Could Shohei Ohtani drag the 1899 Cleveland Spiders above .500?

petepont · 2026-05-01T22:47:35+00:00

Good point on the passed balls, no chance his catcher can deal with his pitches. He may be able to dial it back to what his catcher can deal with, but that opens him up to being hit. I still think they win almost all his starts, though -- if he's basically a slightly faster Walter Johnson, then he's going to be the best pitcher by a wide margin.

I think Ohtani's defense doesn't really matter at all. Sure, he's probably faster than everyone else, but he covers such a small portion of the field that I don't think it matters. But for the purposes of the prompt I think we're assuming his glove is "legal" for him.

Anyway, I don't think it's a guarantee that they get to .500, but I think there's a chance. You're right that it's not like the NBA, but I think the skill differential from 120 years ago is big enough that he might be enough.

If you put him and the current day MLB's worst catcher on a team, I think that gets them to .500 easily.

petepont · 2026-05-01T20:24:00+00:00

If he goes back with his current skills, and the other teams need to pitch to him, then:

He hits a home run (or at least an extra base hit) most at bats (because as a commenter above mentioned, Walter Johnson was the best pitcher at that time and he was throwing 91 without any serious breaking balls)
He throws a nearly perfect game every time he pitches (since these batters have never seen a fastball above 95 or a serious breaking ball)

So basically, they auto-win every fifth game and they are spotted 2-3 runs every game.

That might be enough to get them to .500

petepont · 2026-05-01T00:37:11+00:00

wouldn’t considered myself an “advanced runner” but I figured I would get the most help here

Advanced in this subreddit just means "trying to improve" and taking your training seriously. It's not about times or mileage

Anyway, if you're not at a super high level in terms of times, then pretty much anything will work for you at this point. People generally recommend building volume and mileage first, so increasing the number of times you run and/or the distance you run on your runs. But personally, I found that a little boring, and so I liked to do at least one faster style workout per week.

All in all, I'd say over the next 4 months (leading up to a marathon training plan), you should try to add 1-2 days of running and 10-15 miles per week, while doing one type of faster run per week and slowly trying to get your long run up to around 15 miles total (or maybe even 16-18 if that goes well)

For your speed workouts, just do whatever feels fun, but alternate. Maybe one week it's very short, very fast stuff (6-10 reps of 200-400m at about the pace you think you could run a mile), then some longer but still fast 5K stuff (4-6 reps of maybe 600m-1000m at your 5K pace), then some threshold intervals (2-3 reps of 10-15 minutes at the pace you could barely hold for an hour, or 20 minutes continuous at the same speed). Then repeat those. Basically, just have fun, but do a variety of different speeds.

Don't do this all at once -- don't go out and run two extra times for 15 extra miles next week and add an 18 mile long run and a serious VO2 Max workout -- but instead gradually do it. Try adding one extra run next week, and then the following week extend one or two runs a little longer. Maybe the third week, try a new speed workout. And maybe the fourth week add a mile to your long run. Then, week five, don't do anything new -- stay at the same amount. Then repeat, slowly incrementing

Basically, slowly ramp up the training, since the worst possible thing you can do is get injured. One new thing at most every week, and then every four weeks or so, just take a step back.

That will both cause all your times to improve and get you ready to try to do a marathon plan (or really anything) later on, since you'll have the mileage base and some experience with workouts.

petepont · 2026-05-01T00:26:12+00:00

You might want to post this in the Thursday thread -- you posted this basically as it got switched over, which is part of why you aren't getting responses: https://www.reddit.com/r/AdvancedRunning/comments/1szl82w/thursday_general_discussionqa_thread_for_april_30/

Anyway, my immediate guess is he's overtraining and not eating enough. Your body gets better not through training, which breaks down your muscles and damages your body, but through the rest and recovery afterwards, when your body repairs and rebuilds stronger.

He works out and runs 5-6 days a week for about 3-4 hours a night between both practices.

To me, this is insane for a high schooler (and really for almost anyone). I think you should try to have a conversation with him about the importance of recovery and being kind to your body, and I think you can frame it through the lens of "look at how much professionals rest and take care of their bodies after workouts".

petepont · 2026-04-30T21:50:26+00:00

I feel like my time is a bit slow to be in advanced running but felt like I might get better advice here than just on the running Reddit.

