Hi Everyone! I recently ran my first marathon about 2 months ago, and ran my second marathon a week ago (5:11 and 4:50). For those two, I use a modified Higdon plan peaking at around 40 mpw with no speed work, lactate or pace runs. I was not a runner and not fit prior to getting on the plan, and did not work out previously at all. High School athlete that was sedentary through all of college and the years immediately thereafter.
I can say that I am officially hooked. Marathon training has been the one thing since highschool that has gotten me to consistently work out. Now, I want to run a faster marathon and eventually a sub 4. In doing so, I have a quick question regarding training. I plan to run a late fall marathon, and I was wondering if it would be okay to hop on a pfitz 18/55, and if hopping onto a new block would result in faster times. On the contrary, do most faster marathoners work their way up through shorter races (i.e. getting a fast 5k, then 10k, then half and so forth)? Or can I just keep hammering training blocks and expect to see significant speed increases?