I found these two articles very interesting. I think the "Tyranny of the comfort zone" article might provide some clues to Sugar's great performances over the past few weeks. Running quick and short has probably taken him out of his comfort zone after a couple of cycles of marathon training and the results are obvious.
The tyranny of the comfort zone
The other article provides some clues on what those of us who are marathon training can do to maintain our speed. I was doing the short hill sprints but let them lapse when I started doing other speedwork. Time to re-incorporate them I think, especially if I am going to run the 10km at the Fremantle Fun Run on 4 October.
Don't let marathon training steal your speed
4 comments:
Hey Soggy biscuitman,
A couple of comments in regards to your posted articles and your comment about whether or not to run the fremantle 10km.
I would look at it like this.
An 800m runner who is trying to run 1.44 would be looking at running 51 / 53 for example.
If his top 400m speed is 48secs then he is using a lot more effort to run 51secs compared to if his top 400m speed is 46secs.
Similarly, if your top speed for 10km or half marathon is faster then when you go through the half on your targeted pace you will be alot more comfortable than otherwise. What do you think?
ps I would run the 10km and have a crack at a fast time. I think you can run 35 mins if you commit yourself in the first 5km.
I guess there is some similarity but given that the marathon is more than 99% aerobic, its more important to improve running efficiency. it certainly feels easier to run at marathon pace a few days after racing but I wouldn't be racing within a few days of running a marathon. My marathon pace is significantly slower than my 10k and half marathon pace.
I think 35mins is pushing it a bit but it would be nice to run around 36.30.
...and yet it's implicit within every predictor/calculator and forecaster that the quicker you can run a 10km or a half, the quicker you can run a marathon. The assumption is obviously that one informs the other. The marathon runner whose full marathon time is quicker than what their 10km/half predicts is (I would imagine) in the minority.
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