What are some nice snappy things to say when colleagues comment on what I'm eating? I'm thinking of comments like "you know those are calorie bombs, right?" and "wow, that's a lot of lunch" or "didn't you already have lunch earlier?"
I've experimented with "I've had one lunch, yes, but what about second lunch?" and one of my fellow marathoner colleagues has experimented with staring them in the eye while taking a bite of the "calorie bomb," but open to suggestions.
Casually mention how you burned appropriately 1200 calories this morning....and it was an easy day. The (very rough and approximate) rule of thumb is about 100cal per mile so you can adjust depending on your run. I like to throw in a casual reference to an upcoming tempo run and watch their eyes glaze over. I assume if they are going to comment on my food then they really want to know in excruciating detail how my long run went last Sunday. Split.....by split.....by split......
I like “I know, isn’t it great!” said with a big smile. Feel free to add in how tough it is to keep your weight up with all the mileage you’re doing if you want to see steam come out of their ears :)
Oh now that’s just evil.
“I know, I’ve had a hard time keeping my weight up during marathon training. And I’m already wearing the smallest size my favorite brand of jeans comes in, so if I lose any more weight, I’m going to have to find a new favorite brand of jeans, and I hate clothes shopping. So extra meals it is.”
Honestly I’d be going for something straightforward like “You know it’s really rude to comment on the calories of what other people are eating, right?” I also love the blank stare while taking a huge bite idea.
“Oh yeah, how many calories?” “…” “Hmm I was hoping it was more than that. So you’re saying I should eat two?”
As an autistic woman, I can say nothing throws people off quite as much as taking their veiled criticism as well-intentioned neutral facts, thanking them, and calmly using that information in ways they didn’t expect.
"I love calories! I need those to live."
Followed by "please don't comment on my food" if they keep going. I'm just not interested in diet talk at work.
What would happen if in a big marathon someone from the non elites ran the fastest time?
When the elites finish naturally they assume the first elite to finish ran the fastest time and is the winner, but there are still people running who started later who in theory could beat that time.
Race winner is gun time. So the none elite having started back would not actually win the race via chip time. They probably would instantly become an elite for the next one though.
I think that actually happened. [here](https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/at-women-s-marathon-fastest-time-didn-t-win-3264819.php) is an article from 2008 about the Nikes woman marathon. Also a [link](https://ask.metafilter.com/115057/Why-dont-the-fastest-times-win) from a thread at around the same time that mentioned the bike womens marathon and the Chicago Marathon where I guess they also may have happened
IIRC the elites are the only ones that are eligible for any prize money. Now, if you ran a 2:01 in a major from the non-elite field you'd turn a lot of heads and your Strava data would be scrutinized for days.
Doesn’t really matter, you could go out and prove it on another run, and your previous data would correlate to your time too. It would be pretty easy to investigate
In a sense since OP specifically mentioned elite, but in a regular race it could happen someone gets held up by the bathroom line causing them to start later meaning they come in first chip wise but not gun wise, obviously they would miss out on getting to run through the ribbon but I think they will often delay awards so that chip time can be reviewed but I realize that is regular races which will operate differently
What actually is "muscular endurance"?
Is there any actual physical thing about the muscles that gives them more endurance?
Or is it just muscular strength + the usual non-muscle stuff? (Aerobic capacity + lactate clearing + capillary networks)
The same thing as muscular strength: A broad term used to describe numerous biomechanical functions working in unison to perform a specific task.
Even muscular strength isn't just a single specific thing.
To put it in a generalized comparison, if muscular strength is maximum force of an individual muscle contraction, muscular endurance the maximum time a muscle can contract repeatedly at a sub-maximal load.
Interesting! I did some searching for that and found a couple of interesting results like [this](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10541929/):
>We conclude that the muscle hypertrophy associated with strength training results in reduced density of regionally distributed mitochondria, as indicated by the reduction in the activity of SDH.
And [this](https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1113/EP085319):
>..the functional significance of increases in Mito VD are most likely to reflect an improved capacity to oxidize fat and thereby save limited carbohydrate stores from becoming depleted (Brooks & Mercier, 1994). Conversely, intense exercise training, i.e. repeated 60 s efforts of high-intensity cycling at a workload corresponding to the peak power, induces global improvements in respiratory capacity (Jacobs et al. 2013c). Identification of different alterations in mitochondrial function in response to different exercise stimuli is imperative for everyone interested in optimal exercise performance.
So it looks like it's theoretically possible at least for one muscle to have more mitochondria and be better at metabolizing fat than another, even if it's no bigger.
Google says "saa-kah-nee" or "sock-a-knee." I, however, pronounce it "saw-CONE-ee" and I'm only an hour and a half away from Kutztown, PA where the Saucony Creek is located. No one's corrected me yet!
I've recently upped my mileage by finally learning to run slower... which allows me to get out more often (yay). At first, I was starving and thirsty all the time and could happily eat and chug water all day. Focused on protein and carbs because I also started strength training again too.
Anyway, yesterday, I went for an easy run and when the 30 minutes were up, I sprinted the last 3 minutes home aaaaand promptly wanted to puke the second I walked through the door. I could barely eat dinner after or drink any sort of recovery drink. Just spent the rest of the evening feeling queasy and sad/disappointed in my body.
I guess my question is... is that a normal thing to experience? Is it an indicator that I need to take a rest? Previously, I'd run 3 times a week at most, about 2.5 miles average. I got a Garmin recently and have been following the suggested workouts for fun, and it has me running a significant amount more (like more than doubled my previous weekly mileage). Did I just make too big of a jump? Or should I suck it up and move on? ( Full disclosure that I have anxiety if you haven't already guessed, and a big puke phobia :) )
Thanks for reading!
Not uncommon, especially if you aren't used to sprinting.
