Greetings all, I'm going to see if I can somehow get some serious responses.
First off, in high school I did XC from freshman-senior year and track from sophomore to senior year. First year of track I only did the 1600m and occasionally an 800m or 1200m in a relay.
All the time spend from freshman year to my junior year of track was spend doing distance training (although low mileage 25-35 mpw or so).
Towards the end of my Junior year in track, the coach put me in the 4x400m relay. I split a 51 my first time. After that I was put on the teams 4x400 A and I split a 52 at region. Both these 400 runs were shortly after running the 800 (and 1600m earlier). I always felt quite fatigued going into the relay, far from "fresh" anyways.
Come senior year, I did the 4x400 frequently, (always after the 1600 and 800...) and split 50.xx a few times and quite a few 51-52 second splits. Running 50-52 felt quite easy compared to junior year.
Senior year I was also running around 40mpw with a long run every other week or so of 10+ miles. All distance training (in fact I stupidly ran a marathon with my dad the summer before Sr. Cross. Blew up in 3:24 that summer I did quite a few runs of 15-20mi though maybe 5-6 times).
I'll lay out my times from Soph-sr year
Soph:
XC: 18:32
1600m 5:08
Jr:
XC: 17:59
1600m 4:55
800m 2:09
4x400: 51-52
Sr:
XC: 17:01 (I think the marathon hurt me this year, felt fatigued most the year)
1600m 4:46
800m: 2:05
4x400: 50-52
Also ran cross freshman year of college, ran 17:52 5k on an incredibly hilly course (placed 4th, not big meet) and 28:43 8k. That summer I ran 40-50mpw or less, ran a 35:49 10k.
Post freshman XC season I ran a 1:19 half marathon
I did not get to run track that spring.
I am now finishing sophomore year of college and haven't competed since freshman XC, but I have been training and am building now to try 60-70 mpw for awhile (I've always trained 50 mpw or below to this point).
I am by far in the best shape of my life now, but havent raced in so long.
Here's a few things I've done in workouts or on runs for fun:
6mile run, the first 5miles in 6:45~ and ran the last in 4:52 (just felt like it)
I ran a 12 miler at 6:15 pace, very hilly, very easy.
I've basically been doing a decent amount of running 40-50mpw til now but with a lot of strength training, I've been in the gym the past year an incredibly amount and have gained much strength despite weighing the same. Body fat is definitely low now. Also, most my runs by feel are around 6:00-7 and feel incredibly easy.
Finally, to conclude this long *ss post, I ran a 55 second 400m yesterday after a 7 miler. Completely for fun. It felt very easy and I could've kept the pace up for awhile longer (maybe 600m; I'm unsure exactly).
My question is:
How should I train from here on out? I want to try an 800 and 1500m track race the next spring. I am very focused on the long term. The most important aspect of my training at this point has been mostly aerobic, runs within myself. No "speed work" in the sense that I've done 200m all out with 5min rest or whatever the prescribed time/rest would be. Very few intervals faster than 5:30-6 pace, yet I am in shape to PR in any event at the moment. I'm just wondering where I should go from here.