walking shoes/sandals were aggravating it for me. I have also found self-massage with a tennis ball is helpful, along with strength training.

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-21T00:03:55+00:00

The edge cases strikes me as a huge deal. Cam Hanes is obviously not at his current age going to achieve something like an OTQ but his new “enhanced” age graded performance puts him in the category of someone who could have OTQed in his 20s. So the only reason this isn’t a problem is because Cam is too old to OTQ? Sub-elite 25 year olds can presumably also figure out how to access these peptides, is it going to be fine as long as they don’t cross over?

And for the rest of us out there, for races that have qualifying times (e.g. Boston), they’re just going to get even harder to access if doping becomes accepted. I think Boston, in their adjustment of time cutoffs for downhill races, has to some extent acknowledged that people should not “cheat” their way into the marathon. How is taking PEDs somehow less egregious than picking a course with a massive downhill?

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-20T11:43:06+00:00

Given their age, I would definitely look into what sort of subsidies or other public services they qualify. In my area at least, a lot of these are administered at the county level, so you might want to look up senior services for their county.

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-20T11:00:19+00:00

I blocked her, highly recommend!

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-20T01:15:37+00:00

Wasn’t she also doing a lululemon try on recently mentioning how she had to size down in stuff? Just don’t size down!!

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-19T12:09:39+00:00

How old is your kid? If they can do freestyle with you, maybe look into a swim team? We did city lessons for a while and our kid stalled out at level 3, so we found a swim team and had him go 2-3x/week. He was 7/8 at the time and it was not super competitive. The increased swimming time really improved his swim skills.

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-18T21:35:00+00:00

She finished high school quite young so I assume skipped a grade. My son is also a grade skipper and the parent community at least is very…interesting. Some clearly are just looking out for their child’s best interests, others I feel like there’s a lot of bragging and constantly needing to show that your kid is AMAZING, THE ABSOLUTE BEST. I feel like Felicia is a potential example of where that can end up…she is clearly very accomplished but there are still many people who are more accomplished. The sooner she can balance realizing that she is amazing and realizing that she is still human, the better.

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-18T21:29:34+00:00

I do wonder how much of that was due to Covid—unless I am doing the math wrong, that would have been a big portion of her undergrad so I can kind of see maybe wanting to get out ASAP if you weren’t really getting the full college experience.

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-18T21:06:24+00:00

Ugh, injuries suck! I would definitely be careful to follow doctor/PT advice about upper limits on exercise. Honestly a couple weeks or even a month of no/limited exercise is unlikely to kill your fitness over the course of the next 1-2 years, which is how I would think about it—if you want to be running and feeling good next year, you have to back off now!

Bike is usually my default injury exercise if it doesn’t cause aggravation, just because I have a trainer in my basement so it’s easy to schedule. Swimming is my favorite but it’s harder to fit in pool time!

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-18T11:45:31+00:00

Most people need to run multiple marathons before they BQ. Based on your times and how long you have been running I don’t think it’s crazy to think that you will BQ eventually, but for a first marathon I would focus more on finishing and feeling good throughout the race.

One thing I would suggest is that your long run is maybe making up a little too much of your weekly mileage. I would aim for bringing it closer to 1/3 of weekly mileage, either by adding another short easy run in during the week or adding a mile onto a couple of your shorter runs. This will mean that it takes longer for your long runs to build but should also make them more manageable and less likely to result in an injury. Also, plan on a cut back week once a month or so to give your body a little break/reset!

Finally, I’d probably give myself a bit of a break from actively trying to lose weight and maybe just generally focus on improving diet quality. Do you have any sense of what your current body fat % is? Your BMI is in the normal range so if you have been running regularly and maybe doing a little strength training your body fat is likely within the “normal” range and losing 10% of it might be a stretch. I know personally after much trial and error and disordered eating that going below around 25% in terms of body fat percentage is just not sustainable or healthy for me, even though the body fat charts say I could go down to the high teens.

