With over 4,150,000 subscribers, there are a lot of posts that come in everyday that are often repeats of questions previously asked or covered in the FAQ.
With that in mind, this post can be a place for any questions (especially those that may not deserve their own thread). Hopefully this is successful and helps to lower clutter and repeating posts here.
If you are new to the sub or to running, this Intro post is a good resource.
[deleted]
There are no changes you can make to your diet or training that will make any meaningful difference.
Sometimes when you know people are going to say something it's because it's actually the right answer.
Hi all,
Novablast 5 TRs are my asphalt & dirt-path running shoes, and Fuji Trabucos are my trail ones. My Novablasts are approaching end of life (450 km currently), so I need to start looking for a new pair.
The thing is, I’m a bit disappointed with the NB5s. I loved the Novablast 4 — I had a great time with them — but the 5s don’t feel the same. They have great cushioning, but they feel more “wobbly” and less stable. The 4 had a great balance between cushioning, stability, and bounce, and I haven’t found that in the 5s.
I thought the new NB6 (which I’m willing to try) would be released end of 2025 or early 2026, but it seems they won’t be out until at least June. So the question is simple: what would you suggest that’s closer to the Novablast 4 TR than the 5s? They should be an asphalt to trail model, or at least an asphalt model with some extra grip.
I like ASICS (I’ve been using them for years), but I’m open to other brands available in Europe.
Edit: Novablast 4 in my size seem to be completely out of stock, so going back is not an option.
Average weekly mileage for a 33k race with 2900’ of elevation, to just finish strong?
If you can comfortably do the race mileage and the race elevation gain in a week of running, you will finish the race. If you want to finish strong, build up the long run distance to at least 20-22 km on a similar terrain.
Hi, I’m 37. In my youth, I struggled with sports due to a leg length discrepancy, though I found success in swimming. Due to a very busy lifestyle, swimming is no longer an option, so I began running once a week in January. By June, I increased this to twice a week, averaging 10km per session.
In September, I started a 16-week program made by copilot to improve my previous 5K personal best of 22:45. Last week, I hit my target of breaking the 20-minute barrier—I finally went sub-20! Now, I am looking for professional guidance to reach a new goal for 2026: breaking 19 minutes. Regarding my current activity, I bike 36km daily for my commute. My running routine consists of 3 days a week (1 interval session, 1 tempo run, and 1 long/easy run),average 30km/week, complemented by 3 days of functional/free weight training.
Could someone help me set up a realistic training scheme, specifically maintaining the preferred 3-day-per-week running frequency, to help me achieve a sub-19 minute 5K and <40min -10K
Anyone with experience of running in Madeira? Where’s a good place to stay if you want to be close to some good trails? No drivers license but maybe there’s some good public transportation? Any tips and tricks?
Also interested in this answer, as I'll be there for almost 2 weeks staying in Funchal. Once heard from people who lived there that roads can be quite dangerous.
Guys what are good run snacks? I’m wanting to get oranges because they’re readily available at my job
For “normal” length runs of like 1-4 hours the best run snacks are whatever has a bunch of sugar in it and not much else, fits in running shorts and is easy to open and eat while running, and then put the wrapper bag in your pocket.
I might bring an orange on a trail run long enough that I’m planning to basically stop and chill for a while and eat something. Otherwise oranges seem like a hassle. Even pre peeled and segmented into a bag, it’ll take up a lot of space for how many calories are in there
What do you need from your snacks? Do you need quick calories? Sustained energy? Does the food need to be portable or is it something you'll pick up along the way? Do you need to be able to eat on the run or will you stop? How far are you running? Is weather a concern? And on and on...
One of my favorite foods for fueling ultras is Spam musubi. I also enjoy various preparations of boiled potatoes. Grapes are great (especially chilled, or frozen if that's your thing), and of course bananas are a classic. During one run I salted the hell out of a tub of guacamole and ate it with a spoon. If I am in a candy mood, peanut butter cups are my favorite.
Spam musubi is top tier trail food.
It seems I am struggling to reach my max HR lately. Is it decreasing or that my cardio is not the limiting factor now?
By age (and by Garmin's autodetect) it should be 180; I know the formula does not work perfectly, but end of last year I did a few progressive maximal run tests with a chest strap (advised by my PT) and reached 182 and 183. So the numbers track.
I've always been running/jogging inconsistently and with on and off seasons; but in Feb 2024 I started taking it more seriously to improve my health and cardio (and keeping blood pressure and weight under control), training 3-4 times per week using structured plans.
As of now I am running 35-42 Km/week, I've run 2 HM (1:50 PB) and 3 trail HMs. I am in way better shape that I imagined I could be to years ago. The thing is that now, when I do workouts that push me to the limit I never get close to the 180 mark, at most I do high 160s or low 170s. In both HMs I participated I reached 172 (first half of the year), whilst in the trail HMs (second part of the year) I've reached 160-170.
