Long story short...
It's been 10 years since I was last training seriously in college, but I've gradually been ramping it up this summer. I've finally gotten my legs back to the point where they can handle 7 days a week again, so now it's time to start upping the mileage. I've knocked two minutes off my 5k time from the beginning of summer until now while only doing easy runs. Granted, the previous 10 years I was averaging about one run per month. My question is fairly straightforward (I hope). I am envisioning a year-long base building period with some tempos mixed in, but nothing beyond that for now. I want to take my time coming back because I have it. Occasional races are the only "workouts" I want to do for quite some time, until I can get back to 100+ mile weeks. I think this will take me roughly a year, as mentioned above. So, what is the best way to maintain speed during this year-long base building period? Next summer I hope to embark on a hill training/ repetition circuit, but I want to maintain what I've got for now while concentrating on maxing out my aerobic base. I've been doing strides after my easier days, how far will that get me? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks for reading.