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This is hard to answer based on just the information you gave. When you do your marathon are you running the first 20 but forced to walk most of the last 6? Are you doing periodic walking breaks like Jeff Galloway advocates? Or are you staying fairly consistent throughout the marathon (it's normal to slow as the race goes on)?
If you're fairly consistent throughout the race and you've been doing good mileage, then you should have a good endurance base to work from. I'd suggest starting out by doing a tempo run once a week - after a 10-15 min warm-up, run for about 20 minutes at a "comfortably hard" pace. It should feel fast but you shouldn't be in a lot of pain. I'm guessing this'll be at about 10 min/mile pace for you based on your marathon time. Also, 3 times per week, do 100 meter strides. Start out with only 4 the first time you do them and add 1 each week until you're up to 10. These strides should be much faster than race pace but not quite all out.
The tempo run will help you to hold a better pace for a longer time. The strides will help your turn over, making running faster feel easier. I'd also suggest throwing in a few 5 and 10K races during your training.
By the way, a 16 minute improvement from one year to the next is something to be happy about! If you have more questions, feel free to write me direct.
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