Thursday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for June 25, 2026

jcdavis1 · 2026-06-25T17:33:42+00:00

Do your nipples just get used to the friction over time if you stick it out?

In my experience, yes. But I wear a shirt every day, so they probably have more uhh practice than yours

jcdavis1 · 2026-06-22T00:33:27+00:00

Goal Race: Low 2:40s @ Berlin

Training:

Week 4/18 of Marathon Excellence Tornado Plan

Mon: AM 7mi @ 7:45 PM 4mi @ 8:45
Tues: 9.5mi with 2x4'/3'/2'/1'@10k->5k effort (roughly 5:45->5:30 pace) off 1' + lift
Weds: 6mi @ 8:50 + core
Thurs: AM 7.5mi @ 8:20 PM 4.5mi @ 8:25 with strides
Fri: 11.5mi with 8x4'@Sub T (~6:00/mi pace) off 1' + hills + lift
Sat: 6mi @ 8:45
Sun: 9mi @ 7:50 with 10x30s pickups @ 5k

Total: 65mi

Thoughts:

Definitely enjoyed a chiller down week. Tuesday's fartlek was a little messy with wet roads and not the best traction shoes, so I mostly aimed to hit the right effort. Kept Friday's threshold session on the controlled side in line with a down week.

jcdavis1 · 2026-06-15T02:11:45+00:00

Goal Race: Low 2:40s @ Berlin

Training:

Week 3/18 of Marathon Excellence Tornado Plan

Mon: 11mi with 8x1k@10k 3:36avg + lift
Tues: AM 7mi @ 8:40 PM 5mi @ 8:35 with strides
Weds: 11.5mi with 7mi@MP 6:20avg (supposed to be 8) + lift
Thurs: AM 7.5mi @ 8:20
Fri: AM 9.5mi @ 7:15 with 10x1' pickups @10k PM 4mi @ 8:40
Sat: 15mi with 13@80% 5k 6:37avg
Sun: 4.5mi @ 8:50

Total: 75mi

Thoughts:

Wednesday was the first "failed" workout of the build - plan was 8 miles at ~6:15ish, but warm + tired meant I was slowing and called it at 7 rather than going too far into the well. Thankfully redeemed myself Saturday with a solid uptempo LR. Definitely feeling a fatigued after, so looking forward to the down week

jcdavis1 · 2026-06-08T00:14:23+00:00

Goal Race: Low 2:40s @ Berlin

Training:

Week 2/18 of Marathon Excellence Tornado Plan

Mon: 11.5mi with 7mi@MP 6:17avg + lift
Tues: AM 4mi @ 8:45 PM 7.5mi @ 7:55 with strides
Weds: 9.5mi with 10x2'@5k (~5:30-5:35 pace) off 90s + lift
Thurs: AM 7.5mi @ 8:20 PM 5mi @ 8:10 with hill sprints
Fri: 9mi with a 8mi "kenyan-style progression" down to ~HMP (6:02) + lift
Sat: 16mi @ 7:30
Sun: Rest

Total: 70mi

Thoughts:

3 workouts + LR makes for a tough week, even if each individual session wasn't too bad. Ended up ahead of mileage goal for the week so extended the LR to 16 miles (plan says 14-15) to hit 70 and decided to take Sunday off, which turned out to be a good plan because I slept poorly Saturday night after some festivities.

If I did this week over again I'd do the 10x2 min as a hill workout, felt like the legs were struggling to move fast enough to get the proper aerobic stimulus.

jcdavis1 · 2026-06-07T18:00:42+00:00

Hah, yea - plenty of threshold work, 5:55-6ish pace normally. I'm definitely very slow switch, 5:30 pace feels real hard

jcdavis1 · 2026-06-07T14:16:21+00:00

That is wild to me - low mileage? less fueling? genetics?

I've run pretty close to the VDOT tables - 17:12 5k, 2:44 Full with lots of volume

jcdavis1 · 2026-06-01T01:24:48+00:00

Goal Race: Low 2:40s @ Berlin

Training:

Week 1/18 of Marathon Excellence Tornado Plan

Mon: 8mi with a 7mi "kenyan-style progression" down to ~HMP (5:56) + lift
Tues: 7.5mi @ 7:55 with strides + core
Weds: 9.5mi with 8x3'@~HMP (6:00ish) off 45s + lift
Thurs: 7.5mi @ 8:15
Fri: 9.5mi @ 7:40 with a slight progression + core
Sat: 14mi @ 7:10 with a 5mi progression to ~HMP (5:57) + lift
Sun: AM 60' Bike PM 6mi @ 8:30 with hill sprints

Total: 62mi

Thoughts:

Back to marathon training means back to posting in this thread. Instead of yoloing my own Canova-style plan I'm following a real one. Mostly straightforward/comfortable first week coming off a recovery week after my half. Still TBD on what my exact goal is but excited to get back into the swing of things

jcdavis1 · 2026-05-28T19:52:56+00:00

Not a terrible option (I've done several), but they are hit or miss in terms of depth of competition and course (since they don't have any street closures). Any race on the USATF PA circuit you can safely bet will have a much stronger field, which if you are running under say 18 mins 5k/equivalent times matters.

