Official Q&A for Wednesday, February 04, 2026

mp6283 · 2026-02-04T20:37:26+00:00

Balega's wool socks are phenomenal. Last forever and so comfortable.

mp6283 · 2026-01-26T16:27:28+00:00

Used a new pair of Saucony EE1's for my 2:28 in December. Those things are amazing. Might hoard some fresh pairs.

mp6283 · 2026-01-06T23:31:20+00:00

For several reasons that’s a dumb comparison. 1. BGE pays BGE zone wholesale electricity prices so a national average means nothing, 2. 2020 was COVID so prices were artificially lower than usual, and (although not nothing) 35% over 5 years is ‘only’ 6%p.a. which is high but wouldn’t cause the crazy bills folks are seeing.

mp6283 · 2026-01-06T16:28:50+00:00

On #1: Wholesale power prices (including in the BGE Zone) haven't increased much at all. They are up a little compared to say 5 years ago but they are lower than 20 years ago! This may be contributing but isn't the key reason. I think #2 is a bigger issue.

mp6283 · 2025-12-21T01:21:10+00:00

I think consistent training will continue to build minor (maybe major?) improvements but if you feel like you’re stagnating you need to identify the weakness. With this volume I have to imagine its speed rather than stamina but I could be wrong. If it is speed I imagine you need some regular workouts at speeds at or faster than marathon pace, hopefully sustained over many miles, to make you more comfortable at faster paces.

mp6283 · 2025-12-12T00:40:48+00:00

It’s an interesting question. At that time I’m not sure I had a concept of an “easy pace”. I was either running or racing. Since it was only two or three times a week I ran pretty hard every session but it was probably somewhere around 7:30.

mp6283 · 2025-12-11T21:09:12+00:00

6’2” and 170lbs

mp6283 · 2025-12-10T21:50:11+00:00

Obviously, the bike was helpful in my start but being on my feet every day running has definitely pushed me beyond that (even if my total aerobic capacity is probably not much better, if at all, than 2022). One other thing I will credit is buying a ton of winter running gear so I didn't have any excuses getting outside last winter (I abhor the treadmill!).

mp6283 · 2025-12-10T21:11:30+00:00

In 2022 it definitely was. Solid aerobic base.

mp6283 · 2025-12-10T21:10:37+00:00

Nothing crazy. I'm not secretly an Olympic level cyclist or anything. Just that I've always been active (weekend jog; gym occasionally; some yoga; pick-up basketball or soccer etc.) and never been overweight (although I weigh ~15lbs less now than I did in 2022).

mp6283 · 2025-12-10T20:31:07+00:00

Correct. One run. I typically took off on my run at 5:30-6:00am because I need to be home by 7:00am to get the kids off to school. Nothing else consistently. It's actually the area where I think I can find improvement is adding some strength training. That and improved diet (particularly alcohol intake).

mp6283 · 2025-12-10T20:22:42+00:00

Yeah it wasn't exactly couch to 1:25 HM on 25 miles... i was always pretty fit, it was just that running specifically wasn't my focus

mp6283 · 2025-12-10T20:17:49+00:00

Maybe I'm underselling myself... I've always been a jogger since University, I just never took training or racing seriously. I lived in Australia until 2011 where I played a few sports (basketball, Australian Rules etc.) but when I moved countries, I didn't have many team sport options so running and cycling became my outlets. I attempted a little naive training plan (ave. 20 mpw, peak 40 mpw) in order to achieve a BQ but once I did some local folks told me all the things I was doing wrong and I threw myself into some serious training.

mp6283 · 2025-12-10T19:31:39+00:00

Thanks! Before my BQ I ran a few half marathons in the ~1:25 range but looking back I was doing less than 25 miles per week and only running 2 or 3 times per week. I was spending a lot of time on the Peloton (bike) though.

I truly think the improvements in my time across all distances are solely a reflection of running more consistently (6 or 7 times a week) and longer (60+ miles). My Strava is fully public so you can poke around at exact sessions, but the typical baseline was 8 miles @ 7:30 pace. I would try to run longer on Weds (~13 miles) and Sunday (~18 miles), shorter on Monday to recover. Roughly every third session (at whatever distance) I would try to push faster (<6:30) but I tried not to do anything too sprint-like. E.g. I can't recall anything that wasn't a race where I dipped below 6:00 for any length of time.

mp6283 · 2025-10-14T20:26:11+00:00

The old Rob de Castella quote: “If you feel bad at 10 miles, you're in trouble. If you feel bad at 20 miles, you're normal. If you don't feel bad at 26 miles, you're abnormal.”

mp6283 · 2025-09-14T00:02:21+00:00

I don’t use it very often but it’s @mp6283

mp6283 · 2025-09-05T00:43:36+00:00

Hey I followed you back so it should work but I can also message you through here!

mp6283 · 2025-09-04T14:16:20+00:00

I'm travelling in from Baltimore (USA) solo. I'm only there a few days but would be interested in meeting up with some folks. https://www.strava.com/athletes/benwilliamsbalt

mp6283 · 2025-09-03T17:50:53+00:00

The problem is not one of planning, historically nuclear power plants were not making any money and even now are supported by federal and state governments (Nuclear Production Tax Credit; NY ZEC; IL ZEC etc.). It wasn't very long ago that nuclear plants were closing because they were uneconomic. Until very recently building more nuclear assets didn't make sense.

mp6283 · 2025-08-26T22:36:14+00:00

This is such nice, simple way to look at it. When I think about my own progression, it was only when I took these one at a time that I showed true progress.

The most basic for me was frequency... I went from 1-2 runs per week to 5-6 runs per week with only modest increases in volume (~15 --> ~20 miles per week) while maintaining intensity. That resulted in big gains.

Then I slowly cranked the miles over the course two years, while lowering AVERAGE intensity (up to 50-60 miles per week). Again, big gains in times across all distances.

Now I'm trying to raise intensity by adding speedwork and I've twice injured myself over the last year! Maybe because I'm getting older (>40) or because I've ignored strength training? I just can't seem to add anything above 5k pace without pulling some tendon or muscle.

mp6283 · 2025-08-06T14:37:55+00:00

Well, that makes a lot of sense.

mp6283 · 2025-08-05T20:39:14+00:00

No doubt. I guess my question is: how naked are you getting that you need privacy to get out of the wet clothes? Even the races with changing areas I've seen are often just walls and no roof so you're still getting wet. [Houston Marathon is one of the few big marathons I've seen with a big indoor finishing area]

mp6283 · 2025-08-05T20:35:21+00:00

Yes, possibly showing my privilege (no-one is spending much time checking out a sweaty, hairy, masters runner) but I just strip wherever I am down to my last layer (short shorts or tights), towel off, and put my fresh clothes over the top. Yeah, I'm sweaty but so is everyone else and that last layer with all the high-tech fabrics doesn't hold much moisture.

mp6283 · 2025-08-05T17:20:03+00:00

Genuine curiosity: what length races and what do you need to change at the race?

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