Hey! So it's my first time posting and I wanted to see if I could get some legitimate feedback from all the more seasoned/experienced runners here.
Few stats:
23 years old
Male
PRs: 800-1:53, 400-50.5, 1500-4:05
During my highschool years I did the 400m until my Junior year when I started the 800 and ran a 1:53. I progressed from a 55.3 400m freshmen year to a 50.5 400m Junior year and my training included a lot of race pace intervals that were typically short with longer recoveries (such as 600m at 800m pace). My mileage probably didn't exceed 25mpw and I wasn't doing any significant amount of daily runs. Come Senior year, I had a new coach that advocated a distance base and bumped me up to around 45mpw with longer workouts of 1000m reps with less emphasis on speed. I finished the season within 1 second of my previous PR, but felt completely burnt out at the end of the year and not once did I feel like I had a kick.
Fast track to college, my mileage bounced a bit up and down as my coaches struggled to find that sweet spot, but I probably was around 50mpw usually with a big emphasis on tempo runs, 800m repeats, and 1000m repeats. Not once during my college career did I feel like I had that "kick" that I had in my HS Junior year. I never PR'd better than my HS time and now that I am running post-collegiately, I am determined to eclipse that time.
This past summer (2014) I worked my way up to around 65mpw (the most I have ever done) and although I felt pretty strung out, by the time I got to workouts in the fall, I felt really powerful doing mile repeats, 800 repeats, tempo runs...though I felt a significant lack of speed. Closing out this outdoor season (apart from my strained achilles and current plantar issue), I havn't broken 1:56 in the 800m and I still feel like I don't have a kick.
I know there are a lot of holes in this, but I guess my question is: should I keep increasing mileage?
It's difficult for me to determine whether I just need to increase the amount of speed work throughout the year or if I need more mileage, but I am not built like 5K guy and longer mileage really drains me. My runs are typicalyl done around 7:15-7:30 pace, though in college and HS they were done a lot faster (much shorter in HS obviously too). I am 5' 7" and weigh 142lbs and I have more muscle mass than the typical 800m guy I think (or maybe more than the typical 800/1500 guy). I feel like I am built more like a 400/800 guy even if I don't have crazy 400m speed.
Any suggestions?