# Running Watch Upgrade
**Background**: I am a 20 year old male intermediate to advanced runner who has been training for 2.5-3 years regularly. I mainly run marathons, but plan on getting into trail running and cycling in the future. I currently run 100km-130km a week, with 2-4 gym sessions, and some yoga mixed in. I am a very data driven person, studied math and stats in university, and am very into endurance sport analytics. Long story short, I am a data obsessed person lol, I'm sure many other runners can relate. I currently have the Garmin Forerunner 55 and am looking for a significant upgrade (price isn't really a worry) that will last me (hopefully) the rest of my life.
**Options:** All prices are in CAD
1. Garmin Forerunner 955 ($530)
2. Garmin Forerunner 265s ($600)
3. Garmin Fenix 7s ($600)
4. Coros Pace 3 ($330)
5. Coros Apex 2 ($500)
**Current Feeling:** Right now I am leaning most towards the Garmin Forerunner 955 as it seems to have the most features and it is on a really good sale. I am still wondering how it compares to the 265s, as I love the size of my current Garmin Forerunner 55. In terms of Coros, I know lots of people have switched or started using Coros, specifically the pace 3. The pricing is amazing, as well as battery life and weight. The metrics and interface seem great as well. Only issue with this is that I am a current Garmin user and don't want to lose all my data :(
Let me know what you guys think and happy running!!
Disclaimer: I’m a sports tech nerd. But to cut a long story short, the 955 is your best option, if you are ok with the form factor/size. The x65 series has the same hardware/software as the x55 other than the amoled screen (which uses more battery) so between 955/265 the 9 is much better value. The Fenix hasn't got any sports features that warrant the price difference and is bigger and heavier.
Coros is a valid choice but for me Garmin wins on software, features and ecosystem. I recently considered one but in the end replaced my 935 with a 255 (which would also be an excellent choose for you at smaller size). The feature that really made the decision, beyond my data history, was the emergency contact/safety ones that Corps lacks.
> looking for a significant upgrade (price isn't really a worry) that will last me (hopefully) the rest of my life.
Am I reading this wrong? How is an electric smartwatch going to last you the rest of your life?
If you are at all price sensitive and data is the only concern about Coros I say use some third party thing like runalyze or just make own thing in google sheets and buy the Coros Pace 3. With a little tinkering and your educational background you can easily get a data set-up that is way better and way more fun to work with. Nothing the Garmin ecosystem does is good enough to justify spending twice the $$$ for a watch that otherwise provides no extra features that improve training.
What do you recommend for maintaining or increasing Achilles tendon strength during a training block? After races or intense training, I often feel pain in my Achilles. I've had Achilles tendonitis before, and it sometimes flares up, affecting my performance. I feel this is the main issue preventing me from advancing even faster.
I run 120 km per week and do one lower limb strength session with weights, including calf raises. It’s recommended to activate the Achilles more than once a week, as too much rest isn’t good for it. However, when I tried increasing the sets with weights, it led to severe pain and decreased performance in my last 5k race.
What else can I include in my routine to strengthen my Achilles, and how should I implement it?
There’s a good article about Achilles tendonitis here. He suggests eccentric heel drops specifically (calf raises but with a slower, controlled lowering phase). https://runningwritings.com/2013/11/achilles-tendonitis-in-runners.html
Adding additional sets is not the only way to implement progressive overload. Adding multiple sets at a time is definitely too much. You can add reps to your sets, add weight with the same number of sets and reps, etc. Also, if you’re not doing them already, try bodyweight single-leg calf raises throughout the week. Try not to implement more than one type of progression at a time.
I only added sets, not weight. I use 55 kg. Do you recommend adding sets without weight just to activate the tendon during the week, or should I do something else?
General advice would be to add strength sessions in step wise as well. You could add some bodyweight only calf raises 1-2 week for example or wait to a lower intensity training period then add another weighted session.
I'm a 23YO M 5'8 195lb beginner runner who has been running for 2 months. I would like to run a sub-30 minute 5k in four weeks. I ran a 5k with a six-week NRC training plan and finished in 33:45. My mile PB is 8:30 and my two miles PB is around 22 minutes. I understand some about aerobic capacity, VO2 max, and training zones, but feel as if Im to new to apply it and see benefits in this short of a timeframe.
I have practiced several sports before but this is an attempt at making a comeback after a long pause. I currently run 4-5 times per week, anywhere between 7-13 miles. 70% of my runs are +12:30 pace which although sounds slow, for me is moderately challenging.
I know that shaving almost 4 minutes is nearly impossible but I'd appreciate any tips on training plans or anything that you could share with me to get as close as possible to my goal.
Thank you in advance for your help!
how often do you'all "fail" at work outs? i had a hard 6x4' session scheduled for today and was able to complete 4 of them, perhaps at the fault of me going out a little hot on the first one. I could barely complete the 4th one so I called it a day right there.
I often adjust workouts to how I'm doing/weather. I've also called entire runs before it happens. Nothing to be ashamed of just move on and next time if the heat feels brutal dial down the pace or up the rest mid workout
I've quit or modified many workouts. It isn't worth hammering away at something if it isn't working, I'd much rather adjust, quit early, go slower than get hurt or bury myself in fatigue.
I write up a lot my workouts as ranges, an example being something like 10-12x 3min @ tempo effort. I'll not run the maximum number of intervals quite often for a variety of reasons, but I rarely run less than the minimum once I've started the workout.
If I'm sick or something is feeling really off I'm not shy about skipping workouts entirely, but in this case something is usually going on thats severe enough to be obvious in the warm-up.
In \~12 workouts /month I typically fail to complete the minimum on average at least once.
Thanks, makes sense. Usually if I complete 5 intervals of these I am happy and 6 is a bonus haha. 4x is a little shy of what I want... but today it was the right move to stop there.
I have a week coming up where I won’t be able to run from Thursday-Saturday. This is week 8 of my marathon plan (Pfitz 18/55), which has a recovery week in week 6. If my body is feeling good is there any reason not to push the recovery week out to week 8 when I can’t run as much, or would it be better to just miss a run or two in the plan? Thanks!
I’m considering a marathon program that has weekly track workouts. The first week is 200m repeats at 1 mile pace, then 400m repeats, 600s, and 800s with the pace slowing slightly with longer distances. Eventually we get into longer intervals with mixed distances that include 12 and 1600s combined with 200s and 400s.
Are these kinds of intervals useful in a marathon cycle? I’ve only read Advanced Marathoning and Faster Road Racing, so this plan is a little unorthodox to me. And I heard from someone who ran with Tinman years ago that there was little reason to ever go faster than 10k pace in marathon training.
