Marathon runner Jess Trengove eyes Rio Games as she lines up for Adelaide Track Classic

Marathon runner Jess Trengove is focused on speed as she eyes a place on the Australian team for the Rio Olympics.

It seems a slightly unusual philosophy for marathon preparation, but speed is something Trengove, 27, and her coach Adam Didyk think could make the difference between a modest performance and a Games medal.

Trengove will start her campaign this weekend by competing in a 3,000-metre event at the Adelaide Track Classic.

"I know they'll be setting a hot pace so there's no excuse for me not to try and hold on, but there's also that element of running within myself and knowing what paces I've been able to run previously and in training," she said.

"It'll actually be quite a challenging race because there are girls I'll be wanting to chase but I also have to pace myself accordingly too, knowing that it will for me feel like a bit of a sprint.

"Seven-and-three-quarter laps should be all right and especially hopefully there'll be a good Adelaide crowd."

Trengove's training and competition program will include national titles in March and World Cross Country Championships soon after.

"[With] distances like the 10km and the half-marathon I really want to make some gains this year and in order to do that I needed to take my training to that next level," Trengove said.

Trengove ran 39th in London

Her first marathon was three years ago in Nagoya in Japan where she clocked an impressive 2:31:02 and qualified for the London Olympics, where a marathon time of 2:31:17 saw her finish 39th.

The plan leading to the 2016 Olympics is for Trengove to run just one marathon, and do a time under two hours and 30 minutes.

Where and when she will try that is yet to be finalised, with Berlin, Amsterdam, Chicago and Melbourne on the short list.

"The ultimate picture would be that I qualify at the end of this year with a time that I'm happy with ... I'll line up in Rio an even stronger runner, ready to run faster than that time," Trengove said.

Failing that she said there was time to qualify early in 2016, given that the Rio Games are not until mid-August.

The marathon runner has moved her training base from Adelaide to Melbourne but her coach has not relocated.

Trengove is working with former middle distance runner Craig Mottram and his squad in Melbourne.

She said it helped change up her routine and she had a brother and some close friends in Melbourne.

Rio the dream, but Gold Coast hopes too

A qualified physiotherapist, Trengove has a new job that is giving her professional development alongside the change to her sporting landscape.

"Five years ago looking ahead my ultimate dream was always Rio," she said.

"I guess I didn't see London in the picture, I just had this Rio dream and so I'm sort of not thinking much beyond that."

Trengove admits that might not be entirely true.

"I really want to give it my all for Rio but obviously there is that chance of the Commonwealth Games being held on the Gold Coast," she said.

"[That] is a pretty big carrot dangling out there as well."

She said the European championships were won last year by a 40-year-old woman who ran an incredible time, so she still felt time was on her side in marathon running.