Winter Training

[Cody Draper]

So, now that the big race (St. George Marathon) is over...What's next??  What should I focus on now?  I have been so focused on marathon specific training for so long, I am not sure what to do for the winter. 
So, here is the question.  What should I focus on in the next six months so that I can hit my long term goal of breaking 2:30 at St. George?  I am sure many other people have a similar goal.  I also have goals of breaking 17 min in a 5K and 34 min in a 10K (Des News).
Here are some thoughts on what I could do over the winter.  I plan on running 5-8 miles at lunch (4-5 days a week) with Dan.  I also plan on hitting the treadmill (I will be purchasing one soon) or the road, in the morning before work for an additional hour (8 miles).  That would give me about 60-70 miles a week on average.  I plan on no less than 60 so that next year I can build up my mileage higher than this year (peaked at 75-82) and work to sustain 100 mpw.  It is much easier to do two workouts a day to fit my schedule but I know the benefits of longer workouts may force me to do a "big workout".
Should I do other things other than pure base mileage?  Should I continue to do "big workouts"?  Should I focus on improving my speed?

[Paul Petersen]

Along with your normal mileage do one tinman tempo and one aerobic fartlek every week. Give yourself good recovery (3 minutes or so) on the fartlek. Plus 6-8 strides 3x per week. All this can be done during base training and will not wear you down, and it will all be very aerobic. Make your "workout" days longer than normal days, but they don't have to be Big or anything. Something like 12-13 miles with 6-7 miles of tempo should work, and then you will be ready to ramp up to 16 miles for Big Workouts when you get into marathon mode.

I like your ideas of treadmill running and getting in doubles. I think I will do the same thing this winter and use my gym membership as much as I can.

[Cody Draper]

Along with your normal mileage do one tinman tempo and one aerobic fartlek every week. Give yourself good recovery (3 minutes or so) on the fartlek. Plus 6-8 strides 3x per week.

Sounds resonable.  So the idea is to do 90% general aerobic miles with the rest as tempo/fartlek.   Strides for form improvement.