yes100% wrote:
Yes but you need to work hard. I went from 16:30 to 15:25 in one year because I put in a hard summer of 70 MPW.
When I say hard, I mean literally all my runs were 8 min pace :) disregarding the long run (6:30) and the tempo run (5:25-5:45)
Just try and develop your aerobic system.
The only way you can do this is if you progress slowly over time. For most people you will not go from 16:30 to 15:25 in one year no matter what you do. Jim Ryun, Marty Liquori, Steve Prefontaine, Matt Centrowitz Jr., yes guys like that can do it.
The rest of us mortals might be able to do something like that within 3-5 years of a steady buildup to plateaus to buildups again.
There is nothing wrong with going 25 mpw-25 mpw-25 mpw-etc. until your body adapts to the training load. Many people suggest 25-30-35-25-30-35-40-30-35-40-45-30-35-40-45-35-45-50-40. But even that might be building way too fast.
If your body functions ((pooping, eating patterns (eating more or less) sleep, energy levels, etc. change you almost certainly should back off and maybe even as long as 2-3 weeks. This is a Bill Bowerman principle.))
1. The longer long run (recovery run the next day)
2. Fartlek runs
3. Sprint/speed development (one day per week with recovery run to follow)
4. Doing the right things as far as warmups/stretching/warmdowns. These must be done daily!
Form Work, learning about race strategy, acceleration, etc. Be a student of the sport and communicate well with your coach.
5. Hill running
6. Introducing interval training but never maxing out. Save the 10 x 400 and 3 x mile for the racing period!!
The above is far from a complete plan!!!