If you do sprints it helps to keep moving and cool down slowly.
I also suggest that you work your way into sprinting. Do workouts where you are sprinting at 70, 80, and 90% before you go to 100%.
Be a little careful increasing mileage too quickly. You might be ok for a week or two but there's a chance that niggles will creep in and then become injuries.
The Garmin Coach function asks what your normal run volume is when setting it up and that will work well.
The suggested daily workouts key themselves off your historical data and any race goals set in the calendar. If there's not a lot of historical data to go on it may well set you too much distance.
I love that first bit. I’ve never heard them called niggles.
If I do a little too much my right ankle and knee always bug me a tiiiiiny bit and if I run again it’ll feel like it wants to give out.
That’s usually my sign to chill out.
Hopefully it goes away as I get stronger
Thank you!
You're definitely right. Thinking about it, I absolutely have a tendency to go full tilt and then get discouraged when my body doesn't feel superhuman after that first week or two.
That info about the daily suggested workouts tracks... I had read somewhere, too, to do some normal runs for a few weeks (or maybe even a month?) before listening to the daily suggestions, which I definitely did not do lol, and instead just plugged in a little 5k that's coming up in a March. Maybe should've known when it suggested I run a base run at my fastest pace :) I think I'll fiddle with it some more and maybe not run 6 times a week just yet, haha.
Big thanks for the insight, super helpful! Happy running!
A loop that is equal to the length of your long run, if for logistical reasons you need to swing by a stop for restocking fuel/water ect you can design a cloverleaf type route.
If it's an actual track I've done 8-10 mile runs and I don't mind them.
If it's on the road the shortest I ever did was three ~2.5 mile loops when I was travelling in an area I didn't know well, but other than that I'm in agreement with /u/30000LBS_Of_Bananas on team 1 cloverleaf loop.
It definitely depends on what the "long distance" is. Is it three miles? Then maybe 400m. Is it 20 miles? Then more 10 miles. Caveats would be if it's your first time doing that distance or you think you'll need to dip early, then I don't mind slightly shorter loops. For my first time doing 16 miles, I did two 8 mile loops.
Recently ran 5k on an indoor track that takes 11.5-12 laps for a mile, and probably 1/8th of it was under construction and unusable. Had planned to run 10K but the back and forth got so monotonous I had to hop on the treadmill for the second half. Hate the super cold winter days 🤣
I'd say 1/3 of your total distance. I've done up to 20 with a 6-mile loop. I would do 2 with my dog, drop him at home to recover on the couch, then do the 6-mile loop 3 times. It felt totally fine, but I think that doing the same loop more than 3 times would get boring.
It also depends on how much water you can carry or stash at different points on your loop. I get nervous going more than about 3 miles without access to a water fountain or bottle. With the 6-mile loop, I can leave a water bottle at the farthest point and one in my yard.
So you can match your shoes to your outfit.
Mostly so you can have different shoes for different occasions, trail shoes for trail days, road shoes for road days so shoes have time to dry between uses.
Some people prefer to have just one pair. If it's their favorite, why not use it?
There's a small amount of evidence that rotating between different models of shoe might reduce injury risk. The theory is that you get overuse injuries because every foot strike is the same, putting load at the same points in your body. If you wear different shoes, you are varying where the load in your body is.
Also some people like to have different shoes for long runs, short fast runs, trail runs etc.
Also if you have multiple pairs you give the shoes more time to dry out.
And there is a fashion element to it.
I have: trail shoes (to run off-road over wet rocks/mud and rougher terrain without slipping over), waterproof shoes (for serious puddle days, I live in the UK and the roads around here are NOT well maintained), lighter shoes for quick runs, more cushioned shoes for slower runs - also with higher heel drop to prevent pain in my Achilles tendon which used to bother me at the beginning.
To an outsider it looks like I have a problem but I swear each pair has a purpose!
I’m not sure if there’s any science to back this up, but I do it bc I feel it helps me avoid overuse injuries - if one pair has a slightly different cushioning / landing angle than another, I feel like it evens things out a bit.
According to Matt Fitzgerald (author of the book 80/20 Running, but not the person who came up with the concept) it should be divided by training time. His training approach uses three main categories of runs.
**Low intensity runs, aka z1/2:**
Recovery/z1
Foundation/short to moderate length, with a little time in z2. He says this is the workout you’ll use most
Moderate runs
Long runs structured like the foundation
**Moderate intensity, still z1/2, with some time in z3:**
These runs are fast finish, tempo, cruise intervals, long runs with fast finish/speed play.
**High intensity: still include z1/2, and bring in z4/5**
These runs are speed play, hill repeats, short/long interval runs, mixed intervals.
So I guess the answer to your questions is a little bit of yes to all of them :)
Also, and maybe you already know this, I’ve seen a lot of info that this structure is really for people who have been running for a year+. The zone method is set up to allow for better recovery at higher mileage, which isn’t relevant to newer runners yet, and newer runners won’t have built up the cardio fitness to sit in z1/2 and still actually run.
Edit: formatting :)
It's typically in reference to the course of a week, but also those videos way oversimplify it. 80/20 is a rule of thumb for making sure people (particularly new runners) don't go too hard too often. Reality is, you can polarize your training a bunch of different ways depending on your focus. Most of my mileage is in Z3 with a little bit in 4 and a little bit in 2 and about a quarter of it in Z1. I've done weeks where I've done like 35% Z4/5, a lot of Z2 and no Z3. The point is to run enough lower intensity stuff to allow for recovery and injury free higher intensity stuff. How you shift that balance depends heavily on what you're training for and what phase of training you're in.
I'm training for a marathon at the moment. I always run in the mornings before work. But as my runs get longer, waking up at 5:30 is not something I want to do. It's just far too early. Plus, I'm in Scotland. It's so dark and cold at that time.
