Novice runner wanting to improve (sub 20 in mind)

Honestly just increase your mileage. If you run say 50 miles a week, build up to it of course(how ever if you have been running 35 for a while you may just be able to jump to it, or at least to say 45 again as you mentioned you have done, the increase in mileage may be more than enough. Your weight isn't really an issue for breaking 20, plus if you start doing 50 you'll probably lose a little more pounds its roughly an additional 1500 calories per week negative. If you're not doing workouts you could perhaps just do 4/5 by 1k at 4 minutes with a two hundred or a four hundred jog in between(4 minutes is a 6:27 mile, a 6:27 mile relates to a 19:59 5k).

I don't think it will be particularly hard for you if you have three years under your belt, it's all a matter of running more miles. Also I'm not sure what the terrain is like for you, try to find a road race that is flat and fast.

I would also recommend doing some shorter faster stuff, too. Your half mile time is pretty slow compared to your mile, so you might benefit in strengthening your speed. Some suggestions would be to do 6x400 or 12x200 at 6:00 min/mile pace with full rest (3 minutes or so). Back off if it hurts too much, but you just want to get your legs turning over faster than you are used to.

In terms of a weekly strategy, it will take some time to add workouts so first start doing one a week and then going to two. Alternate a shorter workout with a longer one. Another suggestion for a longer workout would be a 2/3 mile tempo. Run this at a pace where it would start to become difficult to talk at. You don't want to feel shattered at the end, but definitely a little uncomfortable.

Thanks for the input guys!

A few things- my 800 PR is from the final interval in an 8x800 workout. If it helps my 400 meter PR is 67.

The mile is from April 2013, pretty sure I could obliterate it. My problem has always been consistency. How long should my long run be if I'm doing 50 miles per week?

Are their any training plans out there that sound like a good match? Garmins are really low on mileage, maybe 20-25 a week.

I think more mileage is obvious as I've had more than a handful of workouts that indicate sub 20. (10x400 all sub 90 seconds with 400 meters jogging recovery)

I don't really ever do tempo or threshold style runs- during marathon training it was all HR based and kept most of my workouts in zone two.

I honestly don't think you need to increase the mileage to get sub 20. It sounds like you're progressing pretty quickly. 35-40 miles a week should be plenty. If you peaked at 44 in your marathon training cycle, which I assume was pretty low intensity, you shouldn't be aiming to average higher than 40 while putting in 5K quality work (IMO).

I would emphasize threshold training, with weekly 30 min tempo runs (+warmup/cooldown). This should be close to 7min pace initially and eventually under.

Some faster stuff, especially earlier on in the training might be good too. Like 8x300m in 65 with full recovery (500m jog).

Also keep a 10mile long run and fill in with easy runs to get to 40.

The most important thing is to be consistent over time and the times will come. This probably means picking whatever regimen keeps you consistently motivated and injury-free.

Runfarfast,

I appreciate the input-- I have an idea of how my week would go but just so I have a better understanding, is anyone willing to set me up an idea of a weekly training schedule. If my long run is Saturday I would want to run my Tempo on Thursday? and maybe do the interval workout on Tuesday. Easy on Sunday Monday, Rest Wed?

Here's what I'm thinking??

Saturday- 10 miles

Sunday- 5 recovery

Monday- 5 easy

Tuesday- 8 miles total including w/u+c/d- ex. 8x300

Wednesday- Rest

Thursday- 30 min tempo+ w/u & c/d

Friday- 6 miles easy

Hoping someone has a pretty 5k plan. In my last 5k that I PRd- my mile splits were 6:28-6:45-7:09 last .1 in 31 seconds. I always finish strong but I can't hold pace in the middle of the race.. My guess is higher mileage will fix that.

OP

Don't race for 6 weeks.

Do 400m repeats once a week

Do road workouts once a week. like, 8x3min, or 10x2min. with 2 mi warm, 2 mi cool.

Do one long run over one hour every week.

Add these to your weekly routine and you will improve.