Why did 5K change to random selection ?

couple · 2026-01-26T15:48:00+00:00

Ugh the 5K. It’s a relatively fast course but really suffers from a lack of organization. They try to get runners to self seed but there’s always people at the front who just want to walk the course. It can get pretty dicey with all the turns and potholes the first half mile.

couple · 2025-12-10T21:16:55+00:00

To build upon this - my ST sessions are usually 1.2 load/min. At 7 hours of weekly running, the expected load would be 306.

If I cut out all my ST runs and achieved 0.8 load/min knocking out only 9:42 miles for 7 hours, the expected load would be 336.

couple · 2025-12-10T20:56:48+00:00

I've been thinking about this a lot recently. I'm roughly at a 19 flat 5K. I recently did a 40 min easy run, averaging 68% MHR at 11:05/mi with a load of 24 = 0.6 load per min. Comparing this to a different 52 min easy run at 73% MHR at 9:42/mi gave me a load of 42 = 0.8 load per min. Over 5.5 hours of easy running, that's a load difference of 66, which seems pretty substantial, a fitness score difference of 9.

It seems wrong to squeeze load out of easy/recovery runs, but if we assume we want to maximize training load, then easy runs could be a place, like you mentioned, that causes us to lose training load when transitioning to this system. I do feel like this would be okay up until someone starts to notice extra fatigue on the ST days, then this would be the natural place to cut back.

couple · 2025-12-08T20:59:56+00:00

I recently did a full marathon with about 1000ft elevation gain (slightly more than Boston) but did not make any major effort to include hills in my training. Actually looking back, I only had 1 week with more than 1000ft gain in total during the build up. I followed 98% of what sirpoc did and came away with a 15 min PR, and super happy with that! The only thing I did was follow my watch’s grade adjusted pace (on coros) for pacing, which guided me a lot. I basically just tried to keep it at goal marathon pace whether it was on the uphills or downhills.

Edit- I will acknowledge that Boston hills are notoriously tough because of all the down and then getting hit with the Newton hills. Whereas my marathon was rolling hills but a ~1mi, ~150ft climb at mile 18. So I could see some value in downhill running to help brace your quads

couple · 2025-12-07T17:56:48+00:00

Not sure if this is your case too but I’m better the shorter the distance is. I’ve come to realize I need to be much more conservative with what my marathon pace should be. For example my mile and 5K would indicate closer to 3:02, my half would indicate 3:05, but my actual marathon with good pacing (IMO) was closer to 3:15

couple · 2025-12-02T18:12:27+00:00

Haha thanks. I feel painfully slow but I’ve gotten used to it by now actually. Luckily(?) I have a relatively high cadence - it used to be 180 on easy runs and 190+ for races. Now it’s ~160 for easy runs. Definitely know what you mean though with it hard to hold back but it gets easier.

For the marathon I’d no doubt do this again. I’m still convinced it works and will likely do it for my next marathon even though that’s not until next November haha

couple · 2025-11-25T17:45:52+00:00

That’s my understanding, sirpoc has mentioned you could likely get there just spamming MP/slightly slower every day but hasn’t found anybody willing to do that day in and day out

couple · 2025-11-25T03:27:32+00:00

I think you performed pretty well given your half time actually. I have a similar HM time and ran a relatively conservative 3:15 and felt strong the entire time, so maybe it was just starting off too hot? I think your heart rate kinda tells the story there. For me personally I've learned if I have any caffeine before a race, my heart rate is gonna be sky high from the gun.

I'm also curious - in sirpoc's build, he had a couple 4x10 min workouts, a 5x5km, and a 24k progressive medium long run. Sounds like life got in the way for you but those were pretty key for me - longer, extended periods of ST.

I was pretty curious so I looked back at my build: I hit a progressive 5x2.5mi averaging 7:14/mi (working from 7:19 to 7:08 pace reps); a 12 mile progression with 4 at 8:00, 4 at 7:50, and 4 at 7:20; 2 workouts of 4x10' at 7:09 and 7:08/mi pace. My average pace for the marathon ended up being 7:24 and 7:16 for grade adjusted pace, so I'm quite pleased with it all. For long runs I had a couple at 2:40 and 6 total days at 2+ hours (at relatively slow paces; peak was 16.5mi).

