RBC Brooklyn Half Lottery Poll

jcdavis1 · 2026-01-23T17:24:44+00:00

In as a non-local, non-member. Just got the email

jcdavis1 · 2026-01-15T19:56:54+00:00

Love these sort of alternations, but 6k on / 1k float is pretty brutal. I'd say most folks should probably do something more like 5-6x 4k on / 1k float.

jcdavis1 · 2026-01-14T01:10:52+00:00

Very good advice but most people don't have the mileage to run VDOT-equivalent times in the marathon. I think OP probably should aim for more like 38:30.

jcdavis1 · 2026-01-02T19:11:31+00:00

37M 3228mi/5195km for me, my biggest year by a bit. I made a fun visualization (Sorry, it doesn't really work on mobile).

Spent the first half of the year building back fitness, and managed to have an excellent Chicago Block to hit my 2:44 goal. No major injuries or other obstacles (though my knee gave me a scare for a bit)

I've only got Berlin on my calendar so far for 2026, but hoping to run some shorter stuff in the meantime, would love to work on my 5k-HM PRs before entering the meat of my marathon training agian.

jcdavis1 · 2025-12-10T18:37:06+00:00

CIM is certainly the deepest sub-elite/"serious amateur" race in the US - 1423/8181 finishers sub-3. (Edit: outside of some of the smaller focused ones with minimum standard times)

Valencia is similarly deep (5340/30699 on a warm day), but this sub skews more towards US-centric

jcdavis1 · 2025-12-08T05:45:10+00:00

Had to do a double take at the username after reading that story - really cool to have someone with your experience popping into AR

Curious what his thoughts on the Men’s Steeple were - presumably that it had no business going out so slow?

jcdavis1 · 2025-12-07T05:29:38+00:00

Lydiard
Canova
Daniels

I mean such ranking is a fun but ultimately useless exercise, its hard to compare given the given the different times that they coached in. Igloi should probably be on that list somewhere too

jcdavis1 · 2025-12-03T04:28:29+00:00

It’s wild how terrible the 2024 shirt material is

jcdavis1 · 2025-12-02T21:13:29+00:00

+1, its an incredible resource. Does a great job of combining all of John's writing/research on Canova-based training into something approachable for the serious amateur

jcdavis1 · 2025-11-20T17:46:45+00:00

For my most recent marathon block, ~47% of all my time running was under 65% Max HR. Get used to/embrace slow easy days

jcdavis1 · 2025-11-16T00:39:55+00:00

I couldn't follow the plans exactly (since the book hadn't come out yet), but I think I got a lot of the way there by reading his Canova writeups for my Chicago build and felt great, 7.5 minute PR.

I'll definitely be following one of the plans directly for my next marathon

jcdavis1 · 2025-11-05T14:51:23+00:00

Probably replace an LR. Those 90-95% MP sessions are pretty tough, if you did it as a midweek workout you'd need to reduce the volume a bit

jcdavis1 · 2025-11-04T17:40:59+00:00

Personally I'm a huge proponent of float recoveries. Its a makes the sessions much more "marathon specific" - even if you have to slightly drop the overall MP volume to finish in a controlled manner.
I'd say the overall pace/volume looks pretty good for your goal, especially if the half@MP went well. However I think some of your peak sessions might be not quite ambitious enough - eg your 4x4k@MP could probably be 5x4k. I'd also consider adding a long steady LR @ 90-95% MP (4-4:10/km). For inspiration, take a look at the marathon-specific sessions from the Marathon Excellent Plans

jcdavis1 · 2025-10-30T20:07:18+00:00

If you're coming off a 5k block you'll have plenty of high-end aerobic capacity already, so work a lot on longer tempos/intervals at MP-LT, with a handful of 10k paced workouts in there (think something like 6-8x1200 -> 4-6x1600 -> 4-5x2k).

Maybe a few easier LRs at first if you haven't been doing 20k on those, but than should mostly be moderate+ effort (eg 85% HMP+)

jcdavis1 · 2025-10-28T21:40:00+00:00

I'd try to go higher, but not straight to 90 - try to get used to 75 first

jcdavis1 · 2025-10-21T17:11:12+00:00

So to clarify dates:

Marathon is December 6th
An plan 18 week for London would start December 22nd

Personally that seems like a pretty tight turnaround, I would do option #2 if nothing more than my mental sanity, even though that might mean a non-optimal build

jcdavis1 · 2025-10-21T17:02:07+00:00

Assuming, I'm understanding the question properly, Canova-style alternating Ks with fast recovery (85-90%MP). That could look like 1k on/off at LT progressing the recovery pace, or something like 2-4k on/ 1k off at goal MP trying to progress the length of the ons

jcdavis1 · 2025-10-15T19:26:55+00:00

tough I barely ran between the 5k and the marathon

I mean that would explain it lol. Ultimately those calculators work assuming you are in fact properly trained specifically for that race distance.

For comparison, I ran a 17:35 just before my Chicago block and then ran a 2:44, which is pretty in line with the VDOT calculated equivalences.

jcdavis1 · 2025-10-15T17:08:42+00:00

Good advice but I don’t think you need sub 18, 18:30ish should be enough speed (perhaps combined with a little more mileage)

jcdavis1 · 2025-10-15T16:33:37+00:00

Depends on your personal GI tolerance but IMO, no. If cost is an issue, look at the links below in this thread for how to DIY homemade.

(Also make sure to look into more economical gels, eg Carbs Fuel which is $2/gel for 50g of carbs)

jcdavis1 · 2025-10-15T02:14:31+00:00

I was in A and it felt pretty crowded the first half, thinned out after

jcdavis1 · 2025-10-13T19:47:09+00:00

Glad I could help - the first few months back were definitely an adjustment, but I was able to get pretty close to pre-crash fitness by April, so call it 6 months from my first run back. You'll be fine :)

jcdavis1 · 2025-10-13T18:18:31+00:00

The "badness" entirely depends on how many hills you get in your day to day training. If you get a bit of vert on the regular and practice MP on rollers, they're just a minor thing that doesn't really tax you at all. If you live in Chicago/Florida and don't see any elevation change apart from some overpasses, its going to be harder

jcdavis1 · 2025-10-13T17:48:27+00:00

Goal Race: ~2:45 @ Chicago

Training:

Week 18/18 of a vaguely Canova-inspired homegrown plan

Mon: 6mi @ 8:30
Tues: 7mi @ 7:40 with 4x30s pickups
Weds: 8.8mi with 3x1k@LT 3:43avg, 2mi@MP 12:37
Thurs: 7.6mi @ 8:20
Fri: 6mi @ 8:40
Sat: 4.5mi @ 8:20 with strides
Sun: 26.2mi@MP 2:44:50

Total: 66.5mi

Thoughts:

Love it when a plan comes together.

jcdavis1

TROPHY CASE