I have been doing some base mileage for a month or two (25-30 mpw) to try to reach a 12 minute two mile. I am 23, in reasonably good shape, and played soccer through high school, but am aerobically undertrained and have never run seriously. I was able to run a 6 minute mile in the first couple weeks of training and then a 13:00 two mile a week or two later, but have not timed it since.
Are speed workouts/track workouts like 6x800 repeats necessary to reach this goal, or should I just keep focusing on lots of easy miles and maybe some tempo runs ? I assume the latter is the way to go, but just want to check with people who know about this sort of thing.