Polarized vs tempo wrote:
For me it was the opposite. During the pandemic I started jogging and built up to 60-70 miles for a few months with some tempos at 6:40 and ran 38:15 off this in my first ever race. After that I cut the mileage down to 40, started doing intervals for the first time (400m repeats) and then 2 months later ran 37:40. Then with longer intervals it went down to 37:01, still on 40 miles. It seems that polarized training works for me but I enjoy tempo runs a lot more. I wonder if I could get the same effect by doing strides in the tempo run.
Now go do an 8 week cycle of 70mpw with some tempos and strides. You will be even faster.
I don't think the idea that faster will make you faster is that controversial. The issue is how much faster and the risk of overcooking it. The upside is probably like 15s over a 5k. The downside is like getting 30s slower...and time that peak can be hard. I know in HS XC, pretty much everyone got better for this first 6 weeks when we went from easy base running to running like 6 races and some workouts. But a lot of people then fought to hold that fitness over the last 4 weeks that mattered. We were doing a bit too much a bit too soon. And it doesn't help in HS that every 17min guy thinks they are a good race away from running 16:30. And sometimes it even happens...