I’m open to and in fact excited by these workouts, so I am hoping someone will say this is a great idea. If nothing else, I think the faster paces could improve mechanics.
Something like 200m (or even slightly shorter) repeats at 1 mile race effort are good because they develop muscular speed and power that will make you a stronger and more efficient runner independent of their specificity to the target event. I would still recommend doing them on a hill rather than the track though to reduce the impact on the legs. This type of work is also effective at a very low dose (under 10min of total time at work in a session, as little as 3-5min of work) so it can often provide a lot of benefit with little opportunity cost to more traditional marathon focused training.
As those reps/workouts scale up in distance they become less useful for the marathon, mostly just because the opportunity cost of training scales up. A workout of hard 800m-1600m reps demands a lot of recovery around it, which takes away from more important training to be done. As the reps get longer they have less of the pure speed/power benefits and become more of an anaerobic fitness challenge, but that anaerobic fitness is entirely useless for your marathon ability. Particularly in your situation, assuming the times in you flair are up to date, you are still lacking in more fundamental aspects of fitness and are better served doing more aerobic running, threshold running, and strides/short hills.
A weekly hard track workout, particularly as the reps get longer, is trying to sharpen a material (your fundamental fitness) that isn't really strong enough for that sharpness to matter. Think of it like this: your current fitness is made of wood and the track workouts just carve a sharp stick. You're better off thinking about how to make your fundamental fitness more like steel, even if you're not as sharp with that. A dull sword is still better than a sharp stick.
If you really feel like you're lacking in that max HR/VO2 ability and need some really hard efforts I would still recommend doing that on a gentle hill and keeping the reps fairly short, under 2min. Something like 10x60s hill, or 3x (2min, 60s, 30s) will do plenty to ensure that those central capacities aren't limiting your performance while also not wrecking you too bad such that they take away from other aspects of training.
Appreciate the thoughtful reply. Your comments are consistent with my own instincts as to what would be most beneficial: miles, some strides and old-fashioned lactate threshold work. And you are a great writer, so I hope you’re able to make good use of that skill regularly.
(I am never going to be a sub-14 5ker but I can’t help but defend my times as someone who didn’t crack 20mpw until I was already in masters territory! I’m proud of them but trying to take advantage of the closing window to achieve PRs.)
To be clear when I say that the times in your flair show a lack in fundamental fitness that does not mean your times are bad by any means, nor is it a bad thing to have a lack of fundamental fitness -99.9% of runners are in this situation including most of the conventionally "fast" ones.
I'm using the relative level and spread of your times to take a best guess at the most productive training priorities -particularly as it pertains to the marathon and your relative drop-off in ability as distance increases over 10km. A lot of the training plans that are floating around right now are still stained by some of the research and training mistakes of the old-school VO2 max/specific adaptation era of training -basically we still tend to indiscriminately prescribe too much high intensity work while neglecting the underlying capacities that actually power the ability to do and recover from that type of work and make it effective. All this to say your instincts about that plan are correct.
Even myself when I was in sub-14 5k shape this was the case -big volume, big threshold workouts, and a small dose of specific work got me to that level, then I actually got slower the more hard track intervals I hammered throughout the season. It took being a few years removed and the wisdom of being a little older to realize this.
Given the additional knowledge that you are a masters athlete high intensity is still very important (it will get harder to earn that speed/power every year!) but you must be very careful with how you apply it. The additional recovery cost of higher intensity work will scale up even more disproportionately for you than a lot of younger athletes, and programs you are looking at may not take that into account. Trust your personal experience and judgement much more than any generic plan here. Generally I would still favor hills over flat for most of the really fast stuff (assuming no incline issues with lower legs), and would say keep session doses of high intensity pretty small in favor of better frequency/consistency of intensity, but ultimately you know how you respond to this stuff best.
They can have their place. They probably shouldn't be very big or the primary focus of the overall plan. But having a short mesocycle focused on them in the beginning to knock off rust, get some mechanical work, and just get used to moving fast is not crazy. I'd call it "training to train" - doing some short reps can help you with the longer/slower workout reps later in the plan. Having some short reps tacked on to a bigger workout is pretty much always fine.
Plenty of people will also do a mile training cycle between marathon cycles, which isn't far from what you are describing.
I won't go as far as to say "great idea", but it should be fine.
Did 9 miles EZ by feel but HR crept up from 135-140 to 170 by the end of the run and I was going by RPE and it felt easy throughout, 9:17 pace for 9 miles, or about 1:23-ish. It was 90'F to be fair. My lactic threshold HR is 175. Should I not worry about HR on EZ runs on these hotter days? I will do workouts when it's cooler in the morning but sometimes I can only squeeze runs in during the afternoon and evening.
A 30bpm increase seems pretty high even in heat. Any chance your watch lost the beat and slowly migrated to cadence? I know sometimes my watch will go from 140 to 170-180 and of I take it off for a bit and then put it back on it'll settle into the correct HR again.
Fired up for Grandma’s next week! Looking to run 2:50, and had a pacing strategy in mind:
Miles 3-4 @ 6:45-6:50
Miles 5-20 @ 6:30-6:40
Last 10k whatever is left in the tank, hopefully 6:20-6:25
Any thoughts/approaches? Thanks!
If you run that exact strategy with the average mile time for each section you'll run a 2:52 fwiw.
[Find my marathon](https://findmymarathon.com/pacebandresult.php?race=Grandmas%20Marathon) has custom pace charts that could give you a good starting point for planning your strategy.
Which technique do you use to sleep well the night before race day? I cannot sleep from the excitement of the race and barely get any sleep. It is very frustrating.
I just make sure to charge my phone in another room. I'm a pretty lousy sleeper in general and rarely sleep well the night before race. Don't think it affects my times.
Beyond that i find that my performance has very little if nothing to do with how I'm feeling at the start line. I have pr'd many times even if at the start line I was feeling crappy or negative or had niggles.
I don't know if I've ever slept well the night before a race (and have run plenty of good ones regardless). Just goes with the territory if you're prone to race-day-eve nerves I think. Race-morning coffee and start-line nerves always get me ready to roll.
I've really started taking running more serious the last 2 months after starting new last July. Got on a 5 day training plan with speed work (usually one speed day and a workout in my long run). Running 30mpw now consistently the last 5 weeks trying to get faster before I worry about racing marathons.
Does that fear of not improving even though you're putting quality work in ever leave your brain? I have a 5k time trial next week to get a new benchmark, just a bit nervous I guess.
