When I was training for the Brighton Marathon my work schedule was a nightmare, with 5 hour total commute times most weekdays. I made sure I did at least part of them on the Brompton to get cardio but we all know cycling doesn't translate to running too well.
"Don't worry too much" I was told by more experienced marathon runners "forget a target time and just make it all about the long runs in training". This was kind of ok as I got through the mara and although I was slower than I'd hoped I was reminded by a spectator a couple of miles from the end that just the act of finishing a marathon makes you amazing.
Fortunately as I get ready for next month's 50km in Bath I'm now working just a few miles from home so I've no excuses not to stick to the training plan. This means a lot of extra speedwork in the middle of the week, particularly intervals.
Experienced runners will know this already but if you are more of a novice like me you might not realise how much of a boost you get from this type of activity. Essentially I've found it has resulted in a lot of seconds coming off my easy run pace without really feeling like I've altered the amount of effort I'm putting in.
Within a month of doing my midweek intervals (either 1 mile with 60 seconds rest times 5, or 10 minutes with 2 minutes rest times 3) I've knocked 100 seconds off my Parkrun time and I'm pretty sure there was more in me that day.
I've also found that the nature of intervals means you adjust where you set the "shit this is too hard I need to walk a bit" needle as you get used to pushing thorough that last 60 seconds of a ten minute interval.
Try it. Works well.
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