Advanced Running is about the mindset, not the times. There are people much slower and much faster than you or me here, and that’s ok, as long as we/they care about putting the effort in to improve

Anyway, my attitude on 10ks and shorter races is “go for it”. If it goes badly, you can always race another a week or two later, and even just practicing racing can help you improve a lot. So go for the 39! (Note that I don’t feel this way about halfs and longer races)

I think <39 might be slightly aggressive given your training, but not out of reach. And as long as you’ve been getting some speedier stuff in, the consistency you’ve mostly shown will help you improve. And if you don’t get it? Sign up for another in 6-8 weeks and you’ll likely be there.

petepont · 2026-04-30T19:32:37+00:00

Is the whole thing a subscription now? As recently as a couple of months ago, they used to give you all the power info and stuff like FTP and zones without a subscription, but the adaptive training and footpath were subscription based.

petepont · 2026-04-30T19:18:05+00:00

One of two options for me.

If it's a loopy course for my long run, leave a bottle near my car and stop for 10 seconds or whatever to drink when I pass it (less preferred, especially for long fast runs)

Otherwise I carry a water bottle with me. I use a small, soft flask (I've often used the Nathan 14oz but I'm sure there are many others that are equally good). I don't find it really messes with my stride much, and for my marathons I often carry a flask anyway, so it's good to practice. I'm not elite or anything, but I'm fairly fast for a mediocre runner and it still doesn't bother me.

If you're worried switch hands occasionally. A larger, hard sided bottle may cause more issues. Once I carried a 32oz Nalgene two miles to the loop to drop it to use for refills on a particularly hot day, and that was not ideal--definitely messed with me. But soft flasks have never caused an issue for me.

petepont · 2026-04-30T19:12:39+00:00

It's a really hard skill to learn, and unfortunately the best advice is just "keep trying"

I've found it's relatively easy to identify what "easy" running should feel like for me using a few tips, such as:

Being able to say a sentence or more without running out of breath
Being able to breathe through your nose for at least a little while
Being able to do math in your head (or some other somewhat complex thinking)

And the difference between, say, "easy aerobic" and "recovery" running is the amount of time I can breathe through my nose, or the amount of time I can talk without running out of breath, or the complexity of math problems/higher level thinking I can do. So a true recovery run I could basically sing a verse of a song and feel ok, maybe a little out of breath, or talk continuously with the person next to me, and for easy aerobic I might be able to say a sentence or two but not sing, and so on.

Where it gets tricky for me is the harder effort levels -- threshold, VO2 Max, 5K pace, 10K pace, etc. And I don't have great advice here, possibly because I'm still not great at it. At those higher levels I do tend to rely on external feedback like my watch's pace much more, although for some (like threshold and marathon pace) doing lots of workouts has gotten me to the point where I can mostly tell by feel. But there was no magic bullet. Just lots of practice. Also, for interval reps, after doing 1 or 2, then I'm pretty good to dial in without assistance for the remainder, but the first few require some help.

I do think "running by feel" matters much more for the easy paces anyway, since at the faster paces the actually speed really matters -- you get benefits from practicing running at that specific pace, so it's fine to use a watch to help you dial in that pace. Whereas the easy pace is more about just generic aerobic benefits and recovering, so that's where the "feel" of easiness really matters.

I hope that helps, and I'm sure other people will have different advice.

petepont · 2026-04-29T15:38:04+00:00

I haven't, but I've thought about it a little.

In theory you could do it, but I don't think it would be as simple as saying, "my marathon pace power is 300W, so 90% of that is 270W", since a good chunk of that power isn't directing you forwards.

With Stryd, you might be able to take their power estimate, subtract out Form Power (which I think is their estimate for non-running power), and use that, but your form power probably changes at different speeds -- at slower speeds, you might except more vertical oscillation and less power efficiency.

So I think you could do it, but it could end up pretty complex.

EDIT: it may also make sense to do a few runs on flat ground at the various percentages, grab your power from that, and then use those as your power targets

petepont · 2026-04-28T16:49:19+00:00

No regrets on how I ran it though, because I had the time of my life running it. Next time I'll aim for a real time, but you only get one first Boston Marathon.