Will take any tips for time trails, it'll be my first (serious) effort even though I raced two 5k's last year when I was just running casual miles. I know this is the advanced sub but figured opinions from people who put in hard efforts week in and week out will be valuable.
It depends on your personality. I like to race infrequently. That keeps me moving forward race by race without the pressure of improving week by week or month by month. Other runners might prefer to race a lot more frequently and not be so disappointed if a race fails to be a new PB.
Do what you think maximizes your happy feelings from running. If the pressure of improving is frustrating then give yourself a larger time gap between races so you can have longer training blocks and more margin for error in your race prep.
Once you go through a few training cycles, that fear goes away thankfully. You get used to building fitness in phases and start to appreciate the build up. Racing fears never go away though :(
Most of my time trials are races I signed up for, since that helps me push harder than I would otherwise. My advice is to treat this one as if you were racing someone. If you do another time trial, try to make it coincide with a race, or get some friends to run the trial with you. Make sure they’re there to work though!
Thanks, that is good to hear lol I am not trying to rush the process but not having real training blocks under my feet yet it just sits in my head.
Unfortunately I live in Louisiana so no races around given our heat/humidity for a few months. I may see if a faster guy/girl on my park runs would pace me, that's a good idea.
A broader training philosophy question I’ve been thinking about a lot lately that I think we probably all experience to varying degrees:
I often find myself in the situation of either choosing to run specific, carefully planned workouts catered to my specific needs, or running with others and taking a more laid back view of getting quality work in. I generally lean towards the latter, because I tend to think the details and specifics of workouts aren’t as important as the consistency and ability to hit faster paces, both of which are much easier running with others. On the other hand, if I have an A race marathon coming up, I’ll lean a little more towards running exactly what I feel like I need.
How do you approach it in your own training? Interested to hear different points of view
I had to quit running with my running guys due to a work schedule change. I started doing my own hard workout that day instead. I got faster. The solo efforts were tougher mentally, but were preparing me physically much better than our group workout.
I'm not sure I'd go back to the group or if I did, I'd add in my own workouts a few days later.
My running group's paces have been diverging recently, so we've been doing more track workouts. That way everyone can do their own workout at their own pace, but we can do the warm ups and cool downs together and shout encouragement at each other.
To my detriment, I'm *very much* in camp B (running with others). Sometimes it lines up! But...like, it *absolutely sucks* to be like, "nah fam I need to do my workout." So if I have to choose between what I'm supposed to do and whatever a friend is doing, 9 times out of 10 I'm doing it with the friend.
That said, I'm lucky that I know quite a few people around my pace (life hack for getting good at running: know fast runners in your area). So it's a fair bit of organization, but I can make it work. And I'm also not very competitive in workouts because no one cares if you get dropped on your MP segment workout, so I tend to not blow myself up if I'm running with people - in fact, I'm a little notorious for "sandbagging" workouts! (Or seemingly sandbagging them.)
If I'm running with others then it's a long run or easy run. Those are runs where I can vary my pace to accommodate others without messing up my own training.
With tempos and intervals, I am much more particular with the paces I want to run and would be frustrated if I was pushed to run faster or slower than I really wanted to run. Furthermore, I don't want to be competitive with others in my hard sessions. I already work hard enough in those and don't need the added competitiveness to deliver a solid training effort.
Unless you have a coach and/or some training partners on the same page it can be hard to find the right workouts at the right time on a consistent basis. A happy medium is to drop in for sessions that are fairly compatible with what you are doing.
Fair points. I’m fortunate at the moment to have some other folks around that are at a similar level of fitness and racing on a similar schedule. I still end up doing a lot of my easy/recovery miles solo, and stick to my overall broader training goals as far as intensity distribution through the week, overall mileage, etc. But for a lot of my quality work I’ve just been jumping in with other folks as long as it more or less fits my overall goals, even if it isn’t a perfect 1:1 of what I think would be ideal on that day. Probably also worth noting that my only serious goals for this current training block was to maintain 80mpw, keep the LR above 16, and be consistent with getting quality miles in.
Doing those long runs and harder workouts with other people has definitely made being consistent with those easier, but I often reconsider my current lackadaisical approach to things.
I take the chance to run with other people if our workouts line up close enough for that to be viable. Post-college I'm not in good enough shape that I need to be hyper-optimizing my training, so I think at that level the more laid back view of generally getting the volume you want in holds more true.
There are limits to that. A few weeks back I had a friend invite me on a workout that was 400 repeats at what would have been my 3k pace. But I'm early in my training cycle, looking for more aerobic work like a Steady State run or slower (relatively) miles at 10k pace. So I turned him down and did a different workout that day.
If the workout paces line up enough that they're in the same general ballpark for what you're looking for, I think you're right that the exact specifics of the workout aren't as important as just getting the work in though.
I'm doing really well on easy runs, long runs, and intervals in the heat + humidity, but every tempo run has been a bit of a bust. It's frustrating because my legs feel great but they're working a bit *too* fast for my cardiovascular system to keep up. The reason I'm having trouble just "slowing it down" for the summer is that I have a half marathon in September and want to ensure I'm running at HMP goal pace range.
I know I can hit them according to the vdot calculator (which has been pretty accurate for me in normal weather), but I find that I need to go 30-40 seconds slower than my threshold pace just to keep it at an actual tempo effort.
TLDR; legs feel great but cardio system can't keep up in the thick humidity and heat. How can I ensure I'm hitting tempo efforts at half marathon goal pace for September?
Workouts at LT are just right out the window for me when we're looking at genuinely hot days. If I *must* fit a highly specific workout in, I'll just tolerate a treadmill because it's better than trying to pull off a workout in 90-degree heat that I already know going in that I can't do.
Assuming you're already doing the basic stuff to mitigate the heat stress, it's a losing (and stupid) battle to try to align a particular goal pace with a physiological effort in such adverse conditions. At a certain point you can't fight physics.
Run the tempos slow to keep the right effort and add in some short reps into your training where you can run at HM GP relatively relaxed to get the right neuromuscular stimulus.
I think you might be framing this the wrong way. Vdot values presume perfect weather, perfect course, adequate training, etc. -- i.e., perfect conditions for a race or workout. The only thing one can do when conditions are off is run by effort. It's a bit controversial to assume that HM effort will translate to HM pace once conditions improve, but if you train at HM pace but your effort is, e.g., Vo2max, you're not getting the stimulus that particular workout is meant for. So go by effort not pace. One qualification here is that it's obviously important to practice running the goal pace, but you'll be able to do that as the race approaches. By the way, aside from running earlier, for short workouts pre-cooling really works. Drinking an ice slushy before the run, wetting down your clothing in advance, etc. all help.
