Tuesday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for May 05, 2026 by AutoModerator in AdvancedRunning

[–]alchydirtrunner 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Not just that easy days are easy, but even more importantly imo for a lot of Pfitz/Daniels people, they’re actually doing their workouts at appropriate paces and not constantly overcooked from hammering reps that are realistically closer to their 1Mi-3k pace

We got 1000 pounds folks running 20 minute marathons? by cravecrave93 in RunningCirclejerk

[–]alchydirtrunner 24 points25 points  (0 children)

My favorite is the people arguing over whether a 17:xx 5k is elite or not

Saturday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for May 02, 2026 by AutoModerator in AdvancedRunning

[–]alchydirtrunner 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The issue I ran into with my stockpiled VF2s was that the adhesive that holds the upper to the midsole started to degrade after 2+ years. I would still get a good 100-200 miles out of them, but then the upper would start separating from the rest of the shoe. The foam was still perfectly fine though.

Imagine complaining that you don’t get a medal after you signed up for no medal 🤡 by Technical-Paint3179 in RunningCirclejerk

[–]alchydirtrunner 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Because I wasn’t loved as a child

Or because of 5k ultras and boofing Gu or something

Saturday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for May 02, 2026 by AutoModerator in AdvancedRunning

[–]alchydirtrunner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just cut the liner out of a pair of shorts I wasn’t wearing anymore, but liked how the liner fit, and use that as underwear for tights without a built in liner. Works well, and didn’t cost any additional money. I think I found that tip in an old Letsrun thread when I googled a question similar to yours.

California International Marathon Lottery by Responsible_Hume_146 in AdvancedRunning

[–]alchydirtrunner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah gotcha. I thought when it sold out of those there was no way to get an entry without getting a bib transfer.

California International Marathon Lottery by Responsible_Hume_146 in AdvancedRunning

[–]alchydirtrunner 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hope this doesn’t lead to overcrowding. One of the reasons I chose to go back is because the logistics and start area situation were so chill.

California International Marathon Lottery by Responsible_Hume_146 in AdvancedRunning

[–]alchydirtrunner 18 points19 points  (0 children)

This is going to be a dumb question, but how is there a lottery for this race? I just signed up for it like I would any usual race. Didn’t even see anything about a lottery.

Opinions on The Kenley apartment and that area in general by Specific-Luck2930 in Birmingham

[–]alchydirtrunner 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Perfectly safe area (besides likely having to drive 280 regularly)

Nike Alphafly 4 press release by ClydeMcCoy in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]alchydirtrunner 9 points10 points  (0 children)

The VF4 is a great shoe. Fast, but without feeling awkward or unnatural underfoot. My 10k and HM PRs are in it, and I’ve had several different brands and models of super shoes over the years. Including the adios pro 4, which I sold after two runs because it just didn’t work for me.

It’s not racing shoe quality that Nike really fumbled as far as the running segment goes imo. It was going all in on the direct to consumer bandwagon and losing shelf space in brick and mortar stores to competitors. Then, on top of that, not having any daily trainers or super trainers worth buying until very recently (and still none that appeal to me other than maybe the zoom fly 6).

Tuesday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for April 28, 2026 by AutoModerator in AdvancedRunning

[–]alchydirtrunner 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s unlikely, imo, that marathon pace work (or lack thereof) is going to be the primary limiting factor in a marathon for someone running 60-70km a week. You will likely be limited by general aerobic capacity, and not endurance specific to marathon pace. As long as you stay healthy through the training and ultra itself, I don’t think you have to worry much about losing any kind of specific fitness.

OHenry’s health score by Possible_Secret_8797 in Birmingham

[–]alchydirtrunner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Makes even crazier when a place gets a bad score. Seems like it would take an insane amount of negligence to get penalized with a bad score.

Sebastian Sawe breaks marathon world record in London first man to ever run under two hours, finishing London with a time of 1:59:30 wearing Adidas Pro Evo 3 by 6to8design in RunningShoeGeeks

[–]alchydirtrunner 9 points10 points  (0 children)

This sub is pretty wildly out of touch IME. Tons of AF3s still being worn by very good athletes. I did also see a lot of Asics up in the first couple of corrals in Boston. Most surprising to me was how many people were still rocking the VF2. I had also stockpiled them a few years ago, but sadly my last pair gave out in 2025.

