Kevin Rowles: In the last newsletter you talked about the need for confidence in breaking through a plateau and gave 500 and 1,000 metre times to look for if you want to break 7 minutes for 2,000 metres. My personal best is 6:43, so what 500 and 1,000 metre times would indicate 6.30 capability (I have 1:27.6 and 3:11 respectively)? Can you correlate the easier mental demands of the shorter distances at flat out pace or are there more complicated mechanisms at work.Terry O'Neill: There is a direct correlation between sprint times and 2,000 metre times. Over a series of 4-6 x 500m, the average time would represent 110% of your 2,000 metre time. To improve on a personal best other factors come into play. A personal best requires you to be at the edge of your physical capacity and to do this you have to be right mentally. Many top coaches will tell you it is what goes on upstairs that is the real difference and that on the actual physical level it is difficult to separate athletes. Thirdly, technique has to be spot on to improve your best. During your preparation if you fail to pay equal attention to any one of these areas then you will not move forward. The fact that you achieve the target time on the shorter distance does have the effect of building confidence but a one off 500 metres could have too high an anaerobic contribution to be sustained over 2,000 metres. A series where the average would still be 110% would indicate a good aerobic capacity and efficient lactate metabolism so, when you drop down to target pace, you are working at 90% and it is sustainable.To achieve a PB of 6:30 your 500 metre split time would need to be 1:37.5 and your time of 1:27.6 is inside 10% of this but I suspect that it is a one off and not a series. Your 1,000 metre time would need to be 3:05 and is 3:11, which confirms to me that you are not ready to get down to 6:30 at the moment.