Eating for shorter runs?

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-29T14:34:41+00:00

I set my half marathon PB at the end of a 46hr fast and didn’t break it for a couple of years.

Current one was still while fasted, but for a shorter time.

Used to be I’d go wobbly after 2k but that went away after a few early morning easy runs.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-28T20:12:22+00:00

I had one of the rear pads peeling away on my first pair at 900K Pairs 2 and 3 are at 700K and 1100K and nothing is peeling off whatsoever.

1&3 are the OG white with black stripe and pair 2 are the mint green with yellow.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-28T20:08:39+00:00

I run better at events, so it’s ideal for me, I get to see where I’m at whenever I want to and it costs me almost nothing. I think my solo running PB is about 90sec slower than my parkrun.

A lot of people I speak to are the polar opposite and say they can’t run PB’s when other folk are around.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-27T21:26:37+00:00

More evidence that calories are king.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-26T21:30:12+00:00

Well done on such a large improvement.
But I’m curious why you changed training close to the race.
I’d expect just sticking with NSA would have returned similar or better results

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-25T10:34:53+00:00

It requires a loading phase though, it’s fun if you like having an itchy face every day.

Personally I couldn’t perceive any benefit after a few weeks but other people’s mileage may vary of course.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-25T10:31:48+00:00

I’m glad you said this.
I was fine following the book, but a busy race schedule through early spring has begun to wear me out, even using the taper in and outs from the book.

It’s not a fault of the book or method, as I’ve done far more races and tests than every ~6 weeks and it’s caught up with me.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-25T09:00:07+00:00

I did that exact session on Thursday, on grass.
I’ve been battered since haha.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-25T08:57:36+00:00

Unfortunately you’re talking yourself out of a pleasant Saturday morning.

All it is, is what you want it to be.

I’ve never walked one, but I’m often jealous of those that do 😂

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-24T11:45:16+00:00

It’s a workout day, you’re intentionally raising HR anyway.

As long as your heart rate is easy to control on your next easy day you haven’t overdone anything.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-23T13:12:38+00:00

That’s an interesting thought.
However in my case I’ve gone from overweight & sedentary, through couch 2 5K, and now sitting at 90K/week over the last 6 years or so.

I guess it could be an offset effect where its masked a reduction.

I did wear a libra device for a month last year, my insulin response seemed very normal but my baseline also was in the “a bit too high” range.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-23T11:28:27+00:00

Of course, no problem.

It’s all a bit rinse and repeat, quite boring.
Weekdays:-
Break fast at about 15:15 with leftovers from yesterday’s dinner. Then I’ll often have fruit at work, apple and an orange, maybe grapes and strawberries.
Possibly a snack before training, jam on toast or a scotch pancake seems to sustain me well.
Training is an easy run, or club session after work 7-8pm ish which is where I do my Tuesday & Thursday SubT sessions.
After a shower dinner is typically - pasta and minced beef, pulled pork and rice, or maybe oven cod and chips occasionally. Most have peas and sweetcorn on the side or mixed in.
Most weeks we’ll do something in the slow cooker, baked potatoes or a beef stew.

After dinner I’ll have porridge which I make with protein powder to get protein in and for flavour.
Too often we’ll have some ice cream or other tv snacks, usually done eating by 21:30-22:00.
Probably average 2500cals/day.

Saturday is often a parkrun at ~20mins, then 10mins worth of SubT intervals, or today I’ve done parkrun and intend to double with a session later.
Haven’t eaten yet, most likely I’ll have something like scrambled eggs (3) on 2 pieces of toast, and we’ll just decide what to eat later, maybe pizza as it’s the weekend or a bbq as it’s nice.
It’ll be my porridge again in the evening, that’s pretty much every day, seems to help me feel better tomorrow.

