Last week I ran a 5:09 flat mile alone on a track. The conditions were a breezy headwind on the first stretch and going around the first turn. I ran this with a group, but was about 30 seconds ahead of the next runner, so essentially I did this without anyone to push me. I have not done an interval workout or real speed workout since last march, focusing entirely on aroebic base, aroebic threshold, marathon pace and lactic threshold runs. In June I cut my mileage down to 35 mpw and spent the last 4 months building back up to 65 miles per week. I run 6 days a week, often doing a 1 or 2 doubles each week with the exception of the last few weeks where scheduling has made that difficult. I usually run 1-2 runs each week where I run in the 6:15-6:30 range for about 1/3 of a 10-12 miler. I do 1-2 runs each week in the 7:45-8:00 range, and 1-2 runs each week in the 7:00-7:20 range (what I suspect is my target marathon pace). For the most part I train for races over 10k in distance, focusing primarily staying continually fit to race the 1/2 marathon distance. I plan to do 1 marathon about ever 12-18 months and adjust my training accordingly during the 3 months prior to those races. To date my PR for a 1/2 marathon was the only one I ran last fall (before my training got serious) 1:30. 3 weeks ago I registered for a 1/2 marathon which was cut short at the 10 mile mark due to course conditions. I was on pace for a 1:28ish, finishing the 10 miles at an average pace of 6:50s, but I was probably running in the 6:35 range and picking up when I was informed at 9.5 miles that it was cut short with 800 meters to go. According to McMillan Running Calculator my times based on the 5:09, which I'm not trained for, should be about 17:50 for the 5k (which I feel I could do), 37:04 for the 10k (which is probably in reach, but not sure if I could pull it out just yet even on a flat course), 57:26 for 15k (1:03:30 was run back in July after just a few weeks of returning to significant training), 1:22:28 for a 1/2 marathon (which I believe is probably at least 5 minutes faster than I feel I could pull off) and 2:54 for a full marathon (which is probably 6-10 minutes faster than I could pull off). What's going on given that I'm training my body for the longer distances, but my ability to meet those demands based on shorter distances (which I'm doing no training for) just doesn't seem to mesh? What changes to my training do I need to do to accomplish matching times for the longer distances based on what appears to be innate speed? Can anyone take a look at my blog and review my last few months training to help me understand what may or may not be going on and what alterations I need to make to get my times down for the 10k-marathon distances.
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