I'm an 11th grade miler and half-miler (also ran XC - ended last season with 5K PB of 18:01, dropping 45 seconds from previous race), and I'm wondering whether my speed is abysmal compared to my endurance or not. On Sunday I managed to run 10 miles averaging 6:38 per mile (which beat my previous 10 mile record of 6:53 pace), and that basically marked the end of my base training for the upcoming track season.
My goals for the season are a 4:40 mile and 2:02 half-mile. My mile last season was a 4:56 and my half-mile was a 2:08, both done at my district meet (never went on to regionals, didn't expect to anyway).
I've done a couple of workouts over the past two weeks, and I only truly hit my goals in one of them. Here they are:
1. 8 x 400m, 400m jogging rest, goal is 70 seconds each interval (mile pace)
(84, 83, 77, 73, 74, 75, 78, 71)
(To be fair, it was about 30 degrees, at night, on a straight sidestreet. Still decently off target)
2. 12 x 200m, 400m jogging rest, goal is 30 seconds each interval (half mile pace)
(35, 34, 33, 31, 34, 32, 32, 32, 33, 32, 31, 29)
(Almost identical conditions as previous workout)
3. 4 mile tempo run, target pace is 6:00 or lower
Splits were 5:42, 6:01, 6:04, 5:59; averaged 5:57. actually let myself fall to the ground when I finished so it was very tough. I guess it was more of a race than it was a tempo, considering how close it is to actual race pace at that distance. For reference, the pace for my 18:01 5K was about 5:45. Still hit my goal though.
4. 5 x 1K @ mile pace (so target is 2:55 per interval), 3 min rest
(3:18, 3:15, 3:10, 3:11, 3:09)
Conducted on a 400m track. I'm hoping these times are a result of the fatigue I felt in my legs. I'm probably not knowledgeable enough on workouts to say this, but I don't think 1K repeats at mile pace is ideal.
I created/did the first three workouts on my own, coach made me do the fourth one. My coaches generally don't provide me good workout knowledge since they focus on the slower runners on the team, so I just try to do all of my workouts at ideal race pace for my specified distance because it seems reasonable enough to me.
Still, there's certainly a problem somewhere. I just can't fathom doing 10 miles at a 6:38 pace and still having problems with endurance (relative to my times at least), so I think speed is certainly an issue. It could just be that it's really early in my speedwork phase. What do you guys think?