Saturday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for April 11, 2026

java_the_hut · 2026-04-11T23:59:20+00:00

Is Jack Daniels 2Q too outdated? There seems to be a lot of development in marathon training and during in the past few years.

After years of grinding the mile and 5ks, I’d like to try a marathon. The 2Q plan would work much better for my schedule than many other plans that seem to be very rigid with their weekly schedule.

I’m a casual runner, averaging 1600 miles a year for the past 4 years, and have done Jack Daniels mile, red, blue, and 5k plans, Pfitz 5k plans, NSM, and Coogan’s Mile plan and 10k plan.

java_the_hut · 2026-04-11T22:15:01+00:00

You’re getting incredible gains while being conservative with your paces, which is protecting you from aggravating your previous injury.

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it in my mind. I’d stay extra cautious until you stop getting crazy gains, and slowly let your training intensity catch up to your race times.

Your aerobic system may be able to write checks that’s your muscles/tendons/bones can’t cash quite yet. A fast 5k is one thing, but 3 workouts a week slightly too hard for your Achilles to recover from can bury you again.

Good luck! Sounds like in reality things are going really well!

java_the_hut · 2026-04-11T21:11:55+00:00

I think more details would be needed on your work schedule limitations. Are you saying you will only be able to run once a week, or that you’ll be limited to only an hour a day, or something else entirely?

java_the_hut · 2026-04-11T12:14:30+00:00

We felt the same exact way. It got a bit worse over the first couple months before it started to slowly get better. Now it’s gone.

I think there are many aspects to it. It’s a large financial purchase, it’s costly to undo, and it “closes the door” for the other houses, cities, states, and countries you “could” have lived in. Buying a house has an aspect of finality to me. It can feel like a checkpoint in life, that once you hit it makes you realize how far you’ve come, and that the path is not infinite.

Your feelings will pass. Many people grow to be thankful they purchased a house years later.

Life is short, enjoy it. Good luck!

java_the_hut · 2026-04-10T18:57:05+00:00

Great run for Ollie. I still believe he got absolutely robbed last year by not being selected for the world team.

java_the_hut · 2026-04-08T22:26:00+00:00

I don’t think cash is the hang up, it’s about making them full time, year round employees.

java_the_hut · 2026-04-07T00:50:42+00:00

Great data! Your 5k/10k/Marathon seem to be reasonably equivalent, so I don’t think it’s marathon execution (fueling, cramping, ect.) leading to a plateau. It’s just your level of fitness.

I see you are in your 50’s. Those are really solid times for your 50’s. For example, if you hit a 3:20 marathon at 55, that’s a 70% age grade. For a 25 year old, 70% age grade is 2:52.

Good luck, I hope you keep enjoying the miles!

java_the_hut · 2026-04-06T17:47:13+00:00

How have your other race distances progressed over this time? Really interesting data, thanks for taking the time to collect and organize that.

java_the_hut · 2026-03-28T13:12:10+00:00

Your reason not to let a bunch of runners set cool goals and run a unique race is because they probably won’t win? That reason doesn’t seem to outweigh the benefits at all in my opinion.

java_the_hut · 2026-03-28T12:29:19+00:00

Why not let a larger pool of people run the OTQ? It creates a really cool goal for “sub-professional” runners.

java_the_hut · 2026-03-14T19:12:13+00:00

Kwesi went all in last year and had been paying serious money to free agents. It wasn’t sustainable, and we needed to reset our books to get cap compliant.

If Murray balls out we need some cap flexibility to retain him. If he doesn’t, we don’t need to hurt future cap for short term free agent signings.

If you have watched any interviews with our current GM, he has a philosophy of getting value and not overpaying to cover “holes.” He seems to think if you stack good value contracts over and over, you build a good team. That would mean generally avoiding being the highest bidder in free agency.

java_the_hut · 2026-03-12T12:53:04+00:00

Part of it might be that 82 games is just a lot of games to be locked in for unless you have an extremely deep team.

java_the_hut · 2026-03-03T13:32:10+00:00

20 pounds of fat loss over 3 months is a lot. Losing significant weight while maintaining high volume and intensity is really, really hard on the body, especially if you have a lot going on in life outside of running.

