It seems to me that training for distances from 1500m to half marathon is essentially the same. It requires:
-High mileage
-Tempo runs
-Intervals (length and speed depend on the distance you are aiming for)
-Gym work (twice per week)
So, the only difference is the pace and distance of the intervals. The rest of the training is the same.
Am I missing something?
Big Range wrote:
It seems to me that training for distances from 1500m to half marathon is essentially the same. It requires:
-High mileage
-Tempo runs
-Intervals (length and speed depend on the distance you are aiming for)
-Gym work (twice per week)
So, the only difference is the pace and distance of the intervals. The rest of the training is the same.
Am I missing something?
You are correct. While at the top most athletes are specialists of one distance the fundamental period of training is fairly close. The 1500m specialists will lead the group on faster days. The longer distance specialists will lead on strength based days. The group as a whole benefit.
I think the quantity of mileage, length and speed of the tempo runs and importance of the gym work matters substantially and is quite different between those distances.
That said, I think you can run…
1) A good 3k/5k on 1500 training
2) A good 1500/3k/5k/10k on 5k training
3) A good 3k/5k/HM on 10k training
4) A good 5k/10k on HM training
So there is some substantial overlap.
Yeah, running doesn't have to be too complicated. You can take a similar blueprint and structure 1500-half training in the same way. The mileage should be different. Workout volume should be different. Intensity should be different. But workout type and frequency can be the same.
Wanna know something fun? Ingebrigtsens train like half marathoners from oktober to april. Perhaps the only thing you would change is their hill workout.
highhoppingworm wrote:
I think the quantity of mileage, length and speed of the tempo runs and importance of the gym work matters substantially and is quite different between those distances.
That said, I think you can run…
1) A good 3k/5k on 1500 training
2) A good 1500/3k/5k/10k on 5k training
3) A good 3k/5k/HM on 10k training
4) A good 5k/10k on HM training
So there is some substantial overlap.
i agree on 2 and 3 but not as much on 3 and 4
In overall structure, yes. You can run a pretty fast half off of 1500-5k training and vice versa.
In my opinion, tempos should be longer and slower for half marathon training, (5-8 miles) while they should be faster and shorter for 1500m (3-6 miles, or split into intervals)
Same concept for intervals too.
Not exactly but training for 3000m to 10000m is so close that most of athletes who do well at 5000m & 10000m could do well at 3000m plus a few aged out 1500m gals & guys could do well at 3000m at Olympics and W.C.
It is pretty clear that there is an anaerobic and aerobic contribution to the whole effort. The aerobic part takes 30-40sec to get going and the anaerobic part seems to be rather a fixed amount of energy that can be spent over the race distance. 1500m is still fairly short, largely aerobic, but still the anaerobic part is key to success. Since the aerobic part is so dominant, it needs to be well developed and I guess that is the reason why the same aerobically targeted training works well also for 1500m.
Half/Marathon training is essentially base training for the 1500-10k. Many will run 5k prs a few months after a marathon. Lydiard had his 800/1500 runners train like marathon runners. Hard 20 mile long runs and 100+ mile weeks. But they did do hard speed work in the months leading up to peaking. So the difference is mostly in the last few months leading up to the race where you want specific workouts related to the race distance.
Nah - you need way more sharpening / speed word for 1500m than half marathon. Lots of 1500m runners don't need high mileage.
Not even remotely close. Your speed work varies significantly.
Big Range wrote:
It seems to me that training for distances from 1500m to half marathon is essentially the same. It requires:
-High mileage
-Tempo runs
-Intervals (length and speed depend on the distance you are aiming for)
-Gym work (twice per week)
So, the only difference is the pace and distance of the intervals. The rest of the training is the same.
Am I missing something?
Yes, essentially the same. But there is no need for high mileage and tempo runs ( If you mean long sustained runs of more than 3 k ). No need for gym work .