Thanks so much! I feel so dumb because I meant I wanted to do wine and dine. Oops. So actually I will have a huge gap between races and want to continue to work on my performance in the meantime. I basically will have 8 months between them - which feels way too long - and I don’t want to go backwards! Would you recommend aiming for another HM in the middle of those months? I could do 3 cycles I guess of 12-14 weeks with a rest in between each
It looks like you've got 36 weeks between PHM and W&D. So you could do three cycles of 12, or two cycles of 18. I'd probably err towards the two cycles of 18 weeks (or roughly thereabouts). Which means the end point would be 6/30/19. You could choose to do any type of race at the end of the cycle really (and potentially a "B" race about 4-8 weeks ahead of that, but just choose something of a lesser distance than the "A" race). A HM/10k/5k race or just simply a time trial. Then you allow recovery, and then build back up again.
So now the question becomes, what should I do during the first 18 week cycle (because the second one will focus on W&D prep)? To know what to do, I'd look at the performance of the PHM (if run at "A" level performance). Compare that time to a race equivalency calculator and recent 5k/10k times. For example,
-You stated your long runs are just under a 10 min/mile normally. The following is a profile of a person using a pacing scheme, like I use, for my runners who run a long run of a 10 min/mile:
So a person who I would schedule 10 min/mile long runs would be someone who I've assessed at a 5k of 25 min, 10k of 52 min, and HM of 1:55. Roughly 80% of training runs would be at a 9:58 min/mile or slower regardless if the focus is on speed or endurance.
-If those 5k (25) and 10k (52) are a tad faster than something you've run in the last three months, then I'd say that you might be doing your long run a tad fast. Close is ok, but being really far from those recent race results and you may be running your long runs a little too fast (dependent on how your specific training was designed). I prefer current physiologically relevant pacing than "goal pacing". In the long term view, choosing a pacing scheme of "where your at" may slow the gains a touch, but also greatly reduces the risk of injury/overtraining. I'd aim for no more than 1-2% ahead of current if you really wanted to push the envelope. But I'd say in 90% of cases, I schedule runners based on current.
-But for the sake of the example, let's say you are a 25 min 5k runner and 52 min 10k runner recently heading into this PHM training plan.
Here's what could happen at PHM (assuming ideal conditions, or minimally speaking equivalent conditions both elevation profile and environmentally to the 5k/10k comparison):
1) You run a 2:10 HM instead of a 1:55 HM. That would suggest to me that you likely need more endurance work. Thus my suggestion for the next training cycle would be to do some minimal speed work, but the primary focus should be endurance pacing (LT, HM Tempo, M Tempo).
2) You run a 1:55 HM. This suggests to me that you could do either more speed work or more endurance work. This one is a case by case dependent on the history of the runner for me. Sometimes I focus endurance and sometimes I focus heavy speed (1 mile, 3k, and LT pacing). In your case, where there is a mid-cycle of less importance, I would definitely aim for heavy speed work if this were the case.
3) You run a 1:50 HM. This suggests to me that either your 5k/10k times are outdated and you'd crush them, or you need more speed work to continue to drop your times. This is another situation where I'd likely schedule a heavy dose of 1 mile, 3k, LT pacing regardless of whatever June race you decided on.
Lastly, I'd evaluate the last training plan and say, "What type of run did I struggle with the most?" That might be signaling a deficiency and thus is a good type of run to carry over to see if you can improve upon it. What was once a deficiency, may become a strength after a few cycles working on it. But sometimes a deficiency just stays a deficiency because it is what it is.
That's the process I'd use to decide what the next step is after PHM finished.
Here's a really long version of everything:
How I write a custom running training plan
I wrote it about a year ago, but most of the content is still relevant to the current process.