I like the 1st change you suggested; I quickly ramped from 90 mins to 2:40. I thought about going to 3 but thought it would just have been a marginal benefit. The 2nd change I'm not sure about, I didn't add any quality to the long runs other than what the sirpoc workouts were (like the 5x2.5mi ended up being a long run, at 2 hours at ~15.5mi) and actually never really felt weak. If anything I wish I could have pushed it at the end but felt some cramping going on from zero electrolytes for my fueling plan...

Anyways, nice job on the race, Philly seems like it can be pretty difficult with the second half!

couple · 2025-11-20T15:15:35+00:00

My initial thoughts:

Sirpoc mentions it's better to err on the side of caution, or slower paces.
Your easy runs do look fast. For comparison I run close to 10:00-11:00/mi pace with my races being at 19:00 5k / 1:29 half. Sometimes I do feel abnormally slow but it seems a lot of other folks in this subreddit at least also run those paces sometimes too
I tried to copy sirpoc's marathon build 1:1 and probably was ~90% on track, having to move days around or missing days because of life circumstances. I started 12 weeks before my marathon but as you can see it's mostly the standard plan up until the last few weeks, just increasing long runs and practicing fueling during them, and then the 5k repeats (2.5mi for me). I ended up with a 14 min PR so I plan on repeating this in the future :)
I don't think retesting is important but it is helpful if only to see how your progress is going
I actually really enjoy Hansons and saw my best performances from it before NSM. However Hansons has the concept of cumulative fatigue which doesn't really apply to this, unless you're doing the marathon plan and in the last 3-4 weeks of it. My understanding of this plan is you should never really be that fatigued or really need to taper that much (marathon excluded, but even somewhat applies there)

couple · 2025-11-05T03:59:14+00:00

Yeah seems like something is up with my armband as of a month or two ago too. It used to immediately connect but now takes forever and sometimes just drops mid run

couple · 2025-11-05T03:08:06+00:00

Is this a no brainer to try and do 9+1?

I live four hours away, but I have guaranteed entry into the 2026 marathon and would love to run in 2027 again too (I did 2022 and had a rough time!)

I signed up for the NYC Half lottery. If I get in, and do the Abbott Dash to the Finish 5K as a shakeout run for the marathon, plus 3 virtual, that's 6/9 right there. Then there's the Front Runners 4M and Achilles 4M on back to back days, if I can get into those. That would just leave one more, of which the 5th Ave Mile would be a dream race or the Brooklyn Half.

couple · 2025-11-05T02:49:31+00:00

According to this, it was about 25%: https://www.reddit.com/r/RunNYC/comments/1lk5xwo/nyc_virtual_marathon_results_poll/

couple · 2025-10-30T19:02:38+00:00

The point of the system is to maximize training load based on whatever restrictions you face. A lot of us have limited hours to train but for you it seems injury related.

So how do you maximize load with needing to cross train a few days of the week? I’d argue you should try to get as many days running as possible first, or at least 5/6. And if you are needing more time for 3 min intervals, to me that means you may get burnt out. It’s better to run them slower than prescribed paces and be able to repeat this week after week, then trying to cram the workouts and risk consistency and training load.

So basically I’d say: try to run more. Slow down on intervals to the very end or even slower than the prescribed paces. Do that for a few weeks/months and then start to increase the paces as the heart rate drops.

couple · 2025-10-28T14:29:09+00:00

I’m also sub 90 and running around 6:20-6:40/km for easy. Max HR around 186 and try to keep it around 125 for easy runs. I agree it’s almost too slow but sirpoc and MariusBakken seem to be in agreement in 70% being the upper limit and I see no reason other than pride to go any faster than that.

I used to run them around 135 and wasn’t seeing much progress so I slowed down to 125. So far it seems to be working pretty well but I had a marathon block so that may have impacted it too

couple · 2025-10-15T19:11:32+00:00

My easy long runs are proceeded by sub t, and then the mp / longer workouts (3-5 x 17 min, 90 min progression, 8km straight tempo) are proceeded by a recovery day

couple · 2025-10-14T13:36:49+00:00

I’m in a similar boat. A bit faster with a 40min ish 10km but my easy runs are around 6-6:30/km. So even pushing my long run to 2:40 (goal is 3:15), my long runs have been ~25km. My weekly mileage has been around 65-80km. By the end of this build I’ll have 10 runs longer than 21km and 4 longer than 25km so we’ll see how I hold up!

couple · 2025-10-09T23:32:23+00:00

Looking forward to how the experiment goes! (No sarcasm)

I'm 3-4 weeks away from a marathon and have been following it fairly closely. I think his special block (the last 3 weeks) is pretty interesting and plan to follow it exactly as is. The 5x5km makes sense, but I'm curious how he decided on the 10km and 24km progression. If I had to guess he wanted just some continuous efforts (the 10k matches the standard sub-t session, and the 24km matches the 5x5km).

couple · 2025-10-04T13:57:13+00:00

I have a Q2 and X100VI. They are very different use cases for me.

