Mid-distance to the roads: cater to strengths or work on weaknesses?

Former college 1500 guy. Not competitive enough or frankly all that interested in racing mid-d at open meets, just want to be fit in a generalized way and race road 5k-marathon when the opportunities are there. Sub-1:10 half or 2:30 full (not even sure if those are equivalent) would be rad, willing to put in the work

How do others who have moved up in distance after college or through adulthood approach it? Like, training for your innate tendencies (long stride, athletic build, legs want to run 6:20ish on "easy days," usually break down over 80 mpw) vs training for the event? Let's say Robby Andrews/Eric Holt/someone else with that physical and performance profile wanted to OTQ for the 'thon. Would they be better served doing all aerobic workouts (MP, LT, etc) or mixing in some VO2 and mile pace 200s to sustain mechanics? Longer singles or doubles? More carbs and less protein to shed excess muscle?

Appreciate anybody who reads and responds, happy running to all

sunny day real estate wrote:
Former college 1500 guy. Not competitive enough or frankly all that interested in racing mid-d at open meets, just want to be fit in a generalized way and race road 5k-marathon when the opportunities are there. Sub-1:10 half or 2:30 full (not even sure if those are equivalent) would be rad, willing to put in the work
How do others who have moved up in distance after college or through adulthood approach it? Like, training for your innate tendencies (long stride, athletic build, legs want to run 6:20ish on "easy days," usually break down over 80 mpw) vs training for the event? Let's say Robby Andrews/Eric Holt/someone else with that physical and performance profile wanted to OTQ for the 'thon. Would they be better served doing all aerobic workouts (MP, LT, etc) or mixing in some VO2 and mile pace 200s to sustain mechanics? Longer singles or doubles? More carbs and less protein to shed excess muscle?
Appreciate anybody who reads and responds, happy running to all

"legs want to run 6:20ish on "easy days," usually break down over 80 mpw" => slow down on easy days. A good way to work on this is to run with slower people at their pace on your easy days.

Get into a reasonable regular running schedule. Doubles are probably better than singles if you can make the schedule work, but singles are a lot better than not running.

For regular workouts, 10k pace and mile pace are good. 3-5k pace is best done sparingly. 6-8 x 1000m at 10k pace with 200-400m jog, or mile repeats slower than 10k pace -- 5% slower than 5k pace is a reasonable rule of thumb.

Faster stuff you probably know what to do -- 200s, 300s at mile pace will, as you noted, help keep good mechanics.

For specific race prep for 5-10k, I like cutdown workouts, like 1600 1200 800 400, 2000 1000 500, or 3000 2000 1000. What you generally want to avoid are the long Vo2 workouts that end up being more or less race effort. You could get away with that stuff when you were 19.

Long runs and tempo runs are also good. For long runs, 90-120 minutes. Keep them mostly easy, but quicker finish last 2-3 miles is good when you're feeling it.

Tempo runs should be easier than you might think. I like 60 minutes, starting relaxed and work up to pleasantly quick. I think the right approach is to always be holding back just a bit. Some people are happier with long tempo-type repeats.

Excess muscle I wouldn't worry about. Mileage will mostly take care of it. As you get older, you'll find yourself thinking more about how not to lose it.

Or you can go all in on the double threshold fad.

Mid-distance to the roads: cater to strengths or work on weaknesses?

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