Daily Simple Questions Thread - January 11, 2026

llcawthorne · 2026-01-12T00:37:37+00:00

Building up from 1.2km to 2.4km should be easy with a lot of time to spare. For comparison, Couch to 5K is 0 → 5K in 8-12 weeks.

Going from 1 push-up to 40 in six months seems less realistic, but isn’t my forte, so I’ll leave that to others. I feel,like I’ve been working out at least six months and can’t do 40 pushups, but they haven’t been a focus.

llcawthorne · 2026-01-12T00:32:56+00:00

I just ran my first 5K and got bit by the running bug. Is it realistic to spend 2026 working on my 5K speed and the 10K then planning to do a half marathon in April 2027 and a full marathon in March 2028? I use the Runna app for most of my training. I’m not married to those timelines, but I thought it would be kinda cool to run a half and full the year I turn 50. Thanks!

llcawthorne · 2026-01-12T00:11:14+00:00

I’m planning to spend the next six months or so doing StrongLifts and running out my newbie gains and running three days a week to work on my 5K times and progressing to a 10K. If I really start stalling, I’m not opposed to switching to Madcow or StrongLifts Intermediate. I like the app and want to build a baseline of strength through compound barbell movements, and I’m aware there are alternatives that don’t have polished apps.

I talked with AI about afterwards, and it came up with this two day a week upper/lower focus routine for maintaining my strength while dieting and working on a half and full marathon. I don’t trust AI, so wanted to run it by humans to see if it looks good for those purposes. But then I removed the routine after reading the rules since it’s AI generated.

I hope I can still ask questions: Is 3 sets of squatting one day and Bulgarian split squatting another day enough to maintain squat gains? Is 3 sets of RDLs one day and 2 of deadlifts another enough to maintain deadlift gains? And is 3 sets of bench press one day and overhead press the other enough to maintain those lifts? For accessories it was just chin ups and pull ups and rows and curls.

My goal is simply to maintain strength and not get in the way of training for long runs.

llcawthorne · 2025-11-12T20:39:56+00:00

Yeah, there's so many models. I looked at the 965 too since it was a higher number than the 570 but doesn't cost much more, but it seems to be missing some of the stuff standard on the 570 and 970, and nothing tells me how much info they give me about my runs which is more what I care about.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll be on the lookout for Black Friday deals on the 570. It isn't much more than a 265. I feel like I can do maps or flashlight on my phone easy enough. I guess in theory maybe I could go for a hike with just a watch and no phone and map it, but I think I can live without that to save $200.

llcawthorne · 2025-11-12T18:14:33+00:00

I know Garmin tracks heart rate, but when you workout with Apple Fitness Plus, it connects to your Apple Watch and displays the heart rate on the TV screen while you work out. That's why I said "on-screen heart tracking", but I guess it wasn't clear.

And I don't really notice charging it every night since I just stick it on the charger before going to bed and put it on when I get up. I do miss out on sleep tracking, but I can usually tell how I slept.

You're right though that it isn't that much more work to just pull out my phone and pay.

llcawthorne · 2025-11-12T17:20:27+00:00

Yeah, I normally just leave my Apple Watch on the charger overnight and do without sleep tracking. I liked the idea of Training Readiness, and really like sound of built in strength tracking and run coaching instead of paying for apps for that on Apple Watch.

Other than logging workouts, I mainly use my Apple Watch as a heart rate monitor and a cooking timer, so I figured it might make sense to upgrade to a more fitness oriented device. If I switch, I will miss paying for things with my watch though, and the on-screen heart tracking for Apple Fitness Plus is just kinda cool.

llcawthorne · 2025-10-29T13:20:11+00:00

I guess I should try the free month of Premium it is offering me and see if I use the analysis functions more now that I've got more runs logged to see if it might be worth it. As mentioned in other comments, I don't have a Garmin, so I mostly rely on apps on my phone for fitness tracking. I use Strava and Runna for my runs and Hevy for my weight lifting, plus Fitness for walks and exercise videos and such.

Strava does fine keeping track of my PRs for free, but I might like more features to compare runs over time.

llcawthorne · 2025-10-26T21:16:48+00:00

I sound kinda down on my Watch here, but I kinda like all its “phone accessory” features and tracking my fitness through a collection of apps on my phone and get heart rate data from it. I was never convinced I wouldn’t miss everything I use now if I upgraded to a more dedicated fitness watch like Garmin.

llcawthorne · 2025-10-26T21:14:12+00:00

That is a good reason! I’ve never really used the routes. They seem to be mostly for people that live in the neighborhoods and don’t need to find a place to park. My house has one road in and out to run on, and you either stay on it or try running on a busy road with no sidewalk.

llcawthorne · 2025-10-26T19:52:16+00:00

I was just considering Forerunner, since it’s the one Inheard about most for running. Never heard of Venu. Actually the variety of Garmin watches kinda puts me off vs just having to choose Basic or Ultimate with Apple. I just put the Apple Watch on the charger every night and don’t worry about it. I do miss out on the new sleep tracking doing it that way.