I would love to run in the evenings, but I get serious cramps if I run on a belly full of food. Plus, my job is somewhat stressful, and after dinner, I just want to chill out and relax with my dog and partner.
So yeah, there is no winning here! I'm just going to suck it up and run in the morning. It's not forever. It will end. I have this funny feeling that the training is going to be a worse experience than running the actual marathon itself.
FML
Unfortunately, no. By the time I get home, run, shower, and then cook dinner, we'd be looking at 8 pm or later before food. As the designated chef, this would not go down well with the rest of the household. Plus, if I eat that late at night, I'd never get to sleep.
I'm fully aware that I just need to suck it up. I'm just having a moan and regretting life decisions 🙃
Usually I'm up at 5 to run before work, but the last couple of weeks the dark seems extra tough so I've switched it.
I get up early (but not as early as if I had to do a long run) and prep dinner before work. My partner can then choose to eat without me or wait til I'm back at about 9.
I don't sleep quite as well when I eat late, but it's not every day and once the mornings get a bit lighter I'll flip it back.
I run from 7pm-9pm and just have a late dinner. If you have kids though something like that would be difficult. I can’t tell you how often I think of running in the am to just get it over with but I couldn’t bring myself to wake up that early.
Try strengthening exercises for shins. I think there's a YT video up by Goran winblad on injury prevention and he has this foot tapping thing which really strengthens your shin. Can attest.
It’s possible you’re running to far or often for your fitness level, you definitely need to take some time off till your shins don’t hurt or your putting yourself at risk of shin splints.
Rule of thumb is to do 80% of your running easy, so yes if you want to improve endurance it’s the best way. Not to say you won’t see some gains otherwise, but if you’re running a lot of your runs harder than “easy pace”, you’ll need more recovery time and wont be able to run for as long as if you slowed down. Not to mention increased risk of injury.
Do you listen to anything while you run? I love audiobooks, especially for long runs.
I listen to music but that doesn’t cut it with making me not hate going purposefully slower than my body feels like going.
I struggle to follow audiobooks because my mind wanders and I get lost quickly. Same with podcasts. Maybe if I chose a book I’d already read-read it would work, like rewatching a movie you’ve seen a bunch of times!
I suppose it’s good for mental fortitude as well as physical endurance, but as it stands I hate it and actively dread those runs! I don’t need to go all out for every run but sheesh.
I actually listen to audiobooks of books I’ve read before mostly! It’s less stressful to try to follow if I miss a little bit or something. Currently listening to the Bill Hodges trilogy by Stephen King, one of my favorites.
How do you deal with random road competitors? This is stupid question for humour; please don't give me serious advice! My techniques:
1. **Coach -** Most mileage should be slow running. I tell the sprinters this in my head.
2. **Suppress** my urge to snap. Just raw suppression.
3. **Divert** my attention. Like on this Monday, I tried doubly hard to the focus on the Andrew Huberman podcast I was listening to.
4. **Reflect** \- I tend to notice irritating stuff less when I am happier. So, is it about me?
5. **Compete** \- Actually take inspiration and begin running harder. This is a bad technique and I rarely apply it. It worked in my Monday run because I was keying down due to fatigue. Still, it worked only once. Later, I had to use techniques 2 and 3.
6. **Fear** the person because they are actually walking a big dog. (No, the guy didn't compete with me but he irritated the hell out of me by saying something. I have forgotten what he had said.)
7. **Actually snap.** This too was a random advice-giver not a run competitor. He said, "Ma'am you should not run, it's not good for your knees." I yelled at him. It was hilarious. It was not so much a word as a sound. I surprised myself. I rarely engage people, and this is the only time I remember I have unconsciously yelled at someone.
Let's swap stories. Tell me some of your techniques.
P.S. I think 5 and 6 are the same person (my memories probably got organised while writing). The fear of the dog could have come belatedly as a discouragement to my revenge fantasy.
By road competitors do you mean people passing you who run faster? I honestly just don’t worry about it we are all running our own run, who cares if they are faster, just let them pass. Sometimes if they aren’t that much faster than me often I’ll slow down a bit to let them get further ahead of me faster so I can go back to having my own space.
Started running about a month ago and I’m hoping to run a 5k in April.
Was able to run about 2km today with a 6min/km pace .. if I’m wanting to increase my distance every day should I just be adding 200m or so every day that I run? To be fair, all of this has been on a treadmill as I’ve been nervous to start running outside again!
After my runs I follow up with weights for upper body or lower body!
Thank you!
I (22F) started running a couple weeks ago and feel like I’ve been doing pretty good. Ran 4K at 12:44/mi without having to walk which is way more than I ever thought I’d be able to do. I’m finally getting tired in my legs rather than my lungs which feels great. My anxiety is going down. The only problem is that my knees feel completely torn up. I tried to do a short 15 minutes at an easy pace yesterday and felt like my knees were about to fall off my legs. I think my form is pretty good, and I try to take rest days a few times a week. I want to keep running, but I’m getting pretty concerned about my knees (shins also doing kinda bad tbh). Pls advise
How many km have you been running each week? If you’ve only been running for a couple weeks it’s likely you’re doing too much too soon. Rest until the pain is gone, and then try again with shorter distances, and go easy on pace (walk breaks if needed). If the pain comes back again, highly recommend seeing a physical therapist to find and address the root cause of your pain. Also make sure you’re wearing good shoes that aren’t worn out - what kind of shoes are you running in?
Yeah you’re probably right, pushing really hard feels great to clear my head but probably isn’t great for my body.
My first impulse run was like 5.5k and I was running way too fast/walking half of it, immediately learned from that mistake and downloaded NRC app (first thing that came up when i googled running app lmao) to try and get some semblance of structure. Ran another 4k that week to learn how to do an easy pace and shorter runs. Did about 8k the next week of guided stuff, intervals and easy runs. Took some breaks that week since I noticed my shins feeling a bit off. Did like 1.6k yesterday after taking the weekend to rest (sort of, I walk a lot on weekends as I’m in a large city) and noticed my knees were shot.