Is ti because my legs are preventing me to go all out? Is it that my cardio thresholds are being lowered?
Any thoughts?
It's perhaps partly because maximum heart rate goes down as training increases and fitness improves. See my comment, which references a research study from 2000 (which in turn refers to earlier research).
I almost never approach my max observed HR. I hit 183 several times in 2024 at age 50 and 185 in a max HR field test with my chest strap in 2022. Yet this year the highest I've hit is 173 - at the end of an interval workout and a 10 miler with the first 7 miles at aerobic threshold and the last 5k very hard (near max effort) with last mile at max effort including sprint finish the last 300 meters or so. In October I raced a lifetime best 42:0x 10k and peaked at 172. For comparison my lactate threshold is 163.
Getting close to max HR isn't easy for me, and it's not important at all to do so in my training runs, time trials, or races. It likely isn't for you either and you might be best served to not think about max HR, not try to get close to it, and not worry about it.
Are you taking any new medications? Some affect heart rate.
You shouldn’t be hitting max in a half except maybe at the final kick to the line.
Max is actually pretty hard to hit unless you’re specifically trying (hard) to hit it with specific workouts aimed at doing so.
Beyond that, if you’re fatigued your HR will be lower than if you’re fresh. In other words, if you’ve been running for several weeks without a down week, you’re not going to hit your max.
Lastly, I can’t really think of any reason I’d be worrying about my max hr in the context of running and training. I think I generally know what my max is, ish, but I’m not sure and it has basically zero impact on my training and racing.
I don't think most people would be hitting their max HR when running a Half. Max HR is Zone 5 I believe, which is defined as "For peak power and speed; unsustainable for long periods. "
Coros and Strava both have my Max HR at 181 (48M here). For my last Half, I spent most of the Race in the high 150s and low 160s.
Even my last 5K I just got into the 170s.
Looking at my training data, the only time I get to 180 is for Threshold interval workouts, specifically the half-mile Threshold runs.
In your structured training plans, are you doing threshold/intervals runs?
If your interval workouts are not getting near the Max, then either your can run faster than you think you can or the MaxHR is incorrect.
And I have a Garmin chest strap that I regularly run with. It's nice. I just have to watch out for the crazy rash it causes in the warmer months.
I'm in no way a heart rate expert but from my understanding and experience, the more fit you get through training, all of your heart rate values drop a little bit (your heart is a lot more efficient). This means not only resting heart rate, but the heart rate for similarly paced runs, and I would presume max heart rate as well. I wouldn't put much into it.
Your max HR doesn't drop with fitness - it actually degrades less with time.
Actually, it does. The max heart rate a runner can achieve typically decreases during periods of increased training and accumulated fatigue and then increases again after detraining.
For example, see Evidence and possible mechanisms of altered maximum heart rate with endurance training and tapering published in 2000.
Excerpt from the abstract:
Thats not a HR max decreasing with fitness - that’s a HR max decreasing with fatigue.
That was an abstract of a meta study. There has been research published before and since which indicates that HR max does decrease with fitness, though the specific physiological root causes aren't well understood.
For one specific research study that does explicitly indicate HR max decreases with increased fitness see Training Induced Changes in Maximum Heart Rate from 2008.
Excerpts from the full paper:
You can probably find related published research via PubMed and elsewhere. The research I've read in the past does suggest that max HR goes down both with increased fitness and at least temporarily due to fatigue. Perhaps there's also published research that shows this isn't the case as well - lots of published research is contradictory for a variety of reasons.
That is interesting - thanks for sharing.
That is semi-contrary to what I’ve read before but looking at something different - that if you train your HR max decreases less over time with age.
Not the same as your study as (although seems unlikely) elite athleticism could preselect for those with lower HR max to begin with. Who knows.
Would have to read it properly but seems counter-intuitive to me that those that are more likely to use their HR max would see it be lower.
According to what I understood from reading a book by Jeff Galloway, I ventured to say that based on the best time taken to run a mile at high intensity, it made sense to predict the time for a 5k and a 10k.
He suggested that you should add 33 seconds per mile (to your time in a magic mile) to get a strong 5k, and multiply by 1.15 (your time in the magic mile) for a strong 10k… From what I see, and based on how I’ve been training lately (I’ve only been running for a year, and my current 5k time is 28:30), I like running the distances of 1km and 1 mile… and occasionally 2 miles as well.
1 km: 4:35
1 mile: 8:07
I write to provide another valid metric for predicting times in 5k and 10k.
According to Daniels’ formula, I’m at a 35 VPOD, and within that range, I’ll start working on paces for long runs, easy runs, threshold runs, intervals, and repeats… to improve in the 5k.
Am I missing any programs from any of the top running coaches?