I'm sick of running and not improving

Well, you just don't have any talent for distance running. Decide to enjoy it as a healthy lifestyle and try something else to excel at -- I suggest Tiddly Winks or clog dancing (both have little competition).

What sport/exercise did you do prior to running? If you were a real coach potato and started from scratch at 18, I'd guess it would take longer than 4 years, but you've already made big progress.

Are any of your family good at aerobic sport? Can you sprint?

I would ditch all cross training like hiking and whatever free running is. Biking is fine. Target specific goal paces in your workouts and switch to longer intervals like 1ks and mile repeats. At a speed where you can do 6 or 8 repetitions. If you can't regularly break 20 I assume your endurance is just too poor not a speed issue. Also steady run pace might be way too slow. You didn't give any specific paces or numbers so I can't be sure but 50mpw with only steady runs and strides should be more than enough to crack 20.

Second part is do you even need to run 50mpw right Now? Maybe shoot for 30 or 40 and add more intervals. Do you taper for races? Do you have good pacing In your races?

All of this could be contributing factors.

argv wrote:

What sport/exercise did you do prior to running? If you were a real coach potato and started from scratch at 18, I'd guess it would take longer than 4 years, but you've already made big progress.

Are any of your family good at aerobic sport? Can you sprint?

I was active until age ten like any other child, I was in the top 3 sprinters in my class until high school where I developed a sedentary lifestyle throughout and continued to be sedentary up until age 18. My Dad played football but was painfully average, my Mother was sedentary. Both were life long smokers.

Most of us ameticans on this site would tell you that doing a "tonne" of anything besides running is counterproductive. However, a recent analysis of a sub-set of linear placed subjects in a triple blind cross study of mid to upper level multi gender and multi stratified code references with duplicative funding sources supported investigative studies shows that without a doubt, doing "tonnes" of things unrelated to the activity being pursued in in actualty the most preferred approach.

So, chin up my dear chap! With several more years (12-15 in my estimation) of increasing the intensity and volume of your training, you too will break 19 minutes for the 5k. Then a world of opportunity will open before you.

Lowest end of the talent pool wrote:

I was active until age ten like any other child, I was in the top 3 sprinters in my class until high school where I developed a sedentary lifestyle throughout and continued to be sedentary up until age 18. My Dad played football but was painfully average, my Mother was sedentary. Both were life long smokers.

Sedentary from 12-18 or so is a shame - it sounded something like that. Those are the golden years where it all happens. In that case, accept it will take longer than you might feel it should to make gains. Maybe set big goals for age 25 and 29 and smaller goals along the way to keep motivated. Add running-specific exercises and plyometrics. Take a hard look at your diet. Cover all bases - sprints, intervals, tempo, long. I'm just guessing really but my gut feel is you'll have to over-compensate to make up for those missing years, but you probably have some natural speed which will help.

No wrote:

Most of us ameticans on this site would tell you that doing a "tonne" of anything besides running is counterproductive. However, a recent analysis of a sub-set of linear placed subjects in a triple blind cross study of mid to upper level multi gender and multi stratified code references with duplicative funding sources supported investigative studies shows that without a doubt, doing "tonnes" of things unrelated to the activity being pursued in in actualty the most preferred approach.

So, chin up my dear chap! With several more years (12-15 in my estimation) of increasing the intensity and volume of your training, you too will break 19 minutes for the 5k. Then a world of opportunity will open before you.

That's quality comedy right there.

Think less, run less. Just run faster. Hammer your daily runs more and drop your mileage. Focus on speed work and tempos. Get rid of the junk mileage and cross training.

Flagpole, I'm surprised at you. What a put down to this young lad. SHAME on you. Be nice.

You might just be fast twitch. What is your 200 time? Your 40 time?

Ok, it seems you are covering your bases. How about strength training? And exercises? meditation? There's more available to you to use to help you improve. Even pace changes can make a difference.

I hope you keep plugging away. I applaud your efforts.

Calc Ulo the Goat wrote:

You might just be fast twitch. What is your 200 time? Your 40 time?

Don't have a clue about my 40 but my 200 is around 35. I find sprinting harder because I feel like I just don't have the strength to reach my top speed.

Maybe MARATHON distances and beyond are your thing. Try it.

Rest enough (not just sleep). Don't forget why you're doing it (hopefully fun). There are multi-year gains to be made. Be patient.

Well I'm doing a 5km TT today to hopefully break 20mins, I did a 3km on Tuesday at 3.55km/pace. But what occurred to me is that surely not everyone is cut out for running sub 20 5kms. I did track as a teenager, quick, but nothing special, low 11s/100m (electronically times), also ran 200 and 400, so can run reasonably fast. Now when I'm running at 3.40, 3.50 pace, that feels pretty quick to me and I just can't imagine a lot of people out there running that quick no matter how fit they get?

Could you elaborate your workouts:

-Two workouts a week (400/800/hill repeats or TT)

Working on the lactate threshold is important, staying sub-LT for the most part, maybe done as a progression run at first to get the feel of the threshold. If you manage to lift this during base you should improve. The frequent TT´s could be counterproductive. Also the tempo´s often gets too intense, like time trials to be good base phase workouts.

Join a running club and train with faster runners. Most of the good runners on this site ran on teams with other fast runners and coaching.

In light of your solid training program -- 4 years of training and currently doing 50 miles/week with a reasonable mix of training modalities -- your times are slow.

How much do you weigh?

As a change of pace, run less, reduce cross-training, and incorporate strength training, like deadlifting or squatting two or three times a week.

Take two weeks off .

Then quit .