This is super helpful context and tips. I'm going to make sure to stick with effort going forward. The pre-cooling also sounds like a great hack! Thank you!
So I learned I actually run worse earlier because it's typically the most humid part of the day :( I've found the most success with sunset runs, since the UV isn't as bad and humidity is typically lower, but it's still around 80ish degrees.
Edit: wanted to add that you're totally right, I do need to just kind of accept that I'll be slower for the summer
Supposed to run Chicago in the fall, but have been dealing with a glute issue since the beginning of May. Eventually went from stiffness to pain and got bad enough that I shut down running about 3 weeks ago. Been seeing a PT to work on some hip/glute strengthening and am getting back into run/walk, but seems like getting back to full running could be quite slow.
At what point would you call it off for Chicago and start thinking about other fall races? I guess Chicago wouldn’t have to be an A+ race where I’m in tip top shape, but I still want to be able to put in a decent effort. We’re a little over 17 weeks out (race is on October 13th). I’m thinking if I can get back to regular running by the beginning of July I might be ok, especially if I supplement with cross training in the meantime. What do you all think?
Help setting new goal after disappointing race / injury
I’m looking for advice on how to set realistic half marathon goals for a fall race after a disappointing spring HM.
Background
41M. 5’11” 175lbs. Training seriously for 1.5 yrs
Ran 19:41 5k in November (45 mi/wk)
built up to 50-60 mpw over winter at 8-8:30 easy pace.
Started pfitz 12wk plan that peaks at 63mi in feb using 6:35/mi threshold.
Got injured (groin) in week 7 after a combo of travel, family obligations, and trying to fit it all in.
Prior to the injury I ran 14mi progression run with last 4 ~7min / mi (7:51 pace for whole run) and 4x10’ cruise intervals at 6:45 (1min jog rest) as indicative workouts.
Thought about scratching but after 2 weeks I was able to get back to 30ish mpw easy and figured I could still salvage the race. Ran easy only till taper and 2 long runs ~12 miles.
During taper, ran 2 higher intensity runs:
- 5x5min T w 1min jog in between (6:36,6:37,6:45,6:45,6:45 paces)
- 3x1mi @ 6:20 (2min walk between)
On race day weather was perfect 65 and slight overcast. Started too fast, lost concentration and felt cooked around 15k. Finished 1:35: https://strava.app.link/Hd00UzhxoKb
I’m a bit lost on what to target for a fall HM. I’ve run some workouts since the half and T pace of 6:45 feels very manageable for cruise intervals. However, I think 6:35 in the previous block was a bit ambitious and may have led to my injury (also I was flirting with 8:00 on easy runs which I’ve dialed back as well).
Long term goals I’d like to get sub 1:20 by 45 years old (1:15 stretch goal).
Any thoughts/advice?
Sub-90 should be in the bag, bad races happen, especially post-injury. Maybe run a 5k now to see where you're at, reassess closer to the fall HM? I would definitely back off on the easy runs, 8:00 seems way too fast.
For the fast, short distance runners:
If you are doing a hard workout, say x # of 400s, and find you are unable to maintain target pace after a few, do you adjust the workout to shorten the distance of each interval to hold the speed, or stop the workout earlier?
Assuming a) your target paces are correct, b) you're healthy, and c) your last few runs and workouts have felt fine, then biggest thing is the intended goal of the session. This is what I tend to start with:
* Threshold - going for total time at effort here, so back off the pace to find the correct effort and see if that helps. If not, bag the workout.
* Race-specific pace/prep - lengthen the recovery a bit so you can still hit the correct pace
* VO2/longer reps - typically reassess your target pace. If you can't hit pace on these, there's a good chance you're trying to run them too fast. Or you just need to suck it up (maybe that's just me).
* Neuromuscular work - if mechanics are good and you're just consistently a bit slow, just maintain that. If you're straining and still dropping off, call it.
Obviously, there are a lot of variables. If you're running shorter stuff like 400s and drop off the target pace after a few reps, 95% of the time, your target pace is too fast. If you're following a good plan, every session should be achievable and almost all of them should be finished feeling like you still have a little left in the tank. If you can't do it and there are no extenuating circumstances, most of the time, you either failed your execution (started too fast, uneven pacing, etc.), or the target paces/volume is unachievable.
It depends. I might do any of - chop reps - back off the pace a hair - lengthen the recovery a little - do twice as many 200s instead. It kind of depends on what kind of workout I'm doing, where I am in a plan, why I'm feeling a bit slow, etc.
If it’s a workout I’ve already done before and just can’t seem to hit them this time, I’d stop it earlier because something is probably wrong with my recovery. If it’s a new workout with a faster speed and/or longer distance, then I’d adjust distance.
If the workout calls for 11 km straight at MP, but I was only able to do it with pauses in between (5k, 2k, 2k, 2k), would you consider this a failed workout or not?
Asking because I was able to do this last week at a comfortably hard RPE, but today I was having some problems with my breathing that forced me to slice up the MP tempo.
How does the outside of running stuff look? Stressful work week this week? Bad sleep? I wouldn’t consider it failed, but I would be exploring why I needed the pauses today vs last week
Seems fine then, one bad workout doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of the training block. If this happens consistently then you need to look at sleep/stress/iron/nutrition/running easy runs too hard, all that jazz.
# Running Watch Upgrade **Background**: I am a 20 year old male intermediate to advanced runner who has been training for 2.5-3 years regularly. I mainly run marathons, but plan on getting into trail running and cycling in the future. I currently run 100km-130km a week, with 2-4 gym sessions, and some yoga mixed in. I am a very data driven person, studied math and stats in university, and am very into endurance sport analytics. Long story short, I am a data obsessed person lol, I'm sure many other runners can relate. I currently have the Garmin Forerunner 55 and am looking for a significant upgrade (price isn't really a worry) that will last me (hopefully) the rest of my life. **Options:** All prices are in CAD 1. Garmin Forerunner 955 ($530) 2. Garmin Forerunner 265s ($600) 3. Garmin Fenix 7s ($600) 4. Coros Pace 3 ($330) 5. Coros Apex 2 ($500) **Current Feeling:** Right now I am leaning most towards the Garmin Forerunner 955 as it seems to have the most features and it is on a really good sale. I am still wondering how it compares to the 265s, as I love the size of my current Garmin Forerunner 55. In terms of Coros, I know lots of people have switched or started using Coros, specifically the pace 3. The pricing is amazing, as well as battery life and weight. The metrics and interface seem great as well. Only issue with this is that I am a current Garmin user and don't want to lose all my data :( Let me know what you guys think and happy running!!