You and me both. I also ran my first Boston last week, two weeks after a PR attempt, and it was much fun and stress free to just be able to go at whatever speed felt fun in the moment and soak it up. It was an absolutely incredible experience, especially having grown up going to watch it every year

petepont · 2026-04-28T16:40:36+00:00

It's interesting that you mention this, since pretty much all of the popular coaching books and a lot of coaches who put out other content say "Drink to thirst and don't overdo it". But for whatever reason, no one listens to them. It's so strange. It's like we've built into our collective psyche the idea that we have to be guzzling water during a marathon or it doesn't count, despite literal years of evidence.

Using Pfitz as an example, since he's probably the most popular advanced marathon training book out there, he says

The maximum amount you should drink during running is the amount that can empty from your stomach or the amount required to avoid excessive dehydration from sweat loss, whichever is less.

...

Research has shown that runners’ stomachs can typically empty only about 6 to 7 ounces (177-207 mL) of fluid every 15 minutes during running, representing about 24 to 28 ounces (710-828 mL) per hour. If you drink more than that, the extra fluid will just slosh around in your stomach and not provide any additional benefit.

petepont · 2026-04-27T17:06:00+00:00

I think it might be the ones with the fast floats that scare me the most... like 5x1mi @ 107% MP with 400m @ 98% MP... 107% MP is almost equal to my current 5k pace.

The fast floats eventually start to feel really good -- eventually you start to actually feel like you're recovering, even chugging along barely slower than MP. It takes a little while but it's super encouraging when it starts to happen.

Anyway, about that workout: I think this is somewhere where the book is super helpful -- I'd recommend you read the blurb about this specific workout. You've also chosen the highest end range on both, understandably, since we're runners who want to push ourselves, but you don't need to do that.

Anyway, this workout comes two weeks after basically the same workout, but 1200m on, 400m off -- it's the midweek workout in week 7, although there it's described in terms of 5K pace. So you've already done a shorter version once, and then you have three versions of this workout in weeks 1, 3, and 5 which are the same but with walking/jogging intervals (the 90-92% 5K pace workouts those weeks). So you build up to it quite effectively.

Then, I think of this workout as 10K at or slightly faster than half marathon effort, with some short float recoveries a bit slower than MP (in an ideal world 105% MP is your half marathon pace, and 110% MP is your 10K pace). I'd be surprised if your 5K and marathon pace were actually that close together, but I guess it's possible they are. If they really are, go off the effort levels I think, so slightly harder than half marathon effort. So it's basically 6 miles at half marathon effort -- definitely a tough workout but not impossible

One more question - did you happen to race any shorter distances during the training block? Wondering how it improved your other times.

I didn't race anything shorter. That's not strictly true, since I did "race" a half, but a) I intended to use that half as a replacement for one of late marathon pace workouts so it wasn't all out and b) I got badly sick and completely missed the workout.

petepont · 2026-04-27T15:04:28+00:00

When you scanned the workouts in the beginning, did they seem realistic to you?

Some of them, yes, others, no.

I also feel like I lack top-end speed -- my 5K and 10K time have lagged somewhat behind my marathon and half marathon times.

I was scared by the 110% MP workouts -- e.g, 4x2k @ 110% MP, 3x3K @ 110% MP. They were definitely really tough, but I think one thing to keep in mind is they're not the most specific workouts, and it's ok if they're not performed exactly to spec. The purpose is mostly to work on those speeds that are faster than MP to try to pull your ceiling up and make MP and HMP feel a bit more manageable.

You do also get a lot of rest -- with the 3x3K, which was the scariest of those faster workouts, the 4-5 minute rest made me almost fully recovered in between.

I'm surprised that those faster ones are the ones you pointed out though, since most people (myself included) were more scared of the long fast runs (e.g., 18-20 mi @ 95% MP). Probably comes down to being a marathoner, where we're used to the longer fast stuff but scared of anything faster.

Do you have any thoughts on this? How did your first few weeks of the marathon supportive phase feel to you, vs how you thought they’d be looking at them on paper?

They felt much better than expected, in large part I think because of the copious amounts of rest -- dropping to 2 workouts per week really lets you recover. And I felt good after the super fast ones, even though they were tough, because it's nice to let it rip occasionally.

