My training this far has been dominated by running mid and longer distances at or near my marathon pace. This is fine from the point of view of building the miles up, but there is far more to it in order to get to 26.2 mile success - i.e. I need to be able to run with less effort.
From various discussions with experienced runners and a bit of reading too, the way this is achieved is by being a faster runner. My stride, speed, and stamina should all improve as a result of including speed workouts in the training. That doesn't necessarily mean to jump to the track and start some fancy sessions; that is more suited to the experienced runner. For me, it is just simply the case of building core fitness and this can be done with interval training and 5k/10k races.
Yes, I've done plenty of parkruns and run 10k races; that isn't the new bit. The key is to be able to hold a consistent fast pace for a period of time and this will build both fitness and strength. So for the last 5 weeks my midweek 5 mile plod has now become a 5 mile interval run. I do 4 lots of half mile fast paced efforts with 4 'slow' recovery half mile efforts in between and then finish off with a 1 mile plod warm down.
Just by my home there is a triangle of roads suitable for this, decent width pavement and one part is a cul-de-sac so is relatively quiet. It does have a chip shop on it, so I am conscious of being watched when I go past again and again and again and get a waft of fish and chips each time I go by.
I start off with a slow half mile, then my Garmin watch chirps and I spring in to action for a half mile and then back to another slow half mile after that to recover. My aim was to be able to have maintained the same pace across all the fast half miles. I managed the first 2 at just under 8 mins/mile and the last 2 at just over 8 mins/mile; not bad for a first go. I've done the same once each week from then on and each time my fast pace has become quicker, right down to my first two efforts this week being at under 7 mins per mile. Wow!
Just to see what the impact is, I returned to my old friend, the 'hilly 5k' - a fast and furious 5k on a very challenging and undulating route. My time fell from 27:30 to 25:15 in just 5 weeks! Amazing improvement for this difficult route - so how would this translate in a time at Brueton parkrun? Surely my 25:50 parkrun PB was seriously under threat now!
So the opportunity came for me to run at Brueton parkrun and so I did, with some excitement, but not sure whether I could make a faster pace last over 5k. It's a bit different to just doing that over half a mile! I set a target pace to run just under 8 mins for the first mile and take it from there. Off I went inside target pace and at 1 mile I felt OK. The second mile was more difficult and a bit slower too, but again just inside 8 mins/mile and by this time I had moved up the field, so what the hell - let's keep going and see if I can last the whole distance! The third mile turned out to be my fastest mile and with my final time just a touch over 24 mins I had taken nearly two minutes off my parkrun PB. I can't believe it - but it appears that my marathon training coupled with these half mile intervals have made me a faster runner! Let's see how all this affects my long runs in August (with 2 at 15 miles and 2 at 17.5 miles) - will I be able to last the distance?
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