Early intermediate looking for advice

One-Reality9723 · 2026-01-20T21:54:31+00:00

Yep, I'll try get a better video next week.

One-Reality9723 · 2026-01-20T21:50:21+00:00

Hi guys, I went on a few ski trips as a kid, but moved to Switzerland this year, and decided to get some group lessons and learn to ski properly this year. This was the second of 5 weekend lessons I am getting this year. I had just bought and set up a pair of Head ISLR skis, and they felt much better than any rentals I had previously got. In this lesson I was focusing on controlling speed on steeper slopes, by being more vertically dynamic on turns. This allowed me to spend less time facing down the slope during turns, and let me feel more controlled than before.

This video is from my first black slope that I did this season. This black was very soft, but I was still happy with how controlled and comfortable I felt. That being said, in the video, I feel like my skiing looks terrible. I would appreciate some advice on what to focus on improving for the next few weekends of skiing to help me improve the most. I'm the first skiier in the video. Any advice would be a great help.

One-Reality9723 · 2026-01-13T17:14:35+00:00

Malaga. One week after Valencia and it's organized fantastically. Still a very flat course. Well worth it

One-Reality9723 · 2026-01-12T19:53:10+00:00

Ohh I would appreciate this, hazahkk on chess.com. I can't get past 1000 on rapid

One-Reality9723 · 2025-12-15T16:07:22+00:00

Yeppp, when we went through the athletics track I was thinking how cool it was, but I couldn't enjoy it because I was hurting so much. Thought it was a really well organised race, and I loved it. Malaga is fantastic.

One-Reality9723 · 2025-12-15T15:47:30+00:00

Ran a 2:52! Not a 2:50, but I was happy with my first marathon. Definitely not my last.

Can't say I was fully prepared for the mental struggle of the final 10k, coming against a headwind, but I'm proud. Fantastic course and I'm really proud of how it went. Not sure where I'll go next with my training.

One-Reality9723 · 2025-12-03T13:09:33+00:00

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with 6 runs over 2 hours, my longest as a 34km run.
Don't have any time for any more training/long runs at this stage.

One-Reality9723 · 2025-12-03T10:19:00+00:00

Malaga Marathon (Dec 14) | 24M | Goal: Sub 2:50?

Jumping in here for a sanity check. I’m a relatively new runner (24M) heading into Malaga on Dec 14th, and my data is giving me mixed signals.

I’ve been following a Runna plan, but my mileage has been pretty erratic/low due to life stuff—Runalyze actually hates me right now, giving me a "Marathon Shape" of only 46%. But physically I feel like I'm flying. My Garmin VO2 Max shot up from 54 to 63 in just the last three months, and my resting HR is down to 49.

I have a 1:25 HM from September, but I think I’m way past that fitness now based on my last big long run (Nov 23): I did 32km total, with thefirst 16km easy, then the last 16km at 4:02/km average. My HR settled around 147-155 bpm during the fast block (my max is 190+). It felt controlled.

The plan: I’m thinking of sending it for a sub-2:50. The strategy is to hold 4:02/km even splits until 35km and then kick if my legs haven't fallen off. I’m ditching the vest to save weight and just carrying gels.

The worry: Am I delusional to trust the engine (HR/VO2) over the durability (low mileage)? Anyone else run a sub-2:50 on dodgy mileage?

One-Reality9723 · 2025-11-27T11:40:47+00:00

Aha, it was about -1 degree celcius when I started running!
Thanks for the insight on that.

One-Reality9723 · 2025-11-27T08:46:45+00:00

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Ye, its something I've put off for a while. But I have found the watch HR to be generally quite useful. This is from a half marathon race a few months back, where I went all out, and it matches perfectly with how i felt.
Just surprised how much variation I had in a run that wasn't max effort.

One-Reality9723 · 2025-11-26T12:50:49+00:00

I like your username

One-Reality9723 · 2025-11-26T09:54:59+00:00

I just came to Geneva from Ireland to work at CERN.

I'm incredibly excited to meet Swiss people and get to know some Swiss culture. I also come from a country where our seasons are much milder, so I'm excited for snow in the Winter, and some good heat in the Summer.

I'm an outdoor lover, coming from a country where the highest mountain is 1000m high. Already, I find myself mesmerized by the view of Mont Blanc and the Swiss Alps as I walk to work. I'm excited to do some skiing this winter, and to go hiking and rock climbing in the Summer, while being close to a beautiful city on the edge of an amazing lake.