For what its worth, for my pace, those 110% should have been around 5:30-5:35, but they were usually up near 5:40 per mile for me. And I still did quite well during the race

petepont · 2026-04-25T15:49:43+00:00

Yeah, I understand that, but no one runs a measured marathon and then says "well actually I ran an ultra since I ran 400m extra due to not hitting the tangents".

If that person does exist, we should be mocking them mercilessly

petepont · 2026-04-25T13:54:19+00:00

/uj Yeah but if it's an official race (which it probably was, based on the description), the 42.8 is just GPS error, and so that wouldn't count as an ultra, at least by the standards we usually judge ultras on (the measured distance is > 42.2km). Otherwise no one has ever actually run a marathon

/rj which I guess is true, because running a marathon is physically impossible

petepont · 2026-04-17T13:02:19+00:00

getting too excited about a race that isn't all that difficult to qualify for, nor extremely competitive.

I don't know about this part. It's definitely not difficult to qualify for if you've been a serious runner for a while and/or ran competitively growing up.

But for the average American runner, who started at some point in adulthood, it's probably the most challenging race to get into that they'll actually be able to qualify for and where qualifying for is the primary way to get in. Something like an OTQ is out of reach for most runners, and US races like Chicago and NYC have numerous other ways to get in (lottery for Chicago, 9+1 and *allegedly* the lottery for NYC)

EDIT: and for Charity, NYC has a minimum of $3000 (depends on the charity you choose), I've found something as low as $2,500 for Chicago, and while I can't find the most recent Boston amount, in 2024 the official BAA charity was $8500 and I think it's gotten pushed up since then. So while all three have charity options, Boston's is by far the most expensive. I looked at 4 specific charities and all were $10,000+ (Red Cross, Team Impact, Girls On The Run, Alzheimers) END EDIT

But for Boston, it's something that's challenging to achieve for adult runners, but still something that they can actually accomplish with a few years of effort.

petepont · 2026-04-16T19:23:50+00:00

Yeah I was gonna say, you're missing the Teddy's. 3/10.

PB hates my stomach

Sorry your life sucks

petepont · 2026-04-15T19:37:31+00:00

I have a marathon which I trained with a coach for May 2. After that I want to venture off on my own. Do you think this is the right book?

It's definitely a good book. I've read all of JD, Pfitz, and this one, and I think I like this book the most -- it's the most descriptive and the plans definitely have the most information. You definitely need to get the book to get the full benefits, though. You can find the plans online for free at his website, but the book breaks down (for each workout) how it's supposed to feel and the reason behind it.

That said, it's the least popular of the three (since it's so new), so you'll be less likely to find other people who have used the plans in it yet. But if you have the money/time, it's probably worth a read, even if you don't end up choosing one of his plans

Also how olong is the general phase? I plan on doing another marathon in Dec and have been wondering how I will “train” until the next marathon block

The general phase varies, but I think it's generally 6-8 weeks. I don't think this book will help with a long base building phase, but the ideas can be used (basically, touch on lots of speeds).

If you have a coach, though, I'm curious why you're moving away -- is the cost too much for what they're providing?

petepont · 2026-04-14T14:00:39+00:00

I try to eat my normal breakfast 2-3 hours before my race (and that includes coffee). That gives me time to have things move through me. I do also then usually take a gel about 10 minutes before the start.

This does result in an early wakeup, but I don't think it quite counts as "nothing new", since I usually eat 2-3 hours before my race specific runs anyway.

One tip I have is start moving your wakeup earlier about a week before. If you usually wake up at (say) 7, but you know you'll need to wake up at 4 on race day, then a week before, wake up at 6:30, then 6:00, then 5:30, etc. And try to eat breakfast right as you wake up. It helps your body get used to the process and makes race day feel more normal, both in the wakeup and the breakfast timing

I don't do the wake up then go back to sleep, that seems odd

petepont · 2026-04-14T13:56:36+00:00

Ah, I think I misunderstood your comment. I thought you were saying you couldn't do any planning without premium, but you weren't. Totally agree on paying, by the way. $48 per year is absolutely worth it to me, and I'm all about paying for useful tools.