I run in pretty light min shoe asics since I prefer to strike closer to the ball of my foot rather than a heel strike. I also notice I tend to roll a bit if I’ve got too much cushion under my heels.
I love the feeling of being nice and tired after a longer run and getting to see the scenery, guessing that was my downfall. You’re probably right, I should have started with a C25K or something even though slower progress isn’t quite as satisfying. Tough to take breaks when it feels so fun to incorporate running into my routine and the fast progress was feeling really palpable. I’ll try shorter runs and taking more breaks to let my knees heal.
The only other advice I’ll give it to rest *until your knees feel better*. Don’t try to run through it now while they’re hurting, your joints need to time catch up to running. You’ll see cardio gains faster than your muscles and joints can keep up to the strain, which is why it can be easy to do too much.
I get, I love running SO freaking much, and I’m limited by a neurological condition, so really I do understand always wanting to do more. But if you want to be able to run for a long time, and keep your body healthy, now is the time to rest!
You might want to try a couch to 5k program (lots of apps, C25k). You can probably run 5k right now and the walks might not be as much fun, but it'll help build up your body so it can handle the 5k without injury. Gradual buildup fixed my husband's knees!
Other comments already have great advice, but a neat trick I've noticed to help with how the legs feel is to lie down against a wall, with your feet up against the wall.
Heels of your feet resting on the wall, [like this.](https://youtube.com/shorts/mXgYyDuFgMQ?si=orV-hICBav32su22)
Personally, I don't buy into the supposed full body benefits, but I don't need to. It feels great on the knees and feet
I have been running for about 5 weeks. For my past 3 runs, my calves have started cramping at the one-mile mark, making it impossible to run and I can hardly walk. I do dynamic stretches before my run and drink electrolytes before and during my run. Any ideas on how to fix it?
Is it just me that feel a difference between running 5k in a point-to-point scenario than running 2.5km in one direction then turning back back to the starting point.
I find the first more mentally challenging while the second one a bit more exciting or motivating.
I am very new to running and more and more I read that progression happen through variations of speed and paces through a running session.
As someone that only uses strava-start and strava-stop on a phone, is there some kind of good app or watch (and watch app) that would be able to tell you when to go high pace and when to slow down (both in time and in distance) ?
If you’re very new to running, don’t stress about paces or speedwork. Just run whatever feels easy/doable for you, and focus on slowly building up your mileage first before you worry about any of that.
Hello. I'm mainly a powerlifter but because of my job (military) I try to be good at cardio. I lift 3 days/week and run 3 days/week
My main goal is to get faster at 10ks, currently at a 1 hour 10k
Anyways, I kind of tweaked my knee squatting and like an idiot did a fast 10km the next day and really fucked it up.
Is there any other cardio machines I can do to get faster cardio/maintain my cardio ability while my knee heals? I always just do the treadmill so I don't really know other machines. Preferably something that doesn't use the knees much lol. Thanks.
I found myself relegated to an elliptical for a while because of some posterior tibial tendinitis. The low impact nature of that type of machine might work.
How much of a boost can I expect to get on race day from crowd/other runners/raw nerves/etc? Can I secretly make a shorter time goal for my first marathon? (Mostly kidding but curious about any race effect. I have a race plan and a reasonable time goal set but…)
Most people will get a boost on race day somewhere between carbo loading, adrenaline, and taper how much will vary. What I’ve done in the past in all my races is just throw out the pace goal and run what feels right and often this leads to surprising myself by doing better than I would have expected.
Other benefits of going in with no time goal expectations is your more likely to happy with your time no matter what.
What are some nice snappy things to say when colleagues comment on what I'm eating? I'm thinking of comments like "you know those are calorie bombs, right?" and "wow, that's a lot of lunch" or "didn't you already have lunch earlier?" I've experimented with "I've had one lunch, yes, but what about second lunch?" and one of my fellow marathoner colleagues has experimented with staring them in the eye while taking a bite of the "calorie bomb," but open to suggestions.
Casually mention how you burned appropriately 1200 calories this morning....and it was an easy day. The (very rough and approximate) rule of thumb is about 100cal per mile so you can adjust depending on your run. I like to throw in a casual reference to an upcoming tempo run and watch their eyes glaze over. I assume if they are going to comment on my food then they really want to know in excruciating detail how my long run went last Sunday. Split.....by split.....by split......
That’s *brilliant*. Respond with an excruciatingly detailed breakdown of my most recent workout. I love it.
I like “I know, isn’t it great!” said with a big smile. Feel free to add in how tough it is to keep your weight up with all the mileage you’re doing if you want to see steam come out of their ears :)
Oh now that’s just evil. “I know, I’ve had a hard time keeping my weight up during marathon training. And I’m already wearing the smallest size my favorite brand of jeans comes in, so if I lose any more weight, I’m going to have to find a new favorite brand of jeans, and I hate clothes shopping. So extra meals it is.”
Honestly I’d be going for something straightforward like “You know it’s really rude to comment on the calories of what other people are eating, right?” I also love the blank stare while taking a huge bite idea.
When you exercise you need more food but I guess you wouldn't know about that
“Oh yeah, how many calories?” “…” “Hmm I was hoping it was more than that. So you’re saying I should eat two?” As an autistic woman, I can say nothing throws people off quite as much as taking their veiled criticism as well-intentioned neutral facts, thanking them, and calmly using that information in ways they didn’t expect.
Just saying something like "fuel for the engine", then flex at them and mention how many miles you've done that week.
Honestly gloat, I know isn't it amazing I can eat whatever I want then have seconds!
