3 Jun
7:17am, 3 Jun 2026
22,029 posts
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Autumnleaves
Yes me too.
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3 Jun
1:04pm, 3 Jun 2026
1,950 posts
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roberton
Thanks both. Completely makes sense to me 👍 Having said that, this morning I did do the exact long run that Project Joker told me too. It's actually a regular route for this year, I just did it faster. fetcheveryone.com/t-25815207 1 hour 17 mins, so right in the middle of the parameters. And pace of 5:40 (target 5:42) so nailed that too 😆 It was good actually. Faster than I'd normally run it and my questions stand about why Joker wants something at that pace, but it felt good and since it is my target marathon pace, I think there is something to be said for regularly running something at that pace to get used to the feel. I'll do this again but I will also do longer, slower runs instead sometimes. |
5 Jun
3:20pm, 5 Jun 2026
6,010 posts
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tipsku
That sounds good, @roberton. I also mix it up with the long runs, sometimes hitting the prescribed pace (5:25 min/km) which is just a bit faster than what I'd naturally run, sometimes going slower. I'm in week 4 and I've done intervals every week and I'm about to do my threshold run this afternoon to hit aces for these two categories. Last week, I helped a friend move on Saturday and that aggravated my Achilles tendon a bit so I moved the long run to the bike, going for a nice 41 km ride in 1:40 hours and change. I had two other runs in week 3, both about 48 min long so I've got enough base training, just didn't do a dedicated long run of 60-90 min. I guess I play a joker for that one. Coming off a marathon training cycle, I don't think that the long runs are the most important session for my progress; I definitely need the speed work and threshold running more to stress these two systems progressively more. My last interval session on Wednesday was 10x 400, starting with 1:46, a tad faster than threshold pace to test the Achilles. It was quiet so I did 8x 400 between 1:37 and 1:40 (1:39 is my target) with 1 min walking recoveries and the final one in 1:42 with my friend who did mile repeats at her marathon pace (she's speedy!). Average for the 10 intervals was 1:39 so I'm good with that. I'm quite happy that I don't need much recovery between intervals so it's not as unsustainable as I feared. The suggested rest is be 2 min but I'm good to go after 1 min. The shorter the recovery is, the more likely it will be that I can run close to that pace at the end of the plan. |
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7 Jun
10:04pm, 7 Jun 2026
1,961 posts
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roberton
Nice report @tipsku Really interesting to see what you did and compare. Your targets are a bit faster than mine but I can relate to them all. There's quite a difference in "natural" pace though. As I said before, my Joker long run is 5:42/km which is roughly my marathon pace, while my natural "out for an easy run not thinking about pace at all" tells to end up being 6:00 to 6:15/km. As for my week, I did my local parkrun yesterday which I'm treating as a tempo run (dubiously, more in a bit) so I'm treating week 2 as complete. Long run: as posted on 3rd, did almost exactly what it said ✅ Intervals: Joker says to do 10 x 400m @ 1:45. I did 8 x 400m (I only did 6 last time so progression!) in a range of 1:38 to 1:46 ✅ Threshold: Joker says 20-30 mins at 4:46/km. I did 22 mins at 4:22/km 😳 As already said, using parkrun for the threshold is fine. But I ended up going for it and went well beyond threshold pace. I'm counting it but it is a bit dodgy, I admit! I'd be interesting in what the training effect is of that compared to the intended threshold run. Any ideas? |
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9 Jun
10:57am, 9 Jun 2026
6,028 posts
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tipsku
Good running last week, @roberton. The easy run pace you naturally run sounds good to me. In spring, I used to run my easy runs around 5:30-5:50 min/km but now I'm around 6 min/km because of the warm temperatures. I mainly run that to RPE and I keep an eye on HR. I am usually about 45-60 seconds slower on easy runs compared to my marathon pace. During the training block for Leipzig, it improved from 4:55-5:00 to 4:40-45 min/km. I ended up running Leipzig at 4:48 min/km coming back from a cold. Your natural easy run pace is also slower than your marathon pace which is normal. Are you aiming for a sub-4? I remember when I was going for a sub-4, my easy runs would be what you are describing, mostly slower than 6 min/km. As for threshold runs, what is your current 10k pace? I find that it is usually pretty close to threshold for me. Was the parkrun closer to your actual 5k pace? I think you can do that from time to time, treat parkrun as a time trial so you get used to the feeling of running really hard in a 5k. I find that psychologically harder than a marathon so I could consider a raced parkrun halfway through the plan to train the mental aspect. In terms of physiological training effects, it would be better for long-term development to keep threshold sessions at threshold to reap the benefits of improving that part of your energy systems, lactate production and clearance. It'll help you also with your longer races, 10k up to marathon, if you manage to increase your pace at which you can keep a steady lactate level in your muscles. |
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9 Jun
8:14pm, 9 Jun 2026
1,972 posts
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roberton
Thanks @tipsku . Really interesting comments on the pacing. 45s slower on my easy runs compared to target marathon pace is about right for me. You are right about that being sub-4, so a target pace of roughly 5:40/km and my easy runs are 6:xx/km. As for my current 10k pace... ask me in one week, I'm doing a 10k event next Tuesday night 😉. But I did a HM at 4:57/km a few weeks ago and aiming for 4:4x/km for the 10k. That is indeed the Project Joker threshold pace. What you said about physiological training effects makes sense 👍 I'll try to reign it in a bit for future parkruns, especially if I'm trying to use them as my threshold run! |
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14 Jun
11:34am, 14 Jun 2026
1,981 posts
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roberton
My week 3: Long run: As for week 1, I used a commute as my long run. The outward trip is a total of 19k over 2 hours, so longer and slower but it counts ✅ Intervals: I did 8 x 400m again (not the full 10). Laziness 😉 Generally about 1:40 rather than the prescribed 1:45 ✅ Threshold: I'm playing a 🃏 for this. I did a bit of parkrun tourism which I intended to cover the threshold, but it didn't really work out as such. It was very windy plus some of it was on sand. I did it slower than the target threshold pace (5:05/km rather than the target 4:46/km) but the bigger difference is that my heartrate was generally lower than threshold. The RPE may have been high but my watch doesn't agree! So I'll play my first joker for this. Week 4 will be disrupted because I have a 10k race on the Tuesday evening. I think I can count that as the threshold as I intend to run it at that pace (it will just be quite a bit longer!), but I won't fit in both a long run and intervals as well. |
About This Thread
Maintained by fetcheveryone
A thread for Project Joker participants to share their training achievements and questions.
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