Rubio 1500m plan vs Daniels 1500m Plan

Also, why is it that there are nothing really in the Daniels plan that has running faster than mile pace besides striders? That seems odd

Listen to your own coach

big question:

1. how long have you been running? if you got the rubio plan off of runningwarehouse, rubio is assuming 4-8 years of hard work already in the tank, and you are post collegiate. if you're not there yet, don't use those SPECIFIC workouts. they are real ball busters that you should not do until ready. that type of physical maturity comes from experience and development, no shame not being there yet. note, i'm not strong enough to do his 1500m post-collegiate plan, but the same principles apply.

so, with that...

both are just guides, need to tailor to own strengths weaknesses.

i personally have found success with rubio's "formula." that is, develop a strong base and mileage, then cycle through 3 key workouts:

1. speed (< 5k, anything faster, you want sprint to 2 mile efforts),

2. 5k/10k work, and

3. tempo, anything from MP to 10k pace

do 2 hard workouts a week and that means you cycle as:

week 1, #1 and #2,

week 2, #3 and #1,

etc.

come race time (3-6 weeks before race), you can do

1mi-10k: each week only do #1 and #2

marathon: do mostly #2 and #3, with emphasis on #3 - closer to MP

each year you build up tolerance to each of the 3 workout types. if you are strong in speed right now, but weak in aerobic endurance, put more emphasis on the tempo work for a while. but always do a little of each! i made that mistake (we often gravitate to our strengths) and it is hard to go and build up those areas that one neglects.

before you start hammering out hard tempos and 5k/10k work, be sure to build up your base with lots of steady state (s.s.). s.s. pace is about 1 minute/mile slower than current 5k race pace (on similar terrain!). note that s.s. will be challenging and slower than this if you're weak in this area. again, that's ok, that's how you build up.

i really like the simplicity of the rubio guidelines, you just do the work year round, emphasize specific areas more during different periods, and you can be as creative as you like for specific work.

good luck

I think what you described as steady state runs will certainly help since those were really lacking in any previous base phases. If done how long should these occur for? 4 miles maybe? (I've been doing 60 mpw).

Also how do I place emphasis on tempo work? Do I have every other workout become a tempo workout before the race phase, or something different?

On the days not doing a workout should I just focus on easy runs for the most part?

Once in the racing phase should I still do tempo runs or just do some longer workouts like mile repeats at 5k pace once i build up