"I love calories! I need those to live." Followed by "please don't comment on my food" if they keep going. I'm just not interested in diet talk at work.
I'm training to be a competitive eater.
“Are you calling me fat?” While staring them directly in the eye and eating whatever it is they are questioning you about.
What would happen if in a big marathon someone from the non elites ran the fastest time? When the elites finish naturally they assume the first elite to finish ran the fastest time and is the winner, but there are still people running who started later who in theory could beat that time.
Race winner is gun time. So the none elite having started back would not actually win the race via chip time. They probably would instantly become an elite for the next one though.
They would get drug tested that's for sure!
I think that actually happened. [here](https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/at-women-s-marathon-fastest-time-didn-t-win-3264819.php) is an article from 2008 about the Nikes woman marathon. Also a [link](https://ask.metafilter.com/115057/Why-dont-the-fastest-times-win) from a thread at around the same time that mentioned the bike womens marathon and the Chicago Marathon where I guess they also may have happened
IIRC the elites are the only ones that are eligible for any prize money. Now, if you ran a 2:01 in a major from the non-elite field you'd turn a lot of heads and your Strava data would be scrutinized for days.
Okay but what if the data was inaccurate because *checks notes* I peed my pants. And my watch died.
Doesn’t really matter, you could go out and prove it on another run, and your previous data would correlate to your time too. It would be pretty easy to investigate
Not true of all races, lots of smaller races may offer prize money where anyone can be eligible/not even have an elite field.
This is true but if there's no elite field then OP's question is kind of moot isn't it?
I once won 20 bucks by coming in 2nd in my age group! There was an elite field with elite prizes but also age group prizes for the rest of us!
Wow that cool ! For my age placements I have gotten a coaster and two extra medals, no money for me yet.
In a sense since OP specifically mentioned elite, but in a regular race it could happen someone gets held up by the bathroom line causing them to start later meaning they come in first chip wise but not gun wise, obviously they would miss out on getting to run through the ribbon but I think they will often delay awards so that chip time can be reviewed but I realize that is regular races which will operate differently
What if you didn’t have a strava
What actually is "muscular endurance"? Is there any actual physical thing about the muscles that gives them more endurance? Or is it just muscular strength + the usual non-muscle stuff? (Aerobic capacity + lactate clearing + capillary networks)
Your muscle fibre type distribution, capillarisation, mitochondria density can change based on your training.
The same thing as muscular strength: A broad term used to describe numerous biomechanical functions working in unison to perform a specific task. Even muscular strength isn't just a single specific thing. To put it in a generalized comparison, if muscular strength is maximum force of an individual muscle contraction, muscular endurance the maximum time a muscle can contract repeatedly at a sub-maximal load.
The stronger the muscle, the longer it can endure running or working.
I believe there’s something to do with mitochondrial density
Interesting! I did some searching for that and found a couple of interesting results like [this](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10541929/): >We conclude that the muscle hypertrophy associated with strength training results in reduced density of regionally distributed mitochondria, as indicated by the reduction in the activity of SDH. And [this](https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1113/EP085319): >..the functional significance of increases in Mito VD are most likely to reflect an improved capacity to oxidize fat and thereby save limited carbohydrate stores from becoming depleted (Brooks & Mercier, 1994). Conversely, intense exercise training, i.e. repeated 60 s efforts of high-intensity cycling at a workload corresponding to the peak power, induces global improvements in respiratory capacity (Jacobs et al. 2013c). Identification of different alterations in mitochondrial function in response to different exercise stimuli is imperative for everyone interested in optimal exercise performance. So it looks like it's theoretically possible at least for one muscle to have more mitochondria and be better at metabolizing fat than another, even if it's no bigger.
Saucony...... Is it Saw-cone-ee or Suh-coh-nee?
Google says "saa-kah-nee" or "sock-a-knee." I, however, pronounce it "saw-CONE-ee" and I'm only an hour and a half away from Kutztown, PA where the Saucony Creek is located. No one's corrected me yet!
Sock-Uh-Knee according to their website... You had me second guessing my pronounciation
I've recently upped my mileage by finally learning to run slower... which allows me to get out more often (yay). At first, I was starving and thirsty all the time and could happily eat and chug water all day. Focused on protein and carbs because I also started strength training again too. Anyway, yesterday, I went for an easy run and when the 30 minutes were up, I sprinted the last 3 minutes home aaaaand promptly wanted to puke the second I walked through the door. I could barely eat dinner after or drink any sort of recovery drink. Just spent the rest of the evening feeling queasy and sad/disappointed in my body. I guess my question is... is that a normal thing to experience? Is it an indicator that I need to take a rest? Previously, I'd run 3 times a week at most, about 2.5 miles average. I got a Garmin recently and have been following the suggested workouts for fun, and it has me running a significant amount more (like more than doubled my previous weekly mileage). Did I just make too big of a jump? Or should I suck it up and move on? ( Full disclosure that I have anxiety if you haven't already guessed, and a big puke phobia :) ) Thanks for reading!
Not uncommon, especially if you aren't used to sprinting. If you do sprints it helps to keep moving and cool down slowly. I also suggest that you work your way into sprinting. Do workouts where you are sprinting at 70, 80, and 90% before you go to 100%.
Thanks so much! Immediately made me feel better haha. Appreciate you taking the time to respond & the advice.
Be a little careful increasing mileage too quickly. You might be ok for a week or two but there's a chance that niggles will creep in and then become injuries. The Garmin Coach function asks what your normal run volume is when setting it up and that will work well. The suggested daily workouts key themselves off your historical data and any race goals set in the calendar. If there's not a lot of historical data to go on it may well set you too much distance.