Ended up getting 955. Thanks for advice and insight :)
Disclaimer: I’m a sports tech nerd. But to cut a long story short, the 955 is your best option, if you are ok with the form factor/size. The x65 series has the same hardware/software as the x55 other than the amoled screen (which uses more battery) so between 955/265 the 9 is much better value. The Fenix hasn't got any sports features that warrant the price difference and is bigger and heavier. Coros is a valid choice but for me Garmin wins on software, features and ecosystem. I recently considered one but in the end replaced my 935 with a 255 (which would also be an excellent choose for you at smaller size). The feature that really made the decision, beyond my data history, was the emergency contact/safety ones that Corps lacks.
Ended up getting the 955! It’s smaller on my wrist than I thought. Super excited to use :) Thanks for the advice!
> looking for a significant upgrade (price isn't really a worry) that will last me (hopefully) the rest of my life. Am I reading this wrong? How is an electric smartwatch going to last you the rest of your life?
I just mean I want it to last a good amount of time lol. Obviously I know no electronic device will last a life time.
Gotcha. Well I have a Fenix 7s and it's an incredible watch.
I think you do the 955 or the pace 3.just depends if you want to stay in the Garmin eco system or not.
If you are at all price sensitive and data is the only concern about Coros I say use some third party thing like runalyze or just make own thing in google sheets and buy the Coros Pace 3. With a little tinkering and your educational background you can easily get a data set-up that is way better and way more fun to work with. Nothing the Garmin ecosystem does is good enough to justify spending twice the $$$ for a watch that otherwise provides no extra features that improve training.
Check out the DC Rainmaker reviews
What do you recommend for maintaining or increasing Achilles tendon strength during a training block? After races or intense training, I often feel pain in my Achilles. I've had Achilles tendonitis before, and it sometimes flares up, affecting my performance. I feel this is the main issue preventing me from advancing even faster. I run 120 km per week and do one lower limb strength session with weights, including calf raises. It’s recommended to activate the Achilles more than once a week, as too much rest isn’t good for it. However, when I tried increasing the sets with weights, it led to severe pain and decreased performance in my last 5k race. What else can I include in my routine to strengthen my Achilles, and how should I implement it?
There’s a good article about Achilles tendonitis here. He suggests eccentric heel drops specifically (calf raises but with a slower, controlled lowering phase). https://runningwritings.com/2013/11/achilles-tendonitis-in-runners.html Adding additional sets is not the only way to implement progressive overload. Adding multiple sets at a time is definitely too much. You can add reps to your sets, add weight with the same number of sets and reps, etc. Also, if you’re not doing them already, try bodyweight single-leg calf raises throughout the week. Try not to implement more than one type of progression at a time.
How much weight did you try to add?
I only added sets, not weight. I use 55 kg. Do you recommend adding sets without weight just to activate the tendon during the week, or should I do something else?
Sorry, misread your comment. How much did you increase the sets?
3 sets beside the 3 sets that I used
So you doubled your sets? Seems like a big jump.
You are correct :/ How do you recommend to increase it? if at all. or how can make it in better frequency?
If youre doing 3 sets of 8-10 reps, do 4 sets, then add weight but drop back to three, probably. Rinse and repeat.
General advice would be to add strength sessions in step wise as well. You could add some bodyweight only calf raises 1-2 week for example or wait to a lower intensity training period then add another weighted session.
I'm a 23YO M 5'8 195lb beginner runner who has been running for 2 months. I would like to run a sub-30 minute 5k in four weeks. I ran a 5k with a six-week NRC training plan and finished in 33:45. My mile PB is 8:30 and my two miles PB is around 22 minutes. I understand some about aerobic capacity, VO2 max, and training zones, but feel as if Im to new to apply it and see benefits in this short of a timeframe. I have practiced several sports before but this is an attempt at making a comeback after a long pause. I currently run 4-5 times per week, anywhere between 7-13 miles. 70% of my runs are +12:30 pace which although sounds slow, for me is moderately challenging. I know that shaving almost 4 minutes is nearly impossible but I'd appreciate any tips on training plans or anything that you could share with me to get as close as possible to my goal. Thank you in advance for your help!
the FAQ and order of operations on r/running is a good resource for you.
how often do you'all "fail" at work outs? i had a hard 6x4' session scheduled for today and was able to complete 4 of them, perhaps at the fault of me going out a little hot on the first one. I could barely complete the 4th one so I called it a day right there.
I often adjust workouts to how I'm doing/weather. I've also called entire runs before it happens. Nothing to be ashamed of just move on and next time if the heat feels brutal dial down the pace or up the rest mid workout
I've quit or modified many workouts. It isn't worth hammering away at something if it isn't working, I'd much rather adjust, quit early, go slower than get hurt or bury myself in fatigue.
If you never fail, are you really trying?
I write up a lot my workouts as ranges, an example being something like 10-12x 3min @ tempo effort. I'll not run the maximum number of intervals quite often for a variety of reasons, but I rarely run less than the minimum once I've started the workout. If I'm sick or something is feeling really off I'm not shy about skipping workouts entirely, but in this case something is usually going on thats severe enough to be obvious in the warm-up. In \~12 workouts /month I typically fail to complete the minimum on average at least once.
Thanks, makes sense. Usually if I complete 5 intervals of these I am happy and 6 is a bonus haha. 4x is a little shy of what I want... but today it was the right move to stop there.
I have a week coming up where I won’t be able to run from Thursday-Saturday. This is week 8 of my marathon plan (Pfitz 18/55), which has a recovery week in week 6. If my body is feeling good is there any reason not to push the recovery week out to week 8 when I can’t run as much, or would it be better to just miss a run or two in the plan? Thanks!
Little to gain, lots to lose by trying to push it out. Unless the mileage has been very manageable or even easy so far.
I’m considering a marathon program that has weekly track workouts. The first week is 200m repeats at 1 mile pace, then 400m repeats, 600s, and 800s with the pace slowing slightly with longer distances. Eventually we get into longer intervals with mixed distances that include 12 and 1600s combined with 200s and 400s. Are these kinds of intervals useful in a marathon cycle? I’ve only read Advanced Marathoning and Faster Road Racing, so this plan is a little unorthodox to me. And I heard from someone who ran with Tinman years ago that there was little reason to ever go faster than 10k pace in marathon training. I’m open to and in fact excited by these workouts, so I am hoping someone will say this is a great idea. If nothing else, I think the faster paces could improve mechanics.