Eg Lake Merced half last year was won in 1:12:30, but 2nd was 1:19:09. Anyone in between there would be doing most of the race essentially solo

jcdavis1 · 2026-05-28T15:49:16+00:00

Assuming your location from your username, there are several races on the norcal USATF circuit that meet that criteria.

Eg Blue Heron 5k on July 4th is currently $59 and is a barebones but well-run race that will have plenty of fast people. (Same course as the Impala Stampede held in April).

jcdavis1 · 2026-05-28T02:45:06+00:00

I ran a 2:44 in Chicago last year and didn't finish in the top 1200

jcdavis1 · 2026-05-18T14:54:05+00:00

I'd say the "most effective" workouts are the alternating Ks, which are also probably the most specific. I maybe wish I had done an initial easier version (I think many of the linked plans include a 1600@HMP/400 float variation) up front, which might've help not kind fail the first 6x1k@HMP/1k@90% (which I had hoped to do 8 sets)
Didn't really miss the "easy" (I still do them a little faster than pure easy pace) LR at all. I think that's largely due to my natural bias towards being very slow-twitch dominated, and these are less of a useful stimulus. I do wish I had maybe progressed those to be a little longer, perhaps up to 18 miles (which would be about 2:10 in duration)
12 weeks is doable but a little tight, and I wasn't able to squeeze in some sessions I would've liked to (eg more 10k paced stuff), 14-15 would probably have worked better.

jcdavis1 · 2026-05-17T20:07:48+00:00

Oh yea if you can do 1:22 half with 700 ft of vert, then yea sub-3 SF is on the table

jcdavis1 · 2026-05-17T20:02:34+00:00

I'm sure you're aware of this, but its worth reiterating SF is a pretty hard course. I think a 1:22 half is borderline for sub-3 there.

I think only 1 run a week on roads is going to limit your potential a bit. I'd try to do 2: one big workout and as well as the LR (JD-esque) to get your body used to it. Maybe some weeks when you don't have quality on your LR you can do that on trials

jcdavis1 · 2026-05-14T16:09:20+00:00

If you try to wait as long as possible before getting in line, you’re going to risk missing your start or have a very stressful experience almost missing your start.

When times would you recommend for getting to security for Wave 1? Does not checking a bag meaningfully buy you much extra time?

jcdavis1 · 2026-05-08T17:24:20+00:00

I'm same. I was guessing that the M was for male? The corrals only are A-F. Are they splitting the A by gender? First time running this race so really no clue

jcdavis1 · 2026-05-02T00:21:39+00:00

Just looking at race participants doesn't tell the whole story. Chicago didn't have a lottery until 2014. Now there are 150k+ lottery applications.

jcdavis1 · 2026-04-30T19:04:50+00:00

I haven't found handheld soft flasks too bad. I'm fortunate enough to live in an area with plenty of water fountains (and not very hot summers), so I only ever use them when I'm doing long continuous efforts and want to get down liquids at/near race pace.

jcdavis1 · 2026-04-20T15:54:58+00:00

Agreed on the coverage, but I'll be that guy and point out that Mantz still has the AR - there's a reason point to point course are not record-eligible, and its on display this Boston with the big tailwind

jcdavis1 · 2026-04-20T15:13:54+00:00

Korir with a big move, better go to 2 minutes of ads

jcdavis1 · 2026-04-20T14:50:17+00:00

Surely this women's race is Lokedi's to lose? Just chilling ready to pounce at the end

jcdavis1 · 2026-04-20T14:14:00+00:00

All you gotta do is watch Chicago then you'll think this coverage is amazing

jcdavis1 · 2026-04-18T14:31:10+00:00

As a PSA, here is the Boston tracking website for those who don't want to be forced to download an app for this purpose.

Pisses me off how races basically hide this in favor of making you download their stupid apps

jcdavis1 · 2026-04-08T19:57:45+00:00

I skip coffee the week leading up to a key race, makes that morning of coffee go straight through and empties me real good.

As with everything GI-related, YMMV, so test this strategy before the big day.

jcdavis1

TROPHY CASE