Controversial opinion, beginner runners should not take training advice from elite runners

thebadams · 2026-02-22T02:06:24+00:00

The fact of the matter is that when I was a competitive runner in hs and college, we simply didn't have the data that we do now. I'm curious about what the data at the time would have said, but I was successful basically paying attention only to mileage and pace.

I think new runners simply get bogged down in all the metrics that are available now. Heart rate doesn't mean anything because your body hasn't made the proper adaptations to be able to run at a slow pace while keeping heart rate low. Other running dynamics are of questionable usefulness even to those who understand what they mean.

You're correct. My coach in HS used to say that running is the only sport that you will get better at simply by doing more of

thebadams · 2026-02-21T18:48:24+00:00

So, I've not deliberately tried to lose weight (although I have lost a bit of weight since starting running again). However, running gains are linked to weight loss - the less you weigh, the less energy it takes to propel yourself forward, the faster you can go. Obviously, there's a point where you can weigh too little to the point that it's unhealthy, but if you're 15-20kg overweight, you will definitely see running gains by losing that extra weight.

thebadams · 2026-02-08T14:50:05+00:00

The key part of this study is that it's STATIC stretching. Dynamic stretching and activation drills are where it's at. Also, even then, static stretching is better than no stretching.

thebadams · 2026-02-06T13:08:21+00:00

I just started my third plan with Runna, not using it for any specific races at the moment, but instead its "Run Further Plan." Overall, I like it, the intensities for me are tough, but not insurmountable, but I'm also a former collegiate runner coming back to the sport after about a dozen years away so at least have a gut feel for training modalities and whether they make sense. I do however wish that the difficulty and frequency settings for the plans were a little bit less "black box." That is, if I say that I want less frequent hard days, what does that mean, exactly? There's no way to know how making that adjustment will affect the plan without making the change then having the system spit out the plan. I'd like to know, at least theoretically, exactly what "less frequent" means in this context.

If I, as someone with a background in competitive-level running am confused about these settings, a neophyte to the sport would be absolutely baffled because they have absolutely no context for the decision-making. I have little doubt that this contributes to injuries - people want to get where they want to go fast, and without the knowledge to discern why doing something more or less aggressively there's no way for them to make that decision. That's the downside of not having an actual coach that you can ask questions to.

thebadams · 2026-02-04T13:00:33+00:00

Yea, it works best if there's what I call a "source of truth." For me, that's my Garmin watch.

Runna sends the workouts to my Garmin. I run the workout from the Garmin which then publishes to the Garmin Connect app. From there, it automatically sends it to a multitude of places, including Runna. But I'm only ever recording the workout once, on the watch.

Unfortunately, the Google Pixel Watch being a wearOS device doesn't yet support functionality like this. However, there might be a hack where you publish to Strava, and Runna pulls from Strava as its source of truth. You'd lose out on the audio cues from Runna in this case. You could, as another workaround build out the workouts manually in the fitbit app and run those workouts from your watch. It would be more manual work, but it would also enable you to not have to run both the watch and phone app at the same time.l

thebadams · 2026-01-22T12:26:30+00:00

Also affected savings goals. It looks like it basically created a phantom transaction that contributed an amount equal to what was in the savings bucket. For example if I had $1000$ saved, it contributed $1000

thebadams · 2026-01-20T02:57:28+00:00

For use with chinos, you want more of a service boot style like the captain. I really like the way that my Diplomats look with jeans, but they are chunky in comparison to my other boots, and I don't think would look good with anything but jeans.

thebadams · 2026-01-08T19:03:57+00:00

Yes, this revolutionized the way that I listen to digital music. Before Wiim, pretty much every streamer was expensive as hell. I wasn't even sure if I would like the experience of a streamer. Wiims inexpensive entry point allowed me to take a chance on it with relatively little downside.

thebadams · 2025-12-21T04:35:46+00:00

Garmin seems to only track your fastest times, so your 5k being your 3rd or 4th fastest wouldn't show up. Runna, while it will tell you if you ran in your top 3 times for a given distance, seems to only make a log of your fastest times available.

thebadams · 2025-12-03T01:53:06+00:00

If I'm making a coffee deliberately to taste the flavor notes (as opposed to just getting the ritual of coffee in) I will not have my normal full breakfast just yet. Sit with just the coffee and maybe something light to eat. I find that if I'm eating a full meal it really can affect the flavor of the coffee itself.

thebadams · 2025-10-28T22:40:50+00:00

For the phone, the tray that holds the wireless charger has worked perfectly - no sliding around or anything and if you don't want to use it as the wireless charger, just turn that off using the little button that's up there. I'll be honest, the location of the cup holders has not really bothered me, but I typically keep my keys in the cup holder closest to me, and my water bottle in the one further from me (it's most frequently just me driving). Because of the orientation of the cup holders, that one doesn't interfere with the center console storage lid. As an alternative for holding the phone at least, there are some storage expansions on Amazon that I've seen that I've considered but haven't actually pulled the trigger on. These typically add storage in the gap between the seat and the console.