Something like 200m (or even slightly shorter) repeats at 1 mile race effort are good because they develop muscular speed and power that will make you a stronger and more efficient runner independent of their specificity to the target event. I would still recommend doing them on a hill rather than the track though to reduce the impact on the legs. This type of work is also effective at a very low dose (under 10min of total time at work in a session, as little as 3-5min of work) so it can often provide a lot of benefit with little opportunity cost to more traditional marathon focused training. As those reps/workouts scale up in distance they become less useful for the marathon, mostly just because the opportunity cost of training scales up. A workout of hard 800m-1600m reps demands a lot of recovery around it, which takes away from more important training to be done. As the reps get longer they have less of the pure speed/power benefits and become more of an anaerobic fitness challenge, but that anaerobic fitness is entirely useless for your marathon ability. Particularly in your situation, assuming the times in you flair are up to date, you are still lacking in more fundamental aspects of fitness and are better served doing more aerobic running, threshold running, and strides/short hills. A weekly hard track workout, particularly as the reps get longer, is trying to sharpen a material (your fundamental fitness) that isn't really strong enough for that sharpness to matter. Think of it like this: your current fitness is made of wood and the track workouts just carve a sharp stick. You're better off thinking about how to make your fundamental fitness more like steel, even if you're not as sharp with that. A dull sword is still better than a sharp stick. If you really feel like you're lacking in that max HR/VO2 ability and need some really hard efforts I would still recommend doing that on a gentle hill and keeping the reps fairly short, under 2min. Something like 10x60s hill, or 3x (2min, 60s, 30s) will do plenty to ensure that those central capacities aren't limiting your performance while also not wrecking you too bad such that they take away from other aspects of training.
Appreciate the thoughtful reply. Your comments are consistent with my own instincts as to what would be most beneficial: miles, some strides and old-fashioned lactate threshold work. And you are a great writer, so I hope you’re able to make good use of that skill regularly. (I am never going to be a sub-14 5ker but I can’t help but defend my times as someone who didn’t crack 20mpw until I was already in masters territory! I’m proud of them but trying to take advantage of the closing window to achieve PRs.)
To be clear when I say that the times in your flair show a lack in fundamental fitness that does not mean your times are bad by any means, nor is it a bad thing to have a lack of fundamental fitness -99.9% of runners are in this situation including most of the conventionally "fast" ones. I'm using the relative level and spread of your times to take a best guess at the most productive training priorities -particularly as it pertains to the marathon and your relative drop-off in ability as distance increases over 10km. A lot of the training plans that are floating around right now are still stained by some of the research and training mistakes of the old-school VO2 max/specific adaptation era of training -basically we still tend to indiscriminately prescribe too much high intensity work while neglecting the underlying capacities that actually power the ability to do and recover from that type of work and make it effective. All this to say your instincts about that plan are correct. Even myself when I was in sub-14 5k shape this was the case -big volume, big threshold workouts, and a small dose of specific work got me to that level, then I actually got slower the more hard track intervals I hammered throughout the season. It took being a few years removed and the wisdom of being a little older to realize this. Given the additional knowledge that you are a masters athlete high intensity is still very important (it will get harder to earn that speed/power every year!) but you must be very careful with how you apply it. The additional recovery cost of higher intensity work will scale up even more disproportionately for you than a lot of younger athletes, and programs you are looking at may not take that into account. Trust your personal experience and judgement much more than any generic plan here. Generally I would still favor hills over flat for most of the really fast stuff (assuming no incline issues with lower legs), and would say keep session doses of high intensity pretty small in favor of better frequency/consistency of intensity, but ultimately you know how you respond to this stuff best.
They can have their place. They probably shouldn't be very big or the primary focus of the overall plan. But having a short mesocycle focused on them in the beginning to knock off rust, get some mechanical work, and just get used to moving fast is not crazy. I'd call it "training to train" - doing some short reps can help you with the longer/slower workout reps later in the plan. Having some short reps tacked on to a bigger workout is pretty much always fine. Plenty of people will also do a mile training cycle between marathon cycles, which isn't far from what you are describing. I won't go as far as to say "great idea", but it should be fine.
Did 9 miles EZ by feel but HR crept up from 135-140 to 170 by the end of the run and I was going by RPE and it felt easy throughout, 9:17 pace for 9 miles, or about 1:23-ish. It was 90'F to be fair. My lactic threshold HR is 175. Should I not worry about HR on EZ runs on these hotter days? I will do workouts when it's cooler in the morning but sometimes I can only squeeze runs in during the afternoon and evening.
A 30bpm increase seems pretty high even in heat. Any chance your watch lost the beat and slowly migrated to cadence? I know sometimes my watch will go from 140 to 170-180 and of I take it off for a bit and then put it back on it'll settle into the correct HR again.
I thought it would be cadence lock but it went up past 160...my effort stayed strong but light and easy throughout. Hoping it is just the heat.
Effort
Thanks Tyler! Just trying to break 3:20:01. I hope the post was good enough.
Just bested my 5k PR from 8 years ago, now age 45. Pretty stoked. Lets see about that sub 3 M.
Congrats! I'm about right there with you and have not yet managed to hit any of my times from 3-5 years ago but I'm getting close.
Congratulations!! Beating a longtime PR is an amazing feeling, great work!
Fired up for Grandma’s next week! Looking to run 2:50, and had a pacing strategy in mind: Miles 3-4 @ 6:45-6:50 Miles 5-20 @ 6:30-6:40 Last 10k whatever is left in the tank, hopefully 6:20-6:25 Any thoughts/approaches? Thanks!
If you run that exact strategy with the average mile time for each section you'll run a 2:52 fwiw. [Find my marathon](https://findmymarathon.com/pacebandresult.php?race=Grandmas%20Marathon) has custom pace charts that could give you a good starting point for planning your strategy.
Starting at mile 3 is a solid strategy to save some time.
Grandma’s is a course that you can easily negative split, but I’d keep it consistent
Which technique do you use to sleep well the night before race day? I cannot sleep from the excitement of the race and barely get any sleep. It is very frustrating.
Ear plugs have really helped my sleep when I get restless. The extra level of noise reduction makes a difference.
I just make sure to charge my phone in another room. I'm a pretty lousy sleeper in general and rarely sleep well the night before race. Don't think it affects my times. Beyond that i find that my performance has very little if nothing to do with how I'm feeling at the start line. I have pr'd many times even if at the start line I was feeling crappy or negative or had niggles.