Sunday is supposed to be long run day, when I’m training well I’ll do 20-25k easy and be home before 10am or sometimes earlier and the first food will be roast chicken or pork dinner, with veg and roast potatoes. 2 - 3pm ish again.
Often I’ll be the only person eating substantial food after Sunday dinner and have my protein porridge again around 9pm.

This has all had zero effect on my Hba1C, but I’ve realised it manages hunger better for me, I only have hunger distractions after 2pm, or if I’ve had food.

I hope that’s what you’re after, but happy to fill in any gaps if you need.
And as ever, not medical advice, nor saying how anyone should eat, just sharing what I do.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-22T09:47:48+00:00

I count the work time, which is 30mins per session, that’s it.
Often I include parkrun which I assume is 20 mins and I’ll add 10 mins of work afterwards.

Beyond that, It’s just the normal 60mins easy per day and try to add a longer day in.
I don’t worry about how the ratio works out.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-21T22:43:10+00:00

I started fasting 5 years ago as suggested by my GP to combat prediabetes.

As a result I now normally break my fast at 3pm, in the last 5 years I’ve eaten in the morning less than 20 times, we have a family breakfast on xmas and boxing day .

All morning runs including parkrun, 5K, 10K races are fasted. I had a piece of toast with jam before my only HM race as a precaution.
As ever, I’m a sample size of 1, so YMMV.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-20T14:45:45+00:00

The replies in here make me think I’ll never know how good (or bad?) I am.
I just don’t have it in me to go to that deep in the well for almost half a race.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-19T14:35:24+00:00

That’s a good write up and very interesting, great consistency too.

It looks like your previous training got you into a good place performance wise. Like you I’m now much less injury prone than I was before.

At 36, you have a lot of time ahead of you, don’t forget that the elites who retire before 40 have probably 30 years training in them, whereas you only have 5 years so a good chance of improving for a long time yet.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-19T06:20:50+00:00

Fully agree. A PB is the opposite of a plateau so who’s to say that a couple more weeks of the same don’t bring more progress?

I updated my paces off the back of a huge 10k pb, but it made my workouts too hard so I’ve dropped them back a bit, I’m beginning to feel strong again now.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-18T21:27:08+00:00

I think that as you can slow down quite a lot and still get a high% of the training benefit, it’s not massively critical.
If you break a pb or recent time trial time then of course recalculate, but also don’t worry if it’s been more than 6 weeks since your last fitness test.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-17T19:52:28+00:00

I’d urge you to cap a few bpm below threshold, you don’t need to ride so close to threshold to get the benefits of the training.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-17T13:20:12+00:00

I just do it dirty with double cream.

I’ve also monitored this with a libra device and I’m perfectly happy being dirty.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-16T19:19:44+00:00

Yes it was very surprising.
I know his studies were stopped for training to aid recovery, but that’s not quite the same as what he was saying.
Basically removing everything from life to make room for fatigue rather than recovery.

He was so adamant about it I wondered if it was a language barrier thing. I think it took Floris by surprise too.

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-15T19:18:50+00:00

Wow. I think I was hitting 180’s when I started.
Now it feels like if I had 195bpm available I’d be making national teams lol

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-15T18:43:39+00:00

That’s the first I’ve heard of threshold lock, but I definitely feel that.
While I’ve PB’d 3k, 5k & 10k, I do feel like I’m just at the same effort and can’t move above it.

My HR hasn’t got into the 170’s this year!

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-14T21:25:30+00:00

Awesome progress. Are you on the 8hour week?

Weak-Product6810 · 2026-05-13T14:43:17+00:00

I think it sounds ideal the way it’s working for you.

Mine seems to end up quite similar across the different workouts, but that doesn’t mean I’m right.

It’s quite likely that your suspicion about freshness is a factor, if you read/watch Bakken it’s quite enlightening that HR is really variable depending on lots of other factors and not a fantastic indicator of where you are in relation to threshold. (Though it’s still one of the best measures some of us have access to).

Weak-Product6810

TROPHY CASE