This is probably going to betray a serious misunderstanding of exercise science on my part, but here goes:
This question was inspired by a comment from "Oh You Know" on the Mark Wetmore 1500 thread.
"At the elite level the mens 1500 is about 20-25 seconds shorter than the womens so it requires more speed training."
Is this accurate? Let's say runner A runs the 5k 90s faster than runner B. I've always been under the impression that a workout (e.g. 10x400 @ mile pace with 60s rest/interval, or 20 min threshold/tempo) would have basically the same physiological effect on both runners. In other words, I have understood that they would be working the same systems at the same intensities, because of the relatively proportional disparity in top speed, aerobic capacity, etc.
But thinking about it like "Oh You Know" seems to make sense, especially as the distance goes up and the disparity in finishing time increases (e.g. 2:10 marathon for runner A vs. 2:30 marathon for runner B).
Letsrun, help me make sense of this!