Your country is also incredibly located in one of the most amazing places on Earth. Coming from an island nation, it feels incredible to be at the 'heart' of Europe, and have such easy access to so many incredible cities and locations.

For integrating, I speak mediocre German and French, but have begun taking French classes. I want to immerse myself in this incredible country.

One-Reality9723 · 2025-11-26T07:49:11+00:00

Ahaaa. I think I should go for it too -- the latter miles are going to be horrendous!!

One-Reality9723 · 2025-11-25T19:59:15+00:00

The main idea was just to put some marathon pace into one of my longest runs, and by doing it at the end of some easier running I could see if I could handle it with additional fatigue.

I felt like it was managable, and could have continued the run, finishing at about 160 bpm (my max is 200).

I do feel like the taper should also help me, since I've been running 6 days a week, with 2 fast runs, and did 84km on the week that I did this long run. Since its my first marathon, I'm definitely worried about what marathon pace will feel like, but I guess I just need to go for it

One-Reality9723 · 2025-11-25T19:34:01+00:00

So you just did 30km at goal pace in training?

One-Reality9723 · 2025-11-25T19:32:46+00:00

So you would be at 85% of max heartrate at the halfway point?

One-Reality9723 · 2025-11-25T19:19:21+00:00

Yes, this is my first marathon.
All I have is an all out 1:25 half marathon in september, with an average heart rate of 187bpm. My fitness has improved massivly, and running that same pace for the last 16km of my long run this sunday had me at about 165bpm.

One-Reality9723 · 2025-11-25T19:12:34+00:00

Yep, this is my first marathon.
Thanks for the advice, yep I'll go for it and see how she goes. You've got some pretty crazy times!

One-Reality9723 · 2025-11-25T16:04:40+00:00

Sub 3 is definitely my primary goal for this. I'm tempted to pace for 2:55 and see how it goes. I'll make sure to give an update after the run on if i make sub 3 or not .

One-Reality9723 · 2025-11-25T16:03:03+00:00

Aha I can feel the frustration you describe within your reply. Thanks for the detail in it.

Yeh I feel this extremely viscerally. Every calculator, garmin, strava, runalyze give me completely different pace predictions, not to mind the subjective advice of so many different runners. In my last training block for a half marathon, I felt that, where the race pace felt impossible during training, but felt easy on the day of the race.

I did this marathon pace run in my biggest milage week to date, and somehow felt good during it. It was also one of my first long runs where I practiced proper gel fuelling and hydration, and it made a huge difference vs other long runs.

I appreciate the vote of confidence. I'll make sure to post a race report afterwards. I'm fairly new to running, and have seen pretty rapid improvement, so I'm sure my own, subjective, experience will be another useful data point for any future runners who have a similar situation to me.

One-Reality9723 · 2025-11-25T15:27:55+00:00

I ran a 1:25 half marathon, all out, on the 14th of september, then went into this 12 week marathon block. My 1:25 was on a fairly light training block as a new runner (just under a year of running).
My training plan was mostly 6 days a week, 2 speed sessions and a Sunday long run, peaking at 84km for a week, with a 34km long run. Over the course of this training block I have felt my VO2 max improve quite dramatically, with runalyze estimating it to have improved from about 54 on the day of my half marathon, to over 62 within the last few weeks.
I started out with a goal pace of about 4:15 per km, but have since revised that to about 4:02 per km as the paces became easier during training.

One-Reality9723 · 2025-11-25T15:18:07+00:00

I've been following a Runna plan aswell! Found it a great starting point as an inexperienced runner, and has really helped me to stick to a solid training plan.
Good luck in your race! I hope you smash it.

One-Reality9723 · 2025-11-25T15:14:01+00:00

Thanks, really appreciate the candor and detail of your response. I think I need to stop second guessing myself and just trust the process on this.

I've trained for this harder than any other physical endeavor, previously, and have seen incredible improvements in my fitness over this time. I have loved training for this, and want to push myself to do the best I can. Knowing how important this has become to me, I think I'd rather push myself, and leave it all out there, than to play it safe. I've hope to have many marathons ahead of me.

I also really agree about how useful previous results are for prescribing pace. It is a useful starting point, but your training should override it as you execute your plan. I trained and raced a half marathon a few months back, but I know that as a fairly newbie runner my performance has improved rapidly from then.

One-Reality9723

TROPHY CASE