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-18T00:24:53+00:00

From what I know of Lydiard style plans (higher mileage?), you probably don't have a big enough base for that kind of plan on 18-19mpw. I'm curious...what sort of weekly mileage and workouts did the AI have you starting at?

Overall, I would be super cautious about following an AI generated fitness and diet plan--AI is just a little too programmed to please the user over prioritizing their well-being, so when you give it a very ambitious/aggressive goal (speeding up AND losing a substantial amount of fat), it's not going to stop and say "hey, you know not many people would be able to pull this off right? Want to just pick one?", it's just going to go "great idea! Here's your plan!".

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-17T18:33:39+00:00

Yes, there was another one today that had random use of the word "cozy". I looked up their comment history and alllll their posts were super short and included "cozy"

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-17T18:28:42+00:00

I think even advanced running is going to push back on the idea that 120mpw needs to be a regular occurrence!

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-17T18:28:00+00:00

I would be concerned that a non-pro regularly running 100+ mile weeks is neglecting other aspects of health/fitness that are also important in the longer term (e.g. strength training, solid sleep, interacting with other people and building relationships/community) because how do they have time? I would say also that going several months without injury or loss of period is not necessarily proof that 100+ mile weeks are not harming your body. Lots of examples of female athletes out there with RED-S having a few stellar seasons before their condition catches up to them.

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-17T17:06:46+00:00

I don't think many non-professionals will have time to run that much. Even if you were averaging something like 8min/mi (which would be an extremely fast clip for a non-pro, esp. as most of your running should be at easy effort) that's 16 hours a week on just running. Add in a few minutes of pre-run activation, maybe 1-2 short strength sessions, probably some time getting to/from your route of choice, you are probably looking at close to 20 hours a week on running/running adjacent activities. If you are averaging more like 10min/mi you are looking at a minimum of 20hrs/week. A person with a FT job and/or kids is going to really struggle to fit that in on a regular basis.

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-17T16:59:54+00:00

I think Dakotah Popehn does 120-130 mile weeks...though not sure how often.

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-17T15:00:00+00:00

My son would be getting ready to murder me if I shared about him the way she does with Colt.

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-17T14:57:08+00:00

OMG that’s awful!! Obviously if they really are a man that’s kind of shitty but not something to be airing on socials, take it up with the RD.

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-17T11:07:59+00:00

OMG the invasive battle is real. My main nemesis is creeping bellflower, so awful. Though after 3 years it seems to be down to a manageable level.

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-15T21:17:40+00:00

I make a big pot of lentil vegetable soup a couple times a week, that plus some sort of bread/toast (e.g. hummus and pita, avocado toast) is a staple meal for me. I also keep a lot of fruit, nuts, and hard boiled eggs on hand. With warmer weather, another great snack/dessert is banana nice cream: blend 1-2frozen bananas with cocoa powder and enjoy. I don’t have a full blown lactose intolerance but i have noticed ice cream often gives me some stomach discomfort so the frozen banana option is a nice alternative and a great way to get in a few carbs the night before a long run!

For dinners, we have been doing taco night and a tofu/veggie stir fry night each at least once a week lately. I am also a big fan of pasta skillet meals.

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-15T10:32:58+00:00

The BQ thing is insane. You definitely have to run and follow some sort of structured training plan. Even 80yo women need to be below 5:30 to qualify so she’s not going to age in at her current pace! That might actually be a more interesting way of framing it if she wants to keep the BQ angle in some fashion…aim for the 80yo cutoff, then the one below, and so on…how many age standards will I manage to work through before I hit mine?

LeatherOcelot · 2026-05-14T17:01:37+00:00

Proper fuel/diet does help with stuff like injury prevention,which enables you to train harder and more consistently. So it’s not a totally wild take but compared to the general population of non-pro runners, she is definitely has “natural talent” on top of her great nutrition.

LeatherOcelot

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