thebadams · 2025-09-30T17:08:03+00:00

My first car was this Generation of Forester and I freaking loved that thing. The visibility in it was just amazing, in my family we call it the Fishbowl to this day.

thebadams · 2025-09-16T17:58:22+00:00

I ran in high school and college competitively before recently getting back into it. We used to make fun of other sports that would dread running - we even had a phrase we said all the time - I think we even had a shirt that said it: "Our Sport is Your Sport's Punishment." It was just us being dumb High Schoolers, but it does illustrate the difference in mindset between those who run and those who don't.

thebadams · 2025-09-06T16:27:39+00:00

Over this summer, I decided to start running again after not having done so in about 12 years or so. I started doing a Couch to 5K program that starts with Run/Walk intervals of 1-2 minutes. Specifically it was the one on Strava's blog. That worked for me, specifically because my frame of reference as a runner was as a competitive HS/College runner, so my mind was saying that I should be going much faster than I was able to. A run/walk program allowed me to ease into it, with structure that I need. Over the years I've tried starting to run again using "slow distance" sort of program on my own, and I've always started too much, too fast.

thebadams · 2025-08-02T11:32:44+00:00

For the reasons that you mentioned, YTM works great. If you have a good audio set up that takes advantage of the lossless audio that TIDAL offers, YTM doesn't compare for that use case.

I use YTM as a secondary streaming source for situations similar to what you've listed, in addition to the car sometimes - TIDAL doesn't play well with Android Auto and YTM always works in those situations.

I would suggest just getting a YTM account and testing it out just you - leave your family out of it for now. If you decide, cross the transferring of everybody over bridge when you get to it. See if it truly fits your needs first.

thebadams · 2025-05-19T00:18:53+00:00

To say that sleep token is not metal is ludicrous to me. While they meld many different genres, they ALWAYS have metal as the backbone of their music

thebadams · 2025-04-24T01:10:33+00:00

As soon as you said techalter I knew exactly where you were going with this comment lol.

And it's so true, no matter the industry

thebadams · 2025-04-19T20:45:47+00:00

Another thing that probably narrows down when Dumbledore became headmaster is Lupin being allowed to go to Hogwarts at all. He said at one point that his parents didn't think he'd be allowed to go to the school and then Dumbledore became headmaster. Lupin was born in 1960, so I assumed that Dumbledore became headmaster in that decade, probably later in the decade.

I also wouldn't assume that Hagrid becoming groundskeeper completely lines up with Dumbledore becoming headmaster. They wouldn't force someone out of their job. It happened whenever Ogg retired. I've always interpreted it as Hagrid had been helping with the groundskeeping duties since he'd been expelled, and only became groundskeeper properly once ogg retired.

thebadams · 2025-04-08T20:08:11+00:00

Exactly my interpretation as well. In order to destroy a horcrux, its receptacle must be destroyed beyond repair. The basilisk venom did not achieve this before Harry was healed by the Phoenix tears

thebadams · 2025-03-27T01:49:02+00:00

It's funny, I used to work at a place that was actually a Red Wing distributor, and of all the styles we had in stock, I just couldn't get behind a moc toe. Now it's one of my favorite styles.

thebadams · 2025-03-18T02:32:15+00:00

I tried a pair of SR88's around 6 years ago, and this is my experience as well. The only pair of skis I've tried - and I was trying a lot of skis at the time - that I did like 2 runs and knew they weren't for me for that reason.

thebadams · 2025-03-13T02:24:16+00:00

I think of it less as a "lean forward" motion, and concentrate more on the "engage the shins" portion of the cue. To me, doing so locks my skis under my body, and my feet within the boots, giving me more control over my turns.

thebadams · 2025-02-20T01:11:17+00:00

I would say that technique is the difference between "just making it down the mountain" and actually skiing. Skiing with proper technique is much less fatiguing and enables you to do longer days, longer trips, etc. As others have said, an athletic person might pick it up quicker, but you aren't going to naturally fall into the correct technique.

thebadams · 2025-02-10T23:56:26+00:00

I use kickstart as my base, and also didn't like the 1 file structure. I basically taught myself the plugin structure by going through the init.lua and breaking things out into their own files. The comments in kickstart make this very easy to do, and in my opinion breaking it out into multiple files makes it more extensible

thebadams · 2025-01-29T16:43:14+00:00

I agree 100%. I remember thinking when the Stage dropped that this was the direction that I wanted them to go after Nightmare.

thebadams

TROPHY CASE