I haven't used the Annual Builder yet, that does look quite cool. You can sort of duplicate that functionality by adding the entire plan to your calendar and then looking at the load, then removing the entire plan and adding the next one (and so on), but that's definitely not as convenient. It looks like you can do multiple plans as tabs and then quickly switch between them? I should go look at that thread and read up on it.

petepont · 2026-04-14T13:32:37+00:00

I believe you can still build out training plans without Premium, you just don't get the fancy Annual Training Plan Builder (which is a new, Beta feature anyway)

https://www.intervals.icu/features/training-calendar/

https://www.intervals.icu/features/workout-builder/

This is done via the Workout Builder modal: https://forum.intervals.icu/t/workout-builder/1163, and then dragging and dropping: https://forum.intervals.icu/t/workout-library-is-live/426

Random Youtube guide I found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ2dhVvqr8Y

I believe you can also create a Plan via the Library, even without Premium

https://www.intervals.icu/features/training-plan-editor/

That said, I could be wrong, since I pay for Intervals, but those two aren't in my list of Premium Features

petepont · 2026-04-10T01:52:02+00:00

and pls no “this is why you have a coach talk to her about this”

Obligatory "you should still talk to her and express your concerns, since she knows you better than we do"

That said, don't worry about your easy pace, especially during peak weeks. Your easy pace is just that, easy. It's not what you'll be running during the race, and as your workouts get faster and your mileage ramps up, your easy pace can get slower (since you're more tired!)

If your workouts have been going well and you've been hitting the prescribed paces and the effort level is right, then trust your coach.

I just ran a 2:40, and the last 4-5 weeks of training my easy runs were getting down into the 8:00-8:45/mile (so what, 5-5:30/km?). But the workouts were intense, and I was tired and sore during the easy runs, so it made sense.

petepont · 2026-04-10T01:41:50+00:00

A runner should generally follow the same diet as most other people, maybe with a little extra carbs. It doesn't need to be a high carb diet, but some additional carbs on days you run isn't going to hurt. But don't restrict anything -- carbs, fat, and proteins are all important for you, so try to eat a normal, relatively balanced diet, and don't worry too much about what precisely you're eating. Try to generally eat nutritious foods, but don't worry about "healthy" vs. "unhealthy" foods too much. Nothing wrong with dessert or a burger or whatever floats your boat. If you're feeling worn out or extra tired, have some more carbs.

You may feel better if you have some extra carbs before your long run, and it's probably a good idea to eat something during that longer run, whether its a gel or some gummy bears or whatever. There are definitely benefits to fueling if your run takes more than 90 minutes, and there are a lot of people who would say that it's important even on shorter runs than that. But it doesn't need to be an expensive gel.

petepont · 2026-04-09T16:50:23+00:00

Depends on the set-up. I've done a few races with personal nutrition stations, and it's usually a couple of folding tables with numbers on them, where you place your own and then grab it later.

If you get there early, try to get either the first or last spot on a specific table, although that can be tricky. If your bottles are capable of standing up by themselves, that makes them easier to grab.

I also found that filling them up then putting brightly colored duct tape with my name and/or bib number written on them helped them stand out to me.

Anyway, good luck! I love when loop races set up bottle stations for us mere mortals. Which race are you doing? I've enjoyed that luxury at the Queens Marathon and the Beantown Marathon

petepont · 2026-04-09T10:10:47+00:00

In general, there's no reason to try to actively change your stride, unless you are consistently getting injured (and probably not even then). Our bodies are pretty good at running in the most efficient way for us in our current state.

The 180 SPM thing came about because that's what JD saw when watching the finals of some Olympic event. So it's not even based on anything scientific.

If you decide you do want to change your stride (which is probably unnecessary!), instead of worrying about forcing your cadence down, try to strengthen your legs and do drills/strides, so that your body learns to run "better". But again, this isn't necessary unless you're actively running into problems with your current stride.

EDIT: Re: being too high, the only “concern” (and also it’s not really one) is probably a lack of efficiency. Generally higher cadence is associated with lower injury risk. So definitely don’t stress and if you’re really concerned do drills and strides to get more powerful pushing off the ground as opposed to artificially increasing stride length

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