I basically run <15 MPW. But have had good results. How fast can I go with appropriate MPW?

With appropriate training, you might improve 3 minutes, or you might improve 23 minutes. Those are seriously both possibilities. You'll never know until you try.

Eh it's hard to say. 6:39 pace for 13.1 miles is solid. but my high school often had long runs upwards up 11-12 miles that were 6:50 pace and faster. i never thought of myself as crazy talented either (17:40 5k in HS). And plus you're 21 so you're near your physical peak to begin with. and you've also been running around 10-20MPW for about 2 years now it seems, not to mention you've had some experience with the distance.

Sure, you're talented. nothing crazy. most guys with a good running build (5'5-6ft with a BMI of 19-21) could probably accomplish what you've done.

TBH there is no way to say if you could run 1:15, that's almost 1 minute per mile faster than you're currently going. if i had to guess you could probably hold 1:15 pace for 2 miles right now.

don't let my post discourage you, get out there and train. people react to training differently than others. maybe 50MPW will get you a time quicker than 1:15, you never know unless you try.

You're both probably right--no way for me to know. Nevertheless I am encouraged to get out there and train!

Not that I think of myself as crazy talented. I just mean by 'crazy' that I've been surprising myself lately, especially this year in the jump from 1:34-1:27. I feel like even though I've been running really low mileage, the quality of my training has improved a lot, which is natural considering I've learned a few things over the last couple of years. I've figured out that I respond well to tempo runs, for instance, though even in the past year I didn't get to do nearly as many as I had wanted (I usually get one in every couple of weeks).

Once I dialed my easy pace back to 8:20-8:50 and focused on my form, I started seeing a lot more improvement in my running economy.

Something I literally just discovered is strides--I'll be using them now after every other easy run. I've never really done interval, fartlek or track workouts either, so these are all things I'm excited to implement as I continue my training. There seem to be so many options that I could never really decide which were the most worth my while!

Of course none of this will necessarily take me to 1:15 (I understand that's very unlikely). But I'd hope that one day I will at least have a chance to attempt a sub-1:20. I am confident at this point that 1:25 is reachable. Then again I've been very lucky to avoid injuries and 'bad' race days. I guess time will tell.

Michigan runner11 wrote:

Eh it's hard to say. 6:39 pace for 13.1 miles is solid. but my high school often had long runs upwards up 11-12 miles that were 6:50 pace and faster. i never thought of myself as crazy talented either (17:40 5k in HS).

You either underperformed or went way too hard on your long runs without appropriate balance in other parts of your training

To the OP, the half marathon is long enough that natural talent simply can't make up for lack of mileage. Increasing your mileage will definitely help you improve at that distance as long as you stay healthy. Also, you should try some 5ks, because you probably will do even better since you won't be hampered by your lower training as much

Nicely done. You have almost everybody believing this.

9/10

Swag Lord,

I've never run a 5k but I did do my first 4 Miler in February at the Al Gordon Classic, it was VERY cold (winning time was only 20:46). Did it in 25:38. Looking forward to doing more shorter faster distances in the future.

Staying healthy with increased mileage has been tricky, more because my body doesn't seem to hold up too well, but then again I've only just began to make my easy runs ACTUALLY easy and my hard runs fewer and further between with more purpose. Now that I don't have any more Halves scheduled for the rest of this year, I feel like I can focus on a steady, uninterrupted mileage increase.

Race schedule for the rest of the year:

June: Queens 10k

August: Henry Isola 4M (Van Cortlandt Park)

Sept: Bronx 10-Mile

Nov: NYC Marathon

Levi -

These guys are crazy smart but they aren't going to be able to help you out unless you give accurate info. You ran a 1:33:45 today and a 2:23:32 at the March 2015 NY half.

Swag Lord wrote:

[quote]Michigan runner11 wrote:

Eh it's hard to say. 6:39 pace for 13.1 miles is solid. but my high school often had long runs upwards up 11-12 miles that were 6:50 pace and faster. i never thought of myself as crazy talented either (17:40 5k in HS).

You either underperformed or went way too hard on your long runs without appropriate balance in other parts of your training

Yeah i did underperform quite a lot in high school. probably should've been nearer 17:10-20 but it's whatever.

NYC,

Not sure what you're talking about. Name is Evan. AKA 'Evan 48', this guy in the photo on the NYC Marathon site:

http://cdnnym.nyrr.org/sites/default/files/styles/image-966x522/public/gallery/2014/NYCM14_Finishers_001.JPG?itok=Kk9EijdN

Proof is in the pudding: bib number today was 1806. You can check my past results for yourself.

First HM I ever ran was a 1:27...but I trained for 3 months, building to about 40mpw and I came from an athletic background. Now I have a PR of 1:14 twelve years later.

You might be more talented than me. Gradually build your mileage and don't neglect your basic speed. Best of luck.

These times are extremely mediocre. I recently ran 1:17 off of about 30 mpw and I'd consider myself to have moderate talent. You could run 1:10 off of 50 mpw, or you could improve to 1:25. No way to tell with the info you gave. It depends on what you do with those 50 mpw and how much natural talent you really have.

You don't know how much faster you could run but it would be a lot faster. No reason that you couldn't at your age run better than 1:15 with 60-80 mpw and workouts with a team. Build up gradually. I ran 1:22:04 in high school off of 20-40 mpw a month after senior xc, but only about a week to ten days of healthy training between my very frequent injuries.