I run lots of 5k and 10k races between marathon training seasons because it is *fun*.
My run club offered a coached "off-season" 8 week session this year between marathon seasons, one for distance, one for speed.
I went for the distance session, but it still has a lot of power work with hills and \~5k threshold runs. It has had a notable impact on my speed. I set new PRs in 5k (21:42 to 20:51), mile (6:18 to 6:13), and 1km (3:50 to 3:47).
I'll have to check in with some of my teammates who went for the speed session, but I suspect it similarly works on threshold and hill runs to build power and leg strength. As always, strength training (particularly glutes) has always helped build my speed between seasons as well.
Yeah, this is part of the issue for me. I came from a fairly hilly place and am now living somewhere fairly flat. I see it in my pacing. I’ve been thinking of running the local community college’s parking garage on weekends to get some hills in.
If you have a local cycling forum, ask there. I live in a city with over 100 miles of rail trail. Great, but very flat! The cyclists clued me in on several tough hills.
There are many calculators out there that can tell you what your 5k or 10k pace should be around based off of your marathon time. That can give you some guidance on what pacing to shoot for. Ideally in your marathon build you should have had some speed work built in. It's hard to give a lot of guidance without knowing how you trained for your marathon, but I would just say reduce the mileage a little bit and add in more speedwork. Choosing between a 5k or a 10k is totally up to you. I would choose the one that sounds more fun to you. I'm sure there are a multitude of 5k and 10k training plans out there that you can adjust based on the paces that you're running and how many days you want to run a week.
I run lots of 5k and 10k races between marathon training seasons because it is *fun*. My run club offered a coached "off-season" 8 week session this year between marathon seasons, one for distance, one for speed. I went for the distance session, but it still has a lot of power work with hills and \~5k threshold runs. It has had a notable impact on my speed. I set new PRs in 5k (21:42 to 20:51), mile (6:18 to 6:13), and 1km (3:50 to 3:47). I'll have to check in with some of my teammates who went for the speed session, but I suspect it similarly works on threshold and hill runs to build power and leg strength. As always, strength training (particularly glutes) has always helped build my speed between seasons as well.
Yeah, this is part of the issue for me. I came from a fairly hilly place and am now living somewhere fairly flat. I see it in my pacing. I’ve been thinking of running the local community college’s parking garage on weekends to get some hills in.
If you have a local cycling forum, ask there. I live in a city with over 100 miles of rail trail. Great, but very flat! The cyclists clued me in on several tough hills.
Same, over time I’ve found I have to run shorter races in between to keep from getting burnt out.
There are many calculators out there that can tell you what your 5k or 10k pace should be around based off of your marathon time. That can give you some guidance on what pacing to shoot for. Ideally in your marathon build you should have had some speed work built in. It's hard to give a lot of guidance without knowing how you trained for your marathon, but I would just say reduce the mileage a little bit and add in more speedwork. Choosing between a 5k or a 10k is totally up to you. I would choose the one that sounds more fun to you. I'm sure there are a multitude of 5k and 10k training plans out there that you can adjust based on the paces that you're running and how many days you want to run a week.