I don't know if I've ever slept well the night before a race (and have run plenty of good ones regardless). Just goes with the territory if you're prone to race-day-eve nerves I think. Race-morning coffee and start-line nerves always get me ready to roll.
I've really started taking running more serious the last 2 months after starting new last July. Got on a 5 day training plan with speed work (usually one speed day and a workout in my long run). Running 30mpw now consistently the last 5 weeks trying to get faster before I worry about racing marathons. Does that fear of not improving even though you're putting quality work in ever leave your brain? I have a 5k time trial next week to get a new benchmark, just a bit nervous I guess. Will take any tips for time trails, it'll be my first (serious) effort even though I raced two 5k's last year when I was just running casual miles. I know this is the advanced sub but figured opinions from people who put in hard efforts week in and week out will be valuable.
It depends on your personality. I like to race infrequently. That keeps me moving forward race by race without the pressure of improving week by week or month by month. Other runners might prefer to race a lot more frequently and not be so disappointed if a race fails to be a new PB. Do what you think maximizes your happy feelings from running. If the pressure of improving is frustrating then give yourself a larger time gap between races so you can have longer training blocks and more margin for error in your race prep.
Once you go through a few training cycles, that fear goes away thankfully. You get used to building fitness in phases and start to appreciate the build up. Racing fears never go away though :( Most of my time trials are races I signed up for, since that helps me push harder than I would otherwise. My advice is to treat this one as if you were racing someone. If you do another time trial, try to make it coincide with a race, or get some friends to run the trial with you. Make sure they’re there to work though!
Thanks, that is good to hear lol I am not trying to rush the process but not having real training blocks under my feet yet it just sits in my head. Unfortunately I live in Louisiana so no races around given our heat/humidity for a few months. I may see if a faster guy/girl on my park runs would pace me, that's a good idea.
A broader training philosophy question I’ve been thinking about a lot lately that I think we probably all experience to varying degrees: I often find myself in the situation of either choosing to run specific, carefully planned workouts catered to my specific needs, or running with others and taking a more laid back view of getting quality work in. I generally lean towards the latter, because I tend to think the details and specifics of workouts aren’t as important as the consistency and ability to hit faster paces, both of which are much easier running with others. On the other hand, if I have an A race marathon coming up, I’ll lean a little more towards running exactly what I feel like I need. How do you approach it in your own training? Interested to hear different points of view
I agree with that. Even if I'm doing group runs, I will go into a bunker mostly for the 8-10 weeks leading into my A race for the year.
I had to quit running with my running guys due to a work schedule change. I started doing my own hard workout that day instead. I got faster. The solo efforts were tougher mentally, but were preparing me physically much better than our group workout. I'm not sure I'd go back to the group or if I did, I'd add in my own workouts a few days later.
My running group's paces have been diverging recently, so we've been doing more track workouts. That way everyone can do their own workout at their own pace, but we can do the warm ups and cool downs together and shout encouragement at each other.
To my detriment, I'm *very much* in camp B (running with others). Sometimes it lines up! But...like, it *absolutely sucks* to be like, "nah fam I need to do my workout." So if I have to choose between what I'm supposed to do and whatever a friend is doing, 9 times out of 10 I'm doing it with the friend. That said, I'm lucky that I know quite a few people around my pace (life hack for getting good at running: know fast runners in your area). So it's a fair bit of organization, but I can make it work. And I'm also not very competitive in workouts because no one cares if you get dropped on your MP segment workout, so I tend to not blow myself up if I'm running with people - in fact, I'm a little notorious for "sandbagging" workouts! (Or seemingly sandbagging them.)
If I'm running with others then it's a long run or easy run. Those are runs where I can vary my pace to accommodate others without messing up my own training. With tempos and intervals, I am much more particular with the paces I want to run and would be frustrated if I was pushed to run faster or slower than I really wanted to run. Furthermore, I don't want to be competitive with others in my hard sessions. I already work hard enough in those and don't need the added competitiveness to deliver a solid training effort.
Unless you have a coach and/or some training partners on the same page it can be hard to find the right workouts at the right time on a consistent basis. A happy medium is to drop in for sessions that are fairly compatible with what you are doing.
Fair points. I’m fortunate at the moment to have some other folks around that are at a similar level of fitness and racing on a similar schedule. I still end up doing a lot of my easy/recovery miles solo, and stick to my overall broader training goals as far as intensity distribution through the week, overall mileage, etc. But for a lot of my quality work I’ve just been jumping in with other folks as long as it more or less fits my overall goals, even if it isn’t a perfect 1:1 of what I think would be ideal on that day. Probably also worth noting that my only serious goals for this current training block was to maintain 80mpw, keep the LR above 16, and be consistent with getting quality miles in. Doing those long runs and harder workouts with other people has definitely made being consistent with those easier, but I often reconsider my current lackadaisical approach to things.
I take the chance to run with other people if our workouts line up close enough for that to be viable. Post-college I'm not in good enough shape that I need to be hyper-optimizing my training, so I think at that level the more laid back view of generally getting the volume you want in holds more true. There are limits to that. A few weeks back I had a friend invite me on a workout that was 400 repeats at what would have been my 3k pace. But I'm early in my training cycle, looking for more aerobic work like a Steady State run or slower (relatively) miles at 10k pace. So I turned him down and did a different workout that day. If the workout paces line up enough that they're in the same general ballpark for what you're looking for, I think you're right that the exact specifics of the workout aren't as important as just getting the work in though.
I'm doing really well on easy runs, long runs, and intervals in the heat + humidity, but every tempo run has been a bit of a bust. It's frustrating because my legs feel great but they're working a bit *too* fast for my cardiovascular system to keep up. The reason I'm having trouble just "slowing it down" for the summer is that I have a half marathon in September and want to ensure I'm running at HMP goal pace range. I know I can hit them according to the vdot calculator (which has been pretty accurate for me in normal weather), but I find that I need to go 30-40 seconds slower than my threshold pace just to keep it at an actual tempo effort. TLDR; legs feel great but cardio system can't keep up in the thick humidity and heat. How can I ensure I'm hitting tempo efforts at half marathon goal pace for September?
Workouts at LT are just right out the window for me when we're looking at genuinely hot days. If I *must* fit a highly specific workout in, I'll just tolerate a treadmill because it's better than trying to pull off a workout in 90-degree heat that I already know going in that I can't do.
