I've been working to find out if my strength is distance/endurance or pace/speed. I haven't answered the question completely but it's starting to look like pace/speed is my strength as compared to distance (obviously, the elites have both although the great elite distance runners are known for their bursts of speed also). With my coach, we've found the range where there's a drop in performance which for me is at 2 points: a minimal drop at the 10-11 mile range and a noticeable drop at the 14 mile mark. My strongest performance is between miles 4-10.
Now, of course, it's also about what you love and what drives your soul. When I started running, my favorite run was the 45 min. to 1 hr. comfortably hard run. However, I got so wrapped up in distance and wanting to run a marathon that I forgot what I loved about running. But now, I'm starting to come back full circle to what I loved about running when I first started. I may never run another marathon and I'm not sure about the half either and I'm find with that because I've re-discovered my love for running . . . shorter, hard runs fuels my soul.
This is why I'm only concentrating on the 5k and 10k distances. I'm posting this because there may be others out there that have similar experiences. The talk many times is about how we are engineered to run long distances and I don't debate that but it's not an absolute. I imagine that with many indigenous peoples where running was part of live and survival, they had great distance runners and great sprinters and used each skill for the benefit of the group.
Harry
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