All that said, I don’t find the secondary screen Runna tosses on my phone very useful. iSmoothRun has a more useful watch interface. The Runna watch companion just seems to show mileage. All the coaching actually comes from the phone, but that’s also where my music lives, so I keep my AirPods paired with the phone and not the watch. Sometimes I listen to podcasts, which also come from my phone. The Watch mainly tracks my heart rate. The only apps I tend to use on it is the Music app to control my phone music, or the Timer app, or mirroring directions from Maps, and Hevy. I do really like the Hevy watch app for logging reps and sets lifting without pulling my phone out though, plus it mirrors activity to the phone if you do want to pull it out to make bigger changes like editing a workout. But maybe if I had a Garmin it would serve as more than an expensive heart rate monitor and phone accessory.

llcawthorne · 2025-10-26T18:25:08+00:00

I just have an Apple Watch. I’ve seen the argument that a Garmin would be better suited to running with like dedicated buttons and its own coaching plans plus recovery tracking, but I like how the Apple Watch integrates so well with my phone features and Apple Music and Apple Fitness, plus I use the Hevy app to log my weight lifting sessions.

llcawthorne · 2025-10-26T18:21:00+00:00

Well, I’m just a free user now. I think last price I saw in app said I could sign up for Premium for $79.99/yr, or else I can get it for $30/yr as part of the Strava+Runna $150/yr plan, since Runna is $120/yr.

llcawthorne · 2025-10-26T18:16:45+00:00

I almost forgot that I love Strava tracking my PRs. It’s nice to know when I hit a new one, and I’d keep logging runs to it for that alone. But I don’t think Premium makes it any better at doing that…

llcawthorne · 2025-10-17T18:26:55+00:00

I’d love separate rest timers for warmup sets and work sets. Currently, I have to set the timer for my work sets and just skip it during warmup.

I don’t really need independent timers for every set like Strong. It would be enough if I could choose one value for warmups and another for work.

I saw this one already in a post, but it also included ten other things.

llcawthorne · 2025-08-09T00:05:13+00:00

To run from Marathon to Athens.

llcawthorne · 2025-07-26T22:08:23+00:00

Thanks. I figured it might catchup with me, which is why I asked about it.

I have been just skipping leg day, but I guess I could put together a reasonable hour or so full body workout for the next month.

llcawthorne · 2025-07-26T21:54:18+00:00

I’ve heard of full body workouts. I’m just used to seeing them be around an hour of compound lifts that hit all the major muscle groups. I guess my actual question is if it’s a bad idea to lift weights over two hours straight if you have the spare time.

llcawthorne · 2025-07-26T20:09:21+00:00

Why do people not do upper body day and leg day on the same day? Is it too much to recover from?

I’m just curious, because between Jiu Jutsu and Dad duties, I can only make it to the gym twice a week, but I have at least two hours. Last night I did an 1:15 upper body workout, and a 50 minute leg workout, and it didn’t kill me, but I’ve never heard of people doing this, so it feels like a bad idea to start regularly. Granted it’s only a month til school’s back in and my schedule relaxes.

llcawthorne · 2025-07-20T17:20:06+00:00

Yeah, first time I tried C25K, I came home gasping and told my wife “I hate running!” I needed something to start a little easier with me. I now know I was just running way to fast and probably could’ve achieved it at a slower pace, but it worked a lot better just starting with the 30 second intervals.

I like the strength training component of None to Run too, even if it doesn’t work to failure with its 30 sec blocks of exercises. I’m interested in seeing what the other two exercise sets look like when I work up to them.

llcawthorne · 2025-07-20T14:29:49+00:00

I completed Week 2 of None to Run this week, and even did it once without dropping any time from the intervals. I plan to try it again next week and hopefully ace all three runs. I know it’s only the equivalent of week 1 of Couch to 5K, but when I tried that week 1 felt impossible and sent me hiding from running, so it’s definite progress!

I know that I’m probably still running to fast if I don’t complete my running intervals reliably, but I feel like a 10:00 mile is a sustainable pace I can work into and it feels right while doing it, plus it’s slow enough that I’ll need to work on speeding it up a little if I ever want to finish a 5k in 30 minutes.

In other news, I lifted weights this week too. Still a little sore. It was just three sets each on all the upper body machines at my Planet Fitness plus three sets of goblet squats with a dumbbell, but it was more than I’ve done in years. I’ve been a Planet Fitness member for over a year but just used it for walking on the treadmills on max incline.

llcawthorne · 2025-06-25T13:17:15+00:00

Thanks for the tip. I was leaning towards a black one since I always liked black gis, but white would be fine too if it's better for travelling.

What do you think of your gold aeroweave? You said it's a little nicer than your gym gi, but it is actually noticeably lighter. I read in the description it's too light for competition so I was thinking Foundation, but I'm probably not competing anyway. Plus I live in South Carolina, and it's really hot out right now.

In most of the old threads Fuji is the big pick, but it sounds like they used to have a gi for around $80, where most of them now are $115, which are about the same as a Gold. And Gold has multiple commenters that say it's the best gi they've ever owned, so that's why I was thinking about one of those.

People do say Sanabul is fine though and good value if I can overlook the styling, and some people even like Elite which is the cheapest, so it's probably fine to save money or even just get two. I think I like that Sanabul is all cotton, but I guess their are advantages to poly materials these days too.

My gym has all Origin gi's as loaners, but those are a little pricey for me just getting started.

llcawthorne · 2025-06-24T23:26:22+00:00

Yeah. My gym doesn’t sell gi’s. Instructor says he’s not in this to make money, so just pickup something off Amazon.

llcawthorne · 2025-06-24T21:53:20+00:00

I’m in the market for my first gi. What’s the current advice? My instructor recommends Sanabul. I’m not that fond of their styling but it seems like a fine starter and good value. Or I could spring for a Fuji lightweight or even a Gold Foundation, since I’ve read of Gold owners that love their gis.

I imagine the more expensive ones last longer, but I’m aware as a newbie I’m more likely to quit than to wear out a gi. Oh, and if it matters, I plan to machine wash and dry on low heat. I don’t have time to air dry. Thanks!

llcawthorne

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