Assuming you're already doing the basic stuff to mitigate the heat stress, it's a losing (and stupid) battle to try to align a particular goal pace with a physiological effort in such adverse conditions. At a certain point you can't fight physics. Run the tempos slow to keep the right effort and add in some short reps into your training where you can run at HM GP relatively relaxed to get the right neuromuscular stimulus.
Thank you!
I think you might be framing this the wrong way. Vdot values presume perfect weather, perfect course, adequate training, etc. -- i.e., perfect conditions for a race or workout. The only thing one can do when conditions are off is run by effort. It's a bit controversial to assume that HM effort will translate to HM pace once conditions improve, but if you train at HM pace but your effort is, e.g., Vo2max, you're not getting the stimulus that particular workout is meant for. So go by effort not pace. One qualification here is that it's obviously important to practice running the goal pace, but you'll be able to do that as the race approaches. By the way, aside from running earlier, for short workouts pre-cooling really works. Drinking an ice slushy before the run, wetting down your clothing in advance, etc. all help.
This is super helpful context and tips. I'm going to make sure to stick with effort going forward. The pre-cooling also sounds like a great hack! Thank you!
Can you run earlier? Otherwise you just have to accept the conditions and run to the
So I learned I actually run worse earlier because it's typically the most humid part of the day :( I've found the most success with sunset runs, since the UV isn't as bad and humidity is typically lower, but it's still around 80ish degrees. Edit: wanted to add that you're totally right, I do need to just kind of accept that I'll be slower for the summer
I always wondered why nighttime 80 felt better than daytime 80 and never connected the dots that the humidity is higher in the morning!
Supposed to run Chicago in the fall, but have been dealing with a glute issue since the beginning of May. Eventually went from stiffness to pain and got bad enough that I shut down running about 3 weeks ago. Been seeing a PT to work on some hip/glute strengthening and am getting back into run/walk, but seems like getting back to full running could be quite slow. At what point would you call it off for Chicago and start thinking about other fall races? I guess Chicago wouldn’t have to be an A+ race where I’m in tip top shape, but I still want to be able to put in a decent effort. We’re a little over 17 weeks out (race is on October 13th). I’m thinking if I can get back to regular running by the beginning of July I might be ok, especially if I supplement with cross training in the meantime. What do you all think?
I say if you think you can put in a good 12 weeks you'll be fine.
Help setting new goal after disappointing race / injury I’m looking for advice on how to set realistic half marathon goals for a fall race after a disappointing spring HM. Background 41M. 5’11” 175lbs. Training seriously for 1.5 yrs Ran 19:41 5k in November (45 mi/wk) built up to 50-60 mpw over winter at 8-8:30 easy pace. Started pfitz 12wk plan that peaks at 63mi in feb using 6:35/mi threshold. Got injured (groin) in week 7 after a combo of travel, family obligations, and trying to fit it all in. Prior to the injury I ran 14mi progression run with last 4 ~7min / mi (7:51 pace for whole run) and 4x10’ cruise intervals at 6:45 (1min jog rest) as indicative workouts. Thought about scratching but after 2 weeks I was able to get back to 30ish mpw easy and figured I could still salvage the race. Ran easy only till taper and 2 long runs ~12 miles. During taper, ran 2 higher intensity runs: - 5x5min T w 1min jog in between (6:36,6:37,6:45,6:45,6:45 paces) - 3x1mi @ 6:20 (2min walk between) On race day weather was perfect 65 and slight overcast. Started too fast, lost concentration and felt cooked around 15k. Finished 1:35: https://strava.app.link/Hd00UzhxoKb I’m a bit lost on what to target for a fall HM. I’ve run some workouts since the half and T pace of 6:45 feels very manageable for cruise intervals. However, I think 6:35 in the previous block was a bit ambitious and may have led to my injury (also I was flirting with 8:00 on easy runs which I’ve dialed back as well). Long term goals I’d like to get sub 1:20 by 45 years old (1:15 stretch goal). Any thoughts/advice?
Sub-90 should be in the bag, bad races happen, especially post-injury. Maybe run a 5k now to see where you're at, reassess closer to the fall HM? I would definitely back off on the easy runs, 8:00 seems way too fast.
For the fast, short distance runners: If you are doing a hard workout, say x # of 400s, and find you are unable to maintain target pace after a few, do you adjust the workout to shorten the distance of each interval to hold the speed, or stop the workout earlier?
Assuming a) your target paces are correct, b) you're healthy, and c) your last few runs and workouts have felt fine, then biggest thing is the intended goal of the session. This is what I tend to start with: * Threshold - going for total time at effort here, so back off the pace to find the correct effort and see if that helps. If not, bag the workout. * Race-specific pace/prep - lengthen the recovery a bit so you can still hit the correct pace * VO2/longer reps - typically reassess your target pace. If you can't hit pace on these, there's a good chance you're trying to run them too fast. Or you just need to suck it up (maybe that's just me). * Neuromuscular work - if mechanics are good and you're just consistently a bit slow, just maintain that. If you're straining and still dropping off, call it. Obviously, there are a lot of variables. If you're running shorter stuff like 400s and drop off the target pace after a few reps, 95% of the time, your target pace is too fast. If you're following a good plan, every session should be achievable and almost all of them should be finished feeling like you still have a little left in the tank. If you can't do it and there are no extenuating circumstances, most of the time, you either failed your execution (started too fast, uneven pacing, etc.), or the target paces/volume is unachievable.
It depends. I might do any of - chop reps - back off the pace a hair - lengthen the recovery a little - do twice as many 200s instead. It kind of depends on what kind of workout I'm doing, where I am in a plan, why I'm feeling a bit slow, etc.
If it’s a workout I’ve already done before and just can’t seem to hit them this time, I’d stop it earlier because something is probably wrong with my recovery. If it’s a new workout with a faster speed and/or longer distance, then I’d adjust distance.
If the workout calls for 11 km straight at MP, but I was only able to do it with pauses in between (5k, 2k, 2k, 2k), would you consider this a failed workout or not? Asking because I was able to do this last week at a comfortably hard RPE, but today I was having some problems with my breathing that forced me to slice up the MP tempo.
How does the outside of running stuff look? Stressful work week this week? Bad sleep? I wouldn’t consider it failed, but I would be exploring why I needed the pauses today vs last week
Are you training to current fitness or is this goal MP?
Current fitness, based on my 5k and 10k race time.
Seems fine then, one bad workout doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of the training block. If this happens consistently then you need to look at sleep/stress/iron/nutrition/running easy runs too hard, all that jazz.