You raise some very good points Indigo, and I have heard people use a similar strategy like 5-6 months focus on shorter races, 5-6 on a marathon with a 1-2 running break.
I think in my current situation it would probably be ideal, I seem to have maintained or even gained a little speed but lost all my endurance.
The thing is shorter races just don't interest me, in fact I was originally thinking of moving on to a 50m Ultra. I have a 10K signed up for April 9th, I originally intended as a fitness test before a marathon May 1st, but I really dont care about the 10K at all. The other thing is baby #2 is on it way end of may so summer training is likely limited at best which is why I wanted a Spring marathon rather than focus on an Fall marathon.
I will decide in the next few weeks, as I said 1 option is simply aim for a fun slow marathon in May, with an easy goal and no training stress. You can normally cut down to a half marathon race in the days before race-day as well.
Anyway, squeezed in another 7.5 mile run this morning, so 55 miles for the 5 work days. Off to Utah skiing tonight, running shoes packed but not expected to use them. 55 for the week and a 15mile MLR is really not too bad, its just much harder than it uses to be 3 months ago which is distressing.
