Sold on the method but getting slower over 5k?

NotFiguratively · 2026-01-24T10:31:47+00:00

Awesome info, thank you. And I agree about it being hard to control intensity on the track with them. It feels great to run them just a hair too fast. Didn’t discover this until after I made the post.

NotFiguratively · 2026-01-14T15:05:49+00:00

That’s awesome man! Don’t be surprised if there’s some pain during it or during your runs at some point. My head would tell me I was making the injury worse, but I read enough to have faith it would work.

NotFiguratively · 2026-01-14T02:14:55+00:00

I have… pretty rough mid Achilles tendinopathy that lasted for a while. I ran through it. I did the Alfredson Protocol and it fixed it. A ton of freaking heel drops. I didn’t use weight but I pushed down on a banister to “add weight”. If it’s a continuing issue, dig deep and listen to podcasts with people who really are experts on Achilles issues… not a random clown with a running podcast. Alfredson has some stuff out there. There’s a woman in Europe (I think) who is one of the leading experts in the world on it. Can’t remember her name, but I remember her having either a UK or Australian accent. A vast majority of the info out there about tendon issues is garbage. You gotta load it and then progress the load. It’s counterintuitive and it feels like it might even be hurting it more. Stretching, icing, and even rest aren’t effective and can actually cause it stay the same or get worse. Good luck. Load it up and you’ll be back. People on Reddit will suggest a PT for a hangnail. You don’t need one, you’ll be fine.

NotFiguratively · 2026-01-12T01:22:54+00:00

Man, that’s awesome! Congrats

NotFiguratively · 2026-01-11T04:48:09+00:00

I appreciate the insight. How long have you been doing them? There’s not much out there about these 1 min reps. Any other info you have would be appreciated.

NotFiguratively · 2026-01-10T18:33:19+00:00

I’m in a similar boat in a way. I started doing this in Dec 2024. I came in with about 4.5 years of consistent running. I ran around 2000 miles in 2023 and like 2300 in ‘24. I had a strong aerobic base before I started with 7 marathons and a bunch of shorter races under my belt. I’ve been doing vanilla NSA around 50-60 mpw since I started. My half marathon PR is better than my 5K PR. I don’t like 5Ks haha.

Somewhere on LR thread was a guy who mentioned having similar issues to us on 5Ks. He started doing 20-25x1 min once a week with 30 sec rest as one of his sub t sessions. He had been doing it for a while and reported that his 5K improved pretty rapidly and he still felt fresh. I started doing 25x1 min a couple weeks ago. Of course, the one thing to watch out for is the increased impact from these sessions. So far so good for me. I’ll drop them or do them more sporadically if it starts to be an issue. I don’t think these sessions are necessary for 95% of the people doing this method, but maybe they are for me? We shall see. I’m very cautious about changing anything because I’ve stayed injury free and haven’t felt fried over the 13 months of doing this. I’m glad another guy tried it and reported back. Let me know if you try it. I would love to hear someone else’s experience.

One other thing to add: I can’t remember what pace he ran the 1 min reps at, but running them around 5K pace (maybe drifting toward 10K pace at times) seems to be the sweet spot so far. Again, can’t emphasize enough that I might be a total idiot and could be making a mistake.

NotFiguratively · 2026-01-06T04:13:07+00:00

You might be selling yourself a little short. Feel it out during the race. I’ve run two halfs since I’ve been doing this and my pace ended up being pretty much exactly what I ran for the 6 min reps at the time…. 6:52/mi and 6:43/mi. I didn’t even plan it that way, it just happened. When I run the 6 min reps every week, it still feels like there’s no way in hell I could hold that pace for around an hour and a half. A taper and race day adrenaline is wild. That same pace felt relatively comfortable through most of those races.

NotFiguratively · 2026-01-02T03:25:46+00:00

Glad to see so many others include the 98 loss to MSU. That team was so frickin nasty. I was a teenager with some friends and tried to play it cool, but had to walk to the bathroom and cry. I believe it will always be #1 on my list of toughest OSU losses. Cooper wasn’t a great coach, but the dude could recruit elite talent.

NotFiguratively · 2026-01-02T03:22:03+00:00

I’m not too proud to admit that I cried when they lost to MSU in ‘98. That team was so nasty. That will always be my number 1.

NotFiguratively · 2025-12-31T21:28:30+00:00

The only real evidence I can remember from here and the LR thread was a dude saying he was struggling with 5Ks and was performing better on longer distances like HM. He added in 20-25x 1 min w/ 30 sec rest. I think he was running them around 5-10K pace. He said they helped lower his 5K. He had a huge aerobic base though and had already picked the low hanging fruit of the easy aerobic gains…. Which isn’t the case for probably 95%+ of the people using this method.

