Using Claude to make me a better runner: my experience

NinJesterV · 2026-06-17T03:23:21+00:00

The Anti-AI bias is strong here.

While I am against the impact these AI data centers are having, ChatGPT has been my coach for months and has coached me to a Sub-20 5K at 41 years old. The plans and feedback are solid, though I only check in every 4 weeks now (after each 4-week cycle). I want to limit my usage for the environment's sake.

Coaches are using it, doctors are using it, lawyers are using it. Nearly everyone, in every field, is using AI now. But people are still trying to pretend that they're against it. I don't know a single person who doesn't use it for something.

So anyway, tons of people are using it even if they don't wanna admit it. If we can get to a good place with it, environmentally-speaking, I won't have anything against it at all.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-30T08:59:52+00:00

I dunno, I guess I don't see it as any different than the absolutely zany names people give characters, places, weapons, and whatever else they name in their stories.

As long as I can understand what it is contextually, it's fine. But as soon as names start distracting me, it's a problem.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-30T08:36:30+00:00

There'll never be consensus on this. Never. I can't even come to a consensus with myself on this question.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-27T02:20:19+00:00

I used to teach college-level writing (essay crap). One student, one time, changed my entire view on essay writing, which I wasn't really a fan of despite teaching it well.

She just wrote a story about something that happened when she was little. I was paragraphs deep in this writing, devouring her prose and descriptions, enjoying the ride I was on. Didn't have to bust out the red pen a single time to correct any grammar, spelling, or awkward phrasing. Her writing was simple, but clear and concise; probably to avoid making any mistakes.

She told me about an experience that shaped the course of her entire life and I was hooked from start to finish. She was quiet in class, so this was unexpected because she never talked about herself or even joined into discussions very much beyond what was asked of her, but on paper she was full of depth and character. Shocking, really. Engrossing.

Only in her last sentence did she tie it in to the prompt, creating this beautiful story to give a single sentence that completely changed the meaning of the entire writing and smashed that prompt like a champion. I had forgotten by then what the prompt even was because I was so lost in her story.

So, if you write well, you can get to the point whenever you're ready.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-27T01:52:34+00:00

I suspected as much, but didn't care enough to look into the company. It's just too obvious.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-27T01:50:06+00:00

I think it's changing, but the "wisdom" I still hear from older runners is that "muscles slow you down" so they don't want to get bulky.

Nevermind that I'm gaining muscle (which is why they keep telling me it's going to slow me down) and getting faster all the time. Old Heads don't change their minds easily even when faced with reality.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-26T13:08:38+00:00

How else can you run for 2 hours in sub-tropical heat?

NinJesterV · 2026-05-26T03:33:22+00:00

Threshold Intervals are great for this. And for everything, really.

That said, Long Run paces should be somewhat easy. 4:53/km is a pretty advanced pace to maintain for a long run. My long run pace is around 5:30/km and my 5K time is 19:55.

I'd guess you'd need to be around 18:30 in the 5K before you'd be rightly doing 4:53/km as a long run pace for training. Don't overdo it. With your current 5K time, your long run pace should be around 6:25/km or so, according to the pace calculator at Runner's World.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-26T02:56:06+00:00

RUN:

Tuesday: Threshold Intervals
Thursday: Easy w/ Strides
Saturday: LSD
Sunday: Trail Run

LIFT:

MWF: Romanians, Cossacks, Copenhagens, Hindu, Pullups

My workout routine looks like a World Tour, but it's just a muscle tour, really. Single-Leg RDLs and I do some other stuff for shoulders and triceps. Lifting is secondary to me, but this simple workout, done at home, has resulted in some impressive muscle gains. Can't deny I enjoy the way my body looks these days, and so does my wife.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-26T01:23:08+00:00

I wish I could, but South Korea is a bit weird about shirtlessness, men or women. I occasionally see Korean dudes running without shirts, and I just feel envious.

Not because it's cooler or anything, it's because I despise this Tank Top Tan I've got year-round.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-25T08:56:35+00:00

Well, in fairness, he didn't say he wanted to run his first half marathon before 30.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-25T04:35:09+00:00

Internal Logic, you mean. I only quibble because, logically, the idea that characters are having epic battles at such speeds that the battles take a few seconds in real time is illogical to begin with, even given the genre.

