Getting Better at the Shorter Distances

[AndyBrowning]

I have a pretty good idea of what it takes to train well and improve in the marathon.  In order for me to get better I need to bump up my mileage, add more quality workouts and start including doubles.  There is no way that I can fit more than 1 run in per day right now.  Sometimes life just gets in the way of things we want to do.  Because of this, I am turning my focus to improving my times in shorter races (5K - 1/2 marathon).  What kind of runs should I be doing if I want to get faster at these distances?  My thought right now is to have one 5 mile tempo run per week, 1 day that I focus on VO2 (400 M or 800 M repeats) and 1 semi-long run (12-15 miles) on the weekend.  The other 3 days would be whatever I feel like running that day.  My biggest problem is I feel like such a slug right now and am hoping that improving in the shorter distances will make me feel better.

[Sasha Pachev]

Andy - from the tests you did a couple of years ago (100 in 15.5) you should be able to run a 5 K in 17:30 or so, but something fails in the transition. First I would work on establishing the speed deterioration profile. Once you recover from the marathon, every other day run a time trial on the track or well measured flat course in the following distances:

100 m
400 m
800 m
1 mile (or 1500 m or 1600 m)
2 miles (or 3000 m or 3200 m)

It is clear that you would need to do some intervals, but what kind and with what kind of rest will depend on where you are weak.  If the failure starts at 800, I would do intervals no longer than 600 very fast and with full rest. If you are OK at the mile, but fail at 2 miles, I would do mile repeats with full rest and shorter intervals at about 3000 race pace with very little rest (1-2 minutes).

Regardless, I would add daily strides at about your mile race pace, about 4-5 of them for 15 seconds or so.

I think it is a good idea to work on speed for you right now. You have done quite a bit of base mileage, and are starting to hit the law of diminishing returns. A period of speed work can provide a neural reboot that could help you reach a new level once you go back to marathon specific training.