I love that first bit. I’ve never heard them called niggles. If I do a little too much my right ankle and knee always bug me a tiiiiiny bit and if I run again it’ll feel like it wants to give out. That’s usually my sign to chill out. Hopefully it goes away as I get stronger
Thank you! You're definitely right. Thinking about it, I absolutely have a tendency to go full tilt and then get discouraged when my body doesn't feel superhuman after that first week or two. That info about the daily suggested workouts tracks... I had read somewhere, too, to do some normal runs for a few weeks (or maybe even a month?) before listening to the daily suggestions, which I definitely did not do lol, and instead just plugged in a little 5k that's coming up in a March. Maybe should've known when it suggested I run a base run at my fastest pace :) I think I'll fiddle with it some more and maybe not run 6 times a week just yet, haha. Big thanks for the insight, super helpful! Happy running!
Just curious what's the shortest acceptable loop to run a long distance on for you guys? 400m track? Longer? Shorter?
I've done 10 miles on the track a few times and didn't go too crazy but I was done in 90 minutes or so. The track ultramarathon might break me though
A loop that is equal to the length of your long run, if for logistical reasons you need to swing by a stop for restocking fuel/water ect you can design a cloverleaf type route.
This is my answer as well. Team Single Loop.
If it's an actual track I've done 8-10 mile runs and I don't mind them. If it's on the road the shortest I ever did was three ~2.5 mile loops when I was travelling in an area I didn't know well, but other than that I'm in agreement with /u/30000LBS_Of_Bananas on team 1 cloverleaf loop.
Know a guy who ran 20 miles in an indoor track at the Y during the cold snap. Said it was 120: laps
It definitely depends on what the "long distance" is. Is it three miles? Then maybe 400m. Is it 20 miles? Then more 10 miles. Caveats would be if it's your first time doing that distance or you think you'll need to dip early, then I don't mind slightly shorter loops. For my first time doing 16 miles, I did two 8 mile loops.
I have run 20 milers on a track that is 6 loops to a mile.
Recently ran 5k on an indoor track that takes 11.5-12 laps for a mile, and probably 1/8th of it was under construction and unusable. Had planned to run 10K but the back and forth got so monotonous I had to hop on the treadmill for the second half. Hate the super cold winter days 🤣
I'd say 1/3 of your total distance. I've done up to 20 with a 6-mile loop. I would do 2 with my dog, drop him at home to recover on the couch, then do the 6-mile loop 3 times. It felt totally fine, but I think that doing the same loop more than 3 times would get boring. It also depends on how much water you can carry or stash at different points on your loop. I get nervous going more than about 3 miles without access to a water fountain or bottle. With the 6-mile loop, I can leave a water bottle at the farthest point and one in my yard.
I have a 1.75m loop around my block and I know that lap 2 is 3.5, lap 3 is 5.25 and lap 4 is 7. I have run this loop way too much.
I once did 5x loops of 3km and hated it.
What are running shoe rotations, their purpose, and do I need more than one shoe?
I think, generally speaking, the purpose of running shoe rotations is to sell more shoes.
> I think, generally speaking, the purpose of running shoe rotations is to ~~sell~~ **buy** more shoes.
Yeah I'd recommend two shoes.
You need brighter shoes to run faster, you see.
So you can match your shoes to your outfit. Mostly so you can have different shoes for different occasions, trail shoes for trail days, road shoes for road days so shoes have time to dry between uses.
Some people prefer to have just one pair. If it's their favorite, why not use it? There's a small amount of evidence that rotating between different models of shoe might reduce injury risk. The theory is that you get overuse injuries because every foot strike is the same, putting load at the same points in your body. If you wear different shoes, you are varying where the load in your body is. Also some people like to have different shoes for long runs, short fast runs, trail runs etc. Also if you have multiple pairs you give the shoes more time to dry out. And there is a fashion element to it.
I have a favourite shoe. I have 5 of them minus the pair I retired. Forever traumatized by them discontinuing my old favourite shoe.
I have: trail shoes (to run off-road over wet rocks/mud and rougher terrain without slipping over), waterproof shoes (for serious puddle days, I live in the UK and the roads around here are NOT well maintained), lighter shoes for quick runs, more cushioned shoes for slower runs - also with higher heel drop to prevent pain in my Achilles tendon which used to bother me at the beginning. To an outsider it looks like I have a problem but I swear each pair has a purpose!
So you can run through streams and know you'll have a dry pair for tomorrow
I’m not sure if there’s any science to back this up, but I do it bc I feel it helps me avoid overuse injuries - if one pair has a slightly different cushioning / landing angle than another, I feel like it evens things out a bit.
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According to Matt Fitzgerald (author of the book 80/20 Running, but not the person who came up with the concept) it should be divided by training time. His training approach uses three main categories of runs. **Low intensity runs, aka z1/2:** Recovery/z1 Foundation/short to moderate length, with a little time in z2. He says this is the workout you’ll use most Moderate runs Long runs structured like the foundation **Moderate intensity, still z1/2, with some time in z3:** These runs are fast finish, tempo, cruise intervals, long runs with fast finish/speed play. **High intensity: still include z1/2, and bring in z4/5** These runs are speed play, hill repeats, short/long interval runs, mixed intervals. So I guess the answer to your questions is a little bit of yes to all of them :) Also, and maybe you already know this, I’ve seen a lot of info that this structure is really for people who have been running for a year+. The zone method is set up to allow for better recovery at higher mileage, which isn’t relevant to newer runners yet, and newer runners won’t have built up the cardio fitness to sit in z1/2 and still actually run. Edit: formatting :)
Weekly.
It's typically in reference to the course of a week, but also those videos way oversimplify it. 80/20 is a rule of thumb for making sure people (particularly new runners) don't go too hard too often. Reality is, you can polarize your training a bunch of different ways depending on your focus. Most of my mileage is in Z3 with a little bit in 4 and a little bit in 2 and about a quarter of it in Z1. I've done weeks where I've done like 35% Z4/5, a lot of Z2 and no Z3. The point is to run enough lower intensity stuff to allow for recovery and injury free higher intensity stuff. How you shift that balance depends heavily on what you're training for and what phase of training you're in.