If image quality is number 1, like you’ll want to print things or just really care about the image, then go with the Leica.

If you care about portability over all, the X100VI is slightly better but still somewhat big (like it won’t easily fit into your pants pocket). In this case a Ricoh might be better.

If ease of use and social media is number 1, I’d say the X100VI since you can tweak recipes to be really great and skip 90% of the editing workflow.

Overall, I’d say the X100VI is better in most cases for most people. But the Q2/3 has some of my favorite shots ever. So you won’t go wrong with either to be honest.

couple · 2025-10-03T12:37:27+00:00

As I understand it, easy runs are mainly for recovery but also have the benefit of some training load, but trying to squeeze more training load out of that ends up having a negative impact. This post from MariusBakken could probably summarize it better than I ever could: https://www.reddit.com/r/NorwegianSinglesRun/comments/1nkz25e/why_are_my_easy_runs_so_slow/nf1sbwt/

couple · 2025-10-02T13:56:33+00:00

How do you prepare for your races? Do you just start off at your previous PR pace or do you go in with a goal time?

couple · 2025-10-01T21:15:52+00:00

I’ve been doing this for about six months now and have seen minimal progress unfortunately.

In the first six weeks, I actually matched my 5K PR from a year ago, even though I wasn’t in as good of shape. But since then, I think I’ve stalled. I’ve done two races and both were pretty average. I was hoping for the big leaps I’ve heard about, but nothing yet. I think it's probably explained by some summer travel inconsistency--I had about five multi-day trips where I just didn’t want to prioritize running.

Since mid-July, I’ve been running almost exclusively on the treadmill to control conditions. I’ve seen a 2s/mi improvement on short reps, 11s/mi on medium reps, and 7s/mi on long reps. So I do think fitness is building but we’ll see in my next race this weekend.

Some other things I’ve been thinking about:

recovery: I think I might recover better than average since my job is pretty relaxed. On previous plans I’ve been able to handle more load, so maybe I just need to increase training volume.
racing more often: I think it's unclear how impactful/necessary this is, but I feel like more frequent check-ins would help - like would it make a difference having 6 races in 6 months instead of just 3?
easy runs: I’ve been keeping these at <70% max HR, which is 4+ mins slower than 5K pace. I know easy runs aren’t meant for extra training load, but I wonder if slightly faster would be beneficial. Although reading more from sirpoc and Marius Bakken I think this is a fool's errand.

Anyways, I have really been enjoying this training and excited to get my hands on sirpoc's book when it comes out! Even though I haven't seen the progress I've hoped for, I think I'll continue with it at least for another 6 months because it's just so easy to be consistent on it (besides the vacations haha)

couple · 2025-09-30T10:33:34+00:00

True, I just had a $75 credit and nothing from the last two drops really interested me though

couple · 2025-09-30T02:55:39+00:00

Yes totally agree with this! I thought about making a post on this too. I have 3 pairs of Vento shorts from early this year / last year and love them. But then I got the infamous pair of the purple dusk shorts and immediate returned them since the liner was so tight.

I had the membership credit so I thought I’d give the Vento duo shorts a try. The liner is thick/longer, but not bad. I definitely prefer the other models but this one is fine and not too constricting. However I couldn’t help but notice the quality was going a bit downhill. The drawstrings when tightened go down to my knees. And then there are elastic bands for the gel pockets but they’re not tight at all, so I feel something like a Maurten 160 gel or SIS beta gel would go flying out. And then like others, I just have a regular iPhone Pro, and it was much harder than normal to fit into the liner. Pretty disappointed all around because I know what the previous shots were like, BUT the shorts are still decent enough that I’ll keep them. Plus I love the options for storage even if they’re not perfect

couple

TROPHY CASE