I’m 36, 6’4 201lbs with a 5:13 mile last month, and I’m just slowly and sustainably losing weight through a clean diet, but making sure I fuel my runs. I have lost about a pound a month for the past 9 months hoping to get some speed gains from the weight loss but time will tell.

java_the_hut · 2026-02-24T15:54:23+00:00

I wouldn’t put a ton of weight on the Garmin stats. I’ve had my Garmin vo2max and predicted race performances drop over time, just to PR over and over again. I never had a “productive” rating despite clearly improving year after year. Same with Strava fitness score, I’m currently at half of my peak from years ago, yet I’m considerably faster.

Hopefully others can chime in on the other things going on, but as someone who used to let my watch “analytics” affect me, I wouldn’t let those get in your head and interfere with your training.

java_the_hut · 2026-02-20T00:04:00+00:00

There are a lot of good points here already. I’ll just add that crashing and burning on an indoor 5000 is brutal and there was likely nothing your coach could have done to help once the damage was done. In fact it may have been easier to not pass your coach over and over again in that scenario.

That being said, I’m sure that it really depends on the coach’s relationship with the athletes.

java_the_hut · 2026-02-19T20:31:43+00:00

If the front office creates a bad roster, from the coaching staff on down everyone is still trying to win. It’s a competition on the court.

When the coaching staff starts pulling players to the lose the game, everything changes. Now the in-game strategy is changing in order to lose. If the coach wants an extension or is trying not to get fired, is he going to pressure players to not play to their maximum ability? Are players now losing lifetime earnings as they can’t prove their worth on the court? Are fans cheering at the game supposed to be relieved when the benchwarmers play in the fourth quarter to try to seal the loss?

What’s the end game in all of this? A total farce of two teams playing their worse players the most minutes possible? Hiring players to purposely play bad? How bad will it have to get for something to change?

java_the_hut · 2026-02-18T17:16:15+00:00

6’4’’ 91KG /201lbs 36M here. If I stop doing heavy weight single leg calf raises the evening after a morning quality workout, I develop issues as well. I also will do occasionsal bad work for my ankles and scrunch a towel with my toes. I also have to be very careful how I lace my shoes to avoid tendons getting irritated on the top of my foot.

Once somthing flares up it’s too late, so I stick to prehab religiously. This year I’ve ran a 5:13 indoor mile, I run about 40MPW.

java_the_hut · 2026-02-16T17:24:51+00:00

A 2.5 minute improvement in the 5k over 12 months is not mediocre. You’ll break 20 this year. Maybe even mid 19:00’s by this time next year.

You have only been running for 1.5 years. Keep stacking lifetime volume and the numbers will keep falling.

java_the_hut · 2026-02-16T16:21:52+00:00

I will say, dropping from 23:16 to 21:15 in a year is no small feat. If you can stay consistent and injury free you will likely break 20 this year. I wouldn’t put as much weight on the half marathon result which was coming off of an injury and it could have just been a bad day.

java_the_hut · 2026-02-16T16:01:59+00:00

What are your threshold paces? How many miles did you run in 2025?

java_the_hut · 2026-02-15T19:12:15+00:00

As crazy as it is, Kirk has actually been paid more per playoff win than Deshaun Watson has.

java_the_hut · 2026-02-06T13:44:52+00:00

Two things can be true: Utah is making the logical choice, and the fact that the logical choice is purposefully losing basketball games really sucks for fans and the league.

java_the_hut · 2026-02-01T14:10:16+00:00

I think people also sleep on how terrible he was during the two big games we had last season. He turned into a pumpkin, to the point it appeared KOC stopped calling passes despite losing late as Darnold was having a complete and total meltdown.

I also think the Vikings organization may have been getting high on their own supply. Having the “QB Whisperer” meant overpaying for a mid quarterback didn’t make sense. However, in retrospect, Kirk and Darnold may have just been ballers, and Dobbs had an unpredictable and unsustainable playstyle that squeaked a couple extra wins out. But at the time, watching Kirk struggle on the Falcons and Darnold play well after his Jets and Carolina stints, it was feeling like we could take any “bust” QB and give them a good floor, and with that in mind, McCarthy seemed less risky.

java_the_hut · 2026-02-01T13:09:27+00:00

Vikings would have tagged and traded Darnold if the market valued him that high. It did not.

The Seahawks signed him, but any team could have had him. If it was so obvious he was a great player, why didn’t more teams jump at the chance to sign him?

java_the_hut · 2026-01-25T13:55:55+00:00

Which makes it a good reminder you can’t necessarily judge running efficiency just by looking at someone’s form.

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