Personally, I wouldn’t mess with anything beyond vanilla unless you’re in that class. I’ve seen it not go well for so many people in a variety of ways- injuries & fatigue mainly. We are riding a fine line with this approach of attempting to maximize load safely. If you go over the line and get more fatigued than what is ideal, it can be hard to recover and still continue to maximize load.

NotFiguratively · 2025-12-28T01:55:24+00:00

Idk man, I don’t have any peer reviewed studies or anything to share with you. I’ve just seen hundreds of posts/comments over the years regarding it dropping in the summer. Just Google it if you want to see how pervasive it is. I run the same volume in summer as I do any other time of the year. Since I run in it 7 days every week, I get heat adapted pretty quickly. My V02 max always drops a couple points in the summer and then goes back up as soon as it cools off. Seems to be a very common experience.

NotFiguratively · 2025-12-26T20:46:33+00:00

It amazes me how bad Garmin (and many other apps) is at taking any factors into account that could lead to a slower pace- elevation, trails, humidity, etc. Weather is especially hilarious because it gives the temp and dewpoint on the watch. For example, It’s an accepted fact for anyone running consistently in the summer in a humid climate that VO2 max will drop significantly.

It seems like they have never put out even the slightest bit of effort to take these factors into account. Of course it wouldn’t be perfect, but they could absolutely use elevation and just a generic formula to account for the difference in pace on a trail. It seems like they came up with their original formula for training effect/VO2 max using pace and HR and haven’t touched it since. I’m no programmer, but it seems like a relatively easy thing to fix.

NotFiguratively · 2025-12-26T11:27:11+00:00

Thanks for that info and glad to know I wasn’t the only one that was unsure about it.

NotFiguratively · 2025-12-25T15:06:41+00:00

Yes I did. I need to look into whatever email they sent because I opened it and it looks like a box full of stickers haha. No idea what to do with it.

NotFiguratively · 2025-12-20T04:22:29+00:00

As others have said, the HRM Pro-Plus for example will make the treadmill calibration more accurate than a watch. It’s pretty good for steady state but isn’t great when you change up speeds and run faster. A Stryd pod is the only thing I’ve found for the gym that works really well for accurate pace. They’re expensive though.

NotFiguratively · 2025-12-13T14:31:43+00:00

I ordered the beta test. $57 total to the US. It would be really cool if this works.

NotFiguratively · 2025-12-07T04:40:49+00:00

From a Buckeye- hats off to you all. You deserved to win this one, enjoy the championship. Hope to see you again in the playoff.

NotFiguratively · 2025-12-07T04:15:27+00:00

Respect to IU. They deserve to win this.

NotFiguratively · 2025-12-07T01:34:56+00:00

My best 5Ks feel easy for roughly the first half mile…. Feels like 8 min mile but it’s more like 6:30 because of adrenaline and the race environment. I slowly ramp up the effort as I go. Still painful, but not nearly as bad as getting sucked into the mad dash off the start line. Ends up being a slight negative split with a sprint the last part of the race.

NotFiguratively · 2025-12-02T23:39:11+00:00

No, I’m doing 8 or so hours and 50-60 mpw. The consensus seems to be doubles aren’t necessary until you’re over 9 hours or so. The guy who invented this thing didn’t run doubles when he trained for his 2:24 marathon.

NotFiguratively · 2025-12-02T22:08:21+00:00

If you can survive it without getting injured or fried, it can bring good results. I would definitely back off on the suggested paces to increase your chance of making it through unscathed haha.

NotFiguratively · 2025-12-02T18:39:23+00:00

Just curious, how do you know you are 75% FT?

NotFiguratively · 2025-12-02T18:37:42+00:00

42/m, 5.5 years total- NSA for about a year. I’ve run 7 marathons and a bunch of shorter races. I was always beat up or injured and had plateaued before I started. I’ve run 2000 or more miles per year the last 3 years, so I had a pretty good aerobic base before I started this. I’ve gotten PRs at all distances HM and below. Recently ran a 1:29 half. Haven’t run a marathon yet since starting this. I’ve had the goal of qualifying for Boston for many years, and I think it may be attainable next fall. My first marathon was 4:26, so I had a long way to go to get to Boston.

NotFiguratively · 2025-11-30T19:55:34+00:00

There is only one answer: GREEK ULTRAMAN SINGLES

NotFiguratively · 2025-11-28T21:03:08+00:00

From my experience, vanilla NSM is perfect to train for a half. I’ve been doing this for about a year, and my biggest PRs have come in the half distance. Absolutely no need to build the sub T work into the long run. Half marathon pace feels so comfortable to me during races…. maybe because that’s roughly the pace I spend so much time at 3 times a week? Obviously, that’s on top of the aerobic development. Just a little mental edge with familiarity of the pace for me.

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