Learn | Make | Fix | Run

Last week I was under the silly impression that I could run a PR, not my 24:30 goal time, but a sub 25:25 5K as a simulation run, smack dab in the middle of my eight-week 5K training block. I knew better, but I let myself believe this and watched it unravel in front of my eyes. Here are a few reminders for the runners out there. PRs Come with Proper Tapering and Peaking You are not tapered, and you haven’t yet hit your peak for the training block. Therefore, you can’t expect a PR, even if you have been working hard. To make things worse, I did not follow my training plan. I unexpectedly took an extra rest day on Monday, which I stole from Thursday. This shift caused my Wednesday “Fast” five-mile run to be run on Thursday.  I thought I got away with it on Friday with no delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), but that wasn’t the case. I had DOMS on Saturday morning.  Cut back on Strength and Conditioning When Running a Race or Time Trial My glute activation warmups have become sneaky stre

I am going into this week with some apprehension. The Run with Hal Advanced 5K training plan has a simulation 5K race this weekend. I don't know what my time should be for this simulation run. My goal time and pace for the end of the training block five weeks from now are 24:30 and 7:53/mi. I’ve looked back at my training, and my tempo runs have not peaked faster than 8:05/mi. for 5 minutes, my fast runs of 4-5 miles have been run at 9:06/mi. I wonder where I will get the speed for my 5K simulation. Then I realized that my 400 meter interval time paces have averaged around 7:05/mi., and my 200 meter interval paces have averaged around 6:27/mi. I have the speed, but how will I go the distance? I must trust the training and see where I am with this simulation run. Rather than try to hit my end goal time and pace, I will split the difference between my current PB and my goal. I will try to run a sub-25-minute 5K with an 8:00/mi. pace. I find this part of pacing the most challenging pa

While most of the content on the blog is also on Instagram, either in full or in summary, some blog articles were written before the Instagram account, and some IG posts are not blog-worthy. Post Types Today, I posted my 100th Instagram post. Here is the breakdown of post types: 🚗 Car Repair: 9 🧑🏼‍🍳 Cooking: 5 📰 General: 3 🏢 Instructional Design: 9 ❓ Misc.: 5 🛠 Repair (General): 4 🏃🏻‍♂️ Running: 62 💻 Tech: 3 Post Titles Like a rock concert setlist. Here are the titles of the 100 posts:

Last week, I carefully revamped my running form. I am apprehensive since my last form change resulted in injury, ultimately sidelining me for two weeks. Therefore, I have been incorporating these changes slowly and sparingly. I have been lifting my legs higher as I run. I watched YouTube videos from James Dunne, who suggests lifting your legs higher to increase cadence. I realize my cadence doesn’t need to be 180 steps per minute, but I average in the upper 150s for long runs and would benefit from an increased cadence. He also recently uploaded a video analyzing running form and showed that the lower leading leg should be parallel to the trailing leg at push-off. This causes you to land with a flexing knee with your foot under your body to prevent overstriding. This reduces ground contact time (GCT). According to the running dynamics on my Garmin, I could use some improvement to reduce my GCT. Reducing GCT makes you a faster, more efficient runner; there is less time for the ground to

I have decided to play the long game. My next goal is to run a sub-4-hour marathon, even though my last marathon time may seem out of my reach. My most recent injury has finally given me the discipline to complete strength and conditioning regularly. When I feel a niggle, I address it immediately. Based on my confidence in doing the extra work I need, I know a sub-4-hour marathon is in my future. My memory of CIM and the data present different pictures. I remember going out too fast, having an ITBS issue at mile 13 and a GI issue at mile 15, and running a 4:36:35 PB. I remember cursing myself for abandoning core exercises halfway through my training block. I remember changing my goal from sub 4:15 to getting to the bridge without walking, which then became making it to the finish line without walking -- it was painful and slow. However, I needed to remember what the data said. I was 25 seconds ahead of my pace chart with a 10:19 buffer at 13.1 miles. I ran a 30K PB in the race. At mile

This is a friendly reminder that what you value might differ from Strava. I have been on the low heart rate bandwagon for a while. By keeping my heart rate low for 80% of my runs, I can develop my aerobic system and allow my body to do more at a lower heart rate. For example, last week, I had my best base run of 2024. I ran 5.2 miles and averaged 10:24/mi. My heart rate average was 138 BPM, and I spent 99% of my time in Z2 or lower. I was stoked to see these statistics at levels I had not seen since training for my last marathon. After I loaded the run into Strava, I scrolled down to the section that indicates when your fitness has increased. I looked, but this run did not trigger the criteria for Strava to show that I improved my fitness. Then, I looked at the relative effort section, and Strava reported that my effort was lighter than my three-week average. I ran further and faster with a lower heart rate, and my effort was lighter; what? I felt great, as if I had improved! I thought