28, female, "ran" for the last ten years inconsistently. Most mileage I've done in one week was 36 miles and I was out for 3 months after that week with a stress fracture. Now I have 6 weeks under me at 25 miles a week, and will be at 30 miles this week. Goal is stay at 30 for another four weeks and then go up to 35 next month.
Basically, I notice a difference in my strength already. Paces that used to feel difficult feel noticeably easier (i.e. 7:40 for a 1.5-2 mile tempo run). Because I live in the midwest, I haven't done any speedwork but I was curious to see where I was at today and went to a 1/10th of a mile indoor track to see how fast I could run a mile. End result was stopping at 800 meters when I saw I was on pace for 7 flat. So I ended up just doing 2 x 800 (3:26, 3:30). I was pissed.
My (very slow) PRs:
Mile- 6:24 (off of four weeks of mild training, 20 miles/week avg)
5k- 22:11 (off of fours weeks of lots of speedwork, 15 miles/week)
Half marathon- 1:48 (off of 20-25 miles a week avg, minimal speedwork)
Marathon- 4:30 (don't really include as a PR but I ran/walked it off of 10-20miles/week average for a whole summer)
I definitely enjoy the longer distances better and feel strong in them but I am trying to make this year be the one I remain consistent and break my mile and 5k PRS, and set new ones in 3000/2mile, 10k, and possibly half.
Anyone have any advice/workouts to improve speed? I was planning on just building mileage til the summer and possibly doing a full marathon (3:40 goal) but this speed thing (keep mileage low and try to get faster) seems like a better challenge for me right now considering I'm injury-prone. And genetically slow.
I love following this sport and have just started to realize how much work it takes to be somewhat decent, even at the local level. But that takes patience too and I guess I was struggling with that today.