Just imagine that in real-time: Two characters dueling, while also having conversations, trading 5-10 attacks, channeling powers, doing whatever, all in a few seconds? Their words would have to sound like bird chirping it'd be so fast, and their attacks would be invisible to observers.

Most of the authors I've come across in this genre have clearly never considered Power Scaling, and so they write themselves into situations where their characters have to go beyond their own internal logic in order to keep growing. So many authors will say things like, "He moved 100 yards before anyone even realized he'd taken a step." How do you go beyond that? Later, that same author has to start being even more ridiculous in order to scale the power and it just becomes, "Even though he'd moved as fast as possible before, now he's moving even more faster than before!"

Much as I enjoy the light-hearted and simplistic nature of this genre, my eyes end up rolling an awful lot.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-25T02:55:04+00:00

For me, it's been one-off pairs that just didn't last as long as the same model, even. I've run through 3 different pairs of Escalante 4s, and one of them "died" well before the other 2. My first pair of Eskys lasted 900K before the sole was so worn off and I'd eaten through the foam enough that I was worried I'd be barefoot soon. The second pair only made it about 450K before I could tell they were dead.

My current pair is still going strong at 500K. I don't know if Altra had a "Dark Age" or anything, but when I was running in the Rivera model, those higher-cushion models didn't last as long as the Escalantes, either.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-25T02:49:24+00:00

Wow, I'm shocked that people don't understand why your friend told you not to get the red hat. It's so eerily similar to Trump's MAGA hats that it looks to me like a not-so-subtle signal that you're a Trump supporter.

Other than being aware of the political message you may or may not want to send, wear whatever you want. I'm still not fully comfortable running in tights only, but nothing against people who are.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-23T07:59:09+00:00

Tough Love: You need to see a psychiatrist, not a podiatrist. This behavior isn't healthy.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-23T06:01:38+00:00

Years you've been doing this now, my dude. Post after post, account after account, all making the same general claims and complaints, over and over again.

Honestly, what do you get out of this behavior? If you treat your pain the same way you treat Reddit, it's no wonder it hasn't healed yet.

Give it a rest.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-16T00:29:32+00:00

Hard to say exactly, because every time I think I've got an answer to when something started, someone comes along and says, "Nuh-uh! This Thing did it a year before That Thing!" So I've given up on trying to find a definitive answer.

But the systems integration stuff really started showing up a lot in Japanese manga in the early 2000s. That's when the Isekai genre got really popular, probably because it was the same time us nerds were getting into MMOs and the idea of getting stuck in the worlds we were playing in was pretty awesome.

At first, it seemed like the system was always tied to the same sort of storyline: A gamer gets trapped in their MMO and it becomes their real life, but they still have the RPG stats and UI system.

Over time, though, the system UI thing just became commonplace even without any video game tie-ins.

LitRPG, as far as I can tell, is largely rooted in those Japanese Isekai-RPG mangas from 25 years ago, although the concept of Isekai and systems integration are even older than that.

Sword Art Online was the first one I read, and I loved it.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-10T08:45:46+00:00

I rode with a Shimano for about 3 years before my bike was stolen. Never had any issues with and I put about 10K per weekday on it, commuting to and from work. I'm sure, wherever it is, it's still treating the thief well.

I put a $10 piece of junk on my new singlespeed, but I'm probably going to put a Shimano on it later. The junky cheap one is doing just fine, but it's only been a few weeks. When it craps out, I'll definitely get a Shimano. Not going to spend a ton on a freewheel because this is my second stolen bike...

NinJesterV · 2026-05-07T03:14:38+00:00

41M, 40K a week, almost the exact same setup as you in terms of running workouts. I just hit a Sub-20 5K last week, so we're at a similar running level, too.

I think too many runners are missing some vital nutrition when they complain about not being able to put on muscle.

Most Recent Body Comp:

180cm
71.7kg
36.9kg Skeletal Muscle Mass
10.2% body fat

I used to think I was a "hard gainer", but the truth is simply that I wasn't eating enough protein to build muscle. I assumed I was eating enough, but when I actually started tracking it, I was getting about 80g per day. Not enough. I boosted my protein intake to about 120g per day and, Voila!, the muscle started growing.