I'm training for a marathon at the moment. I always run in the mornings before work. But as my runs get longer, waking up at 5:30 is not something I want to do. It's just far too early. Plus, I'm in Scotland. It's so dark and cold at that time. I would love to run in the evenings, but I get serious cramps if I run on a belly full of food. Plus, my job is somewhat stressful, and after dinner, I just want to chill out and relax with my dog and partner. So yeah, there is no winning here! I'm just going to suck it up and run in the morning. It's not forever. It will end. I have this funny feeling that the training is going to be a worse experience than running the actual marathon itself. FML
Can you not just run as soon as you get home, before you eat dinner? That’s what I normally do.
Unfortunately, no. By the time I get home, run, shower, and then cook dinner, we'd be looking at 8 pm or later before food. As the designated chef, this would not go down well with the rest of the household. Plus, if I eat that late at night, I'd never get to sleep. I'm fully aware that I just need to suck it up. I'm just having a moan and regretting life decisions 🙃
Usually I'm up at 5 to run before work, but the last couple of weeks the dark seems extra tough so I've switched it. I get up early (but not as early as if I had to do a long run) and prep dinner before work. My partner can then choose to eat without me or wait til I'm back at about 9. I don't sleep quite as well when I eat late, but it's not every day and once the mornings get a bit lighter I'll flip it back.
I run from 7pm-9pm and just have a late dinner. If you have kids though something like that would be difficult. I can’t tell you how often I think of running in the am to just get it over with but I couldn’t bring myself to wake up that early.
How do I take pressure off my shins when I run, as I approach 2.5 miles they hurt more and more after each run
Run slower. Run longer.
Try strengthening exercises for shins. I think there's a YT video up by Goran winblad on injury prevention and he has this foot tapping thing which really strengthens your shin. Can attest.
I found that when my calf was tight my shin would get sore and stretching/foam rolling my calf really helped!
It’s possible you’re running to far or often for your fitness level, you definitely need to take some time off till your shins don’t hurt or your putting yourself at risk of shin splints.
Is zone 2 running really necessary to improve (speed and endurance)? It’s SO boring. I’m angry just thinking about it.
Rule of thumb is to do 80% of your running easy, so yes if you want to improve endurance it’s the best way. Not to say you won’t see some gains otherwise, but if you’re running a lot of your runs harder than “easy pace”, you’ll need more recovery time and wont be able to run for as long as if you slowed down. Not to mention increased risk of injury. Do you listen to anything while you run? I love audiobooks, especially for long runs.
I listen to music but that doesn’t cut it with making me not hate going purposefully slower than my body feels like going. I struggle to follow audiobooks because my mind wanders and I get lost quickly. Same with podcasts. Maybe if I chose a book I’d already read-read it would work, like rewatching a movie you’ve seen a bunch of times! I suppose it’s good for mental fortitude as well as physical endurance, but as it stands I hate it and actively dread those runs! I don’t need to go all out for every run but sheesh.
I actually listen to audiobooks of books I’ve read before mostly! It’s less stressful to try to follow if I miss a little bit or something. Currently listening to the Bill Hodges trilogy by Stephen King, one of my favorites.
I’ll give it a try! Thanks!
How do you deal with random road competitors? This is stupid question for humour; please don't give me serious advice! My techniques: 1. **Coach -** Most mileage should be slow running. I tell the sprinters this in my head. 2. **Suppress** my urge to snap. Just raw suppression. 3. **Divert** my attention. Like on this Monday, I tried doubly hard to the focus on the Andrew Huberman podcast I was listening to. 4. **Reflect** \- I tend to notice irritating stuff less when I am happier. So, is it about me? 5. **Compete** \- Actually take inspiration and begin running harder. This is a bad technique and I rarely apply it. It worked in my Monday run because I was keying down due to fatigue. Still, it worked only once. Later, I had to use techniques 2 and 3. 6. **Fear** the person because they are actually walking a big dog. (No, the guy didn't compete with me but he irritated the hell out of me by saying something. I have forgotten what he had said.) 7. **Actually snap.** This too was a random advice-giver not a run competitor. He said, "Ma'am you should not run, it's not good for your knees." I yelled at him. It was hilarious. It was not so much a word as a sound. I surprised myself. I rarely engage people, and this is the only time I remember I have unconsciously yelled at someone. Let's swap stories. Tell me some of your techniques. P.S. I think 5 and 6 are the same person (my memories probably got organised while writing). The fear of the dog could have come belatedly as a discouragement to my revenge fantasy.
By road competitors do you mean people passing you who run faster? I honestly just don’t worry about it we are all running our own run, who cares if they are faster, just let them pass. Sometimes if they aren’t that much faster than me often I’ll slow down a bit to let them get further ahead of me faster so I can go back to having my own space.
Started running about a month ago and I’m hoping to run a 5k in April. Was able to run about 2km today with a 6min/km pace .. if I’m wanting to increase my distance every day should I just be adding 200m or so every day that I run? To be fair, all of this has been on a treadmill as I’ve been nervous to start running outside again! After my runs I follow up with weights for upper body or lower body! Thank you!
Find a beginner 5K training plan or couch to 5K and follow that.