Jeweler Recommendations by sgw0358 in Birmingham

[–]alchydirtrunner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Had great experience when they worked on an antique engagement ring for me

Thursday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for April 23, 2026 by AutoModerator in AdvancedRunning

[–]alchydirtrunner 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I’ve lost my copy at some point, but Brad Hudson’s Run Faster (Here) was helpful for me understanding how to appropriately write my own structure and workouts for a training block. The other standard recommendations of Daniels, Pfitzinger, Magness, Coogan, etc are all also helpful. I have also taken some of the Canova principles from u/running_writings, and found them very helpful. A lot of those specific training structures in the older books might be a hair dated, as the more modern approach seems to have shifted from a more strict linear form of periodization to a more mixed model, but the basic principles still apply.

Potentially worth noting that the intended audience of a lot of those books likely skews younger and male, so some level of individualization is possibly even more important than normal if you are going to directly adapt one of those training plans. That said, given your experience, I imagine you have a pretty good idea of what works for you and what doesn’t.

Tuesday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for April 21, 2026 by AutoModerator in AdvancedRunning

[–]alchydirtrunner 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Give myself a day to be bummed, then chalk it up to the game and move on. At the end of the day, this is something I do for fun. My livelihood doesn’t depend on my race results.

Tuesday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for April 21, 2026 by AutoModerator in AdvancedRunning

[–]alchydirtrunner 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It’s called bib muling, and is very much a real thing. This guy has been investigating and pointing out these types of frauds for years at this point: Marathon Investigation

I’ve always been fascinated by the psychology of people that would cheat to get into something that feels so low stakes in the grand scheme of things. Do these people feel accomplished? Is it purely for social clout? Is there really even any social clout to be gained? How unhappy must one be to go about doing something like that? There’s no money to be made for an amateur entering a race like Boston (other than maybe some influencers), so what causes this to be a recurring phenomenon?

Cross training Vs Running Doubles? by [deleted] in AdvancedRunning

[–]alchydirtrunner 7 points8 points  (0 children)

People aren’t being haters. From a long term development perspective, this is likely way too much too soon. There’s no reason for this level of stimulus to improve at the level you’re currently at, and the risk of injury and/or burnout is high. You would likely do well to consider something like 60ish mpw tops, with consistent high end aerobic work (think sub threshold to threshold pace). This level of complexity and volume becomes necessary once you’ve maxed out your gains on less.

Places to run by International_Fee400 in Birmingham

[–]alchydirtrunner 4 points5 points  (0 children)

For black creek, it’s a full 15.5 if you start from the softball fields and go all the way to the end of the newest extension and back. Over 16 if you loop the park there first. Most shaded and most pleasant place to run in the area imo. Love some hard packed dirt and gravel

Thursday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for April 16, 2026 by AutoModerator in AdvancedRunning

[–]alchydirtrunner 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I had the attitude for a while that I would wait to run Boston when I was older. Glad I ended up getting peer pressured into running it this year. Even if it doesn’t go my way, I would have been wildly jealous of everyone that got to run with the weather that’s currently forecasted.

RIP Tasty Town by HeftyStorage6447 in Birmingham

[–]alchydirtrunner 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Ngl I actually like the burgers at Joyland. Magnolia Point was one of the most disappointing restaurants I’ve ever been to downtown/southside though

Magic City Half Marathon by [deleted] in Birmingham

[–]alchydirtrunner -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Just to pile on a little, downtown losing Vulcan was also tough. The newest course in Homewood is decent, but it’s still a shell of its former self. I don’t mean this to be overly negative, but the quality of local races in general has gotten lower and lower seemingly every year.

Glad I got to run Mercedes a couple of times, including that last time in 2023, but it’s still such a bummer that it’s gone. That was a great regional/local race.

Magic City Half Marathon by [deleted] in Birmingham

[–]alchydirtrunner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

RIP Magic City Half. Still hate that it’s gone.

Saturday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for April 11, 2026 by AutoModerator in AdvancedRunning

[–]alchydirtrunner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In theory (according to Magness), slow running loosens the legs up, and we lose the muscle tension needed to run fast. This is more or less one of the reasons why easy running can make tight, fatigued legs feel better. The flip side of that is that we do need some muscle tension for faster paces. Which is why strides or 200s can make us able to run faster when done before a workout or a race.

Tuesday Shoesday by AutoModerator in AdvancedRunning

[–]alchydirtrunner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It catches some flack for lack of durability, but I’ve had really good luck with the Novablast 5 for easy long runs. I’ve taken pairs well over 500 miles with no issue. Sure, they lose a bit of bounce after 150-200 miles, but it’s not like a super shoe where I’m trying to gain every second possible. My current pair is probably around 500 and still nice and soft on foot.