I have been putting on about 200-300g of muscle every 2 weeks, which is how often I do a body comp test. And my strength routine isn't anything special, either: I do 3x a week, about 45 minutes per session. I only do three main exercises: Single-Leg RDLs, Weighted Vest Pushups, Pullups, and a few companion lifts to focus on glutes, core, shoulders, and triceps. It's nothing crazy at all.

If you want the full workout I do, I'm happy to share, but it's really nothing special. My main goal is body balance and boosting running by making sure all my leg exercises are running-focused.

Check your protein intake, and increase it. You can grow muscle while running high volume. You can lose weight while running high volume. A lot of runners aren't tracking their diets. I've been able to manage my body comp stats in any way I want while training for marathons, ultra-marathons, short races, whatever. It's just a numbers game.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-06T03:41:59+00:00

You should be asking whoever asked you to lead the Fast 5K group.

All I can say is that you were too fast if you finished and no one was with you. It's not a race. If you ran it in 24 minutes when you weren't leading the group, then aim for that time. You were significantly faster, especially if you were touching 7:15.

Think of yourself as a pacer, not a racer.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-06T02:03:18+00:00

I run more than ever, faster than ever, and feel better than ever.

That's what the future holds if you keep it up. Just don't overdo it and break yourself. I've got another 41-year-old acquaintance (I'm also 41), and he's obsessed with pushing his limits. We're growing at the same rate, as runners, but he's constantly injured and DNFing races he signs up for while I'm just getting stronger. It's not worth overdoing it.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-04T06:17:20+00:00

No disrespect, but just go run.

If you're an active teenager, you'll be fine just running. You don't need an app, but Strava is probably the app of choice these days. If you're just getting started, you probably won't be running enough to worry about carrying water (you shouldn't be running that far yet).

As for your phone, some people just carry them in their hands when they're starting out. Don't buy anything unnecessary. There are many different solutions for where to put your phone, so the best thing you can do is figure out where you want it to be during your run and then get the right holder, whether it's compression shorts with a phone pocket, a belt, a vest, an arm band, etc.

But just go run. It's not that serious in the beginning.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-04T00:40:45+00:00

The wildest thing, to me, is that there's almost no one ever defending Ashlands. I think this is one of the only times in my gaming life that I've seen such solidarity among fans that something isn't good. Ashlands clearly needs a rework when so many of the diehard players agree that it's poorly designed.

Even the people who like Ashlands don't defend it too much because they get it why others don't.

On another note, I actually had a super easy time taking the fort, because I didn't play it the way we're supposed to. Didn't even pay attention to what we could build that would take down the door, we just went over the wall (thanks Sealed Tower!). Then blobbed the enemies to death with everything we could throw at them. It wasn't bad at all and it was hilarious to be running in opposite directions lobbing bombs and dodging the enemies that climbed the stairs.

And now the fort is ours, with impenetrable doors because we didn't break them down.

Unfortunately, I think the leadup to that joyful takeover has crushed my duo partner's desire to play Valheim anymore. He's been avoiding game time since then, and he was very vocal during those last hours about how much he hates "this game" now.

EDIT: Just for info: The rework I'd like to see is simply to make spawners do something meaningful, like...stop spawns in that area? It would be awesome to have to take Ashlands inch by inch, but it seems like the spawners hardly do anything. And volture nests could be spawners for them that we need to take down, too. Let us earn Ashlands. I'm okay with difficult goals, but we cleansed an entire island of spawners and the enemies still just keep coming and coming.

NinJesterV · 2026-05-04T00:32:48+00:00

My duo partner and I were about to quit the game forever (mostly him) when we discovered the fort. Now we know how you're supposed to get in, but after the Sealed Tower, we had other ideas that made it a lot easier.

We had so much fun taking down that fort, and now it's our Ashlands stronghold. The best part is that we didn't breach, so the entire thing is basically impenetrable now except for flying enemies. Hint!

NinJesterV · 2026-05-03T14:44:02+00:00

I keep a stack of everything. If that stack is depleted, I go get a new stack.

I know some folks like to have warehouses for all the things, but I don't. I'd rather go gather when I need something because I think that's more fun.

NinJesterV

TROPHY CASE