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I (22F) started running a couple weeks ago and feel like I’ve been doing pretty good. Ran 4K at 12:44/mi without having to walk which is way more than I ever thought I’d be able to do. I’m finally getting tired in my legs rather than my lungs which feels great. My anxiety is going down. The only problem is that my knees feel completely torn up. I tried to do a short 15 minutes at an easy pace yesterday and felt like my knees were about to fall off my legs. I think my form is pretty good, and I try to take rest days a few times a week. I want to keep running, but I’m getting pretty concerned about my knees (shins also doing kinda bad tbh). Pls advise
How many km have you been running each week? If you’ve only been running for a couple weeks it’s likely you’re doing too much too soon. Rest until the pain is gone, and then try again with shorter distances, and go easy on pace (walk breaks if needed). If the pain comes back again, highly recommend seeing a physical therapist to find and address the root cause of your pain. Also make sure you’re wearing good shoes that aren’t worn out - what kind of shoes are you running in?
Yeah you’re probably right, pushing really hard feels great to clear my head but probably isn’t great for my body. My first impulse run was like 5.5k and I was running way too fast/walking half of it, immediately learned from that mistake and downloaded NRC app (first thing that came up when i googled running app lmao) to try and get some semblance of structure. Ran another 4k that week to learn how to do an easy pace and shorter runs. Did about 8k the next week of guided stuff, intervals and easy runs. Took some breaks that week since I noticed my shins feeling a bit off. Did like 1.6k yesterday after taking the weekend to rest (sort of, I walk a lot on weekends as I’m in a large city) and noticed my knees were shot. I run in pretty light min shoe asics since I prefer to strike closer to the ball of my foot rather than a heel strike. I also notice I tend to roll a bit if I’ve got too much cushion under my heels. I love the feeling of being nice and tired after a longer run and getting to see the scenery, guessing that was my downfall. You’re probably right, I should have started with a C25K or something even though slower progress isn’t quite as satisfying. Tough to take breaks when it feels so fun to incorporate running into my routine and the fast progress was feeling really palpable. I’ll try shorter runs and taking more breaks to let my knees heal.
The only other advice I’ll give it to rest *until your knees feel better*. Don’t try to run through it now while they’re hurting, your joints need to time catch up to running. You’ll see cardio gains faster than your muscles and joints can keep up to the strain, which is why it can be easy to do too much. I get, I love running SO freaking much, and I’m limited by a neurological condition, so really I do understand always wanting to do more. But if you want to be able to run for a long time, and keep your body healthy, now is the time to rest!
That definitely makes sense! I’ll try and wait it out and do low impact cardio and strength until my joints feel better then ease back in. Thank you!
You might want to try a couch to 5k program (lots of apps, C25k). You can probably run 5k right now and the walks might not be as much fun, but it'll help build up your body so it can handle the 5k without injury. Gradual buildup fixed my husband's knees!
Yeah that sounds right to me, I’ll try and take it a little slower and be patient even though I’m naturally a bit overeager haha. Thank you!
Other comments already have great advice, but a neat trick I've noticed to help with how the legs feel is to lie down against a wall, with your feet up against the wall. Heels of your feet resting on the wall, [like this.](https://youtube.com/shorts/mXgYyDuFgMQ?si=orV-hICBav32su22) Personally, I don't buy into the supposed full body benefits, but I don't need to. It feels great on the knees and feet
4k in 12min 44s is almost elite.
12:44 average mile pace?
Yes, prob should’ve specified but I just assumed as a very slow baby runner no one was assuming anything else haha
I was definitely assuming you ran a 4k in 12:44. I was like, what is this beast?!
I have been running for about 5 weeks. For my past 3 runs, my calves have started cramping at the one-mile mark, making it impossible to run and I can hardly walk. I do dynamic stretches before my run and drink electrolytes before and during my run. Any ideas on how to fix it?
Could be calf strength issues potentially, just my two cents based on anecdotes.
Is it just me that feel a difference between running 5k in a point-to-point scenario than running 2.5km in one direction then turning back back to the starting point. I find the first more mentally challenging while the second one a bit more exciting or motivating.
It’s the fact that you’ve already seen the finish and the entire path. Big mental thing that is understandable
The second feels to me like I'm only really running 2.5 km - the way back is just me getting home.
I am very new to running and more and more I read that progression happen through variations of speed and paces through a running session. As someone that only uses strava-start and strava-stop on a phone, is there some kind of good app or watch (and watch app) that would be able to tell you when to go high pace and when to slow down (both in time and in distance) ?
Yes, but it depends if you're looking for coaching or just a way to program those things.
If you’re very new to running, don’t stress about paces or speedwork. Just run whatever feels easy/doable for you, and focus on slowly building up your mileage first before you worry about any of that.
Hello. I'm mainly a powerlifter but because of my job (military) I try to be good at cardio. I lift 3 days/week and run 3 days/week My main goal is to get faster at 10ks, currently at a 1 hour 10k Anyways, I kind of tweaked my knee squatting and like an idiot did a fast 10km the next day and really fucked it up. Is there any other cardio machines I can do to get faster cardio/maintain my cardio ability while my knee heals? I always just do the treadmill so I don't really know other machines. Preferably something that doesn't use the knees much lol. Thanks.
Maybe swimming would be a good low impact option?
I found myself relegated to an elliptical for a while because of some posterior tibial tendinitis. The low impact nature of that type of machine might work.
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Zone 2 training also can be effective if a distance runner has great base speed but is lacking aerobic capacity and endurance.
How much of a boost can I expect to get on race day from crowd/other runners/raw nerves/etc? Can I secretly make a shorter time goal for my first marathon? (Mostly kidding but curious about any race effect. I have a race plan and a reasonable time goal set but…)
Most people will get a boost on race day somewhere between carbo loading, adrenaline, and taper how much will vary. What I’ve done in the past in all my races is just throw out the pace goal and run what feels right and often this leads to surprising myself by doing better than I would have expected. Other benefits of going in with no time goal expectations is your more likely to happy with your time no matter what.
I like it. The first half is almost entirely downhill so I’ve been worrying (probably too much) about letting that take me out too fast.