Why am I running the same times on 35 mpw as on 70 mpw?

60mpw jogging is not the same as 30mpw with an interval session.

Maybe it was overtraining. Did you jump from 30-40mpw to 70mpw because thats doubling your training and asking to get hurt. I generally have my athletes increase 10mpw per year if they generally are healthy at these previous mileage. But if I get a kid who came from a program where they were doing 20-30mpw generally my approach is their first cycle we increase to 30-40mpw and then the second cycle we increase to 40-50mpw. I'm talking 5-6 month cycles so like peaking for XC and then again for outdoor track in a college scenario.

What changed for you? Do you have less stress now? Were your over training at 70mpw? One guess is that you were running and racing in "normal" shoes before and now your are using super shoes almost exclusively. Shoes could get you 30sec at 18min 5k and 60sec at 38min 10k.

You are rested, lots of runners do that lots of Miles during the Base then lower the Mileage during peak season.

You changed too many variables at once to come to that conclusion.

Just running more slow training will not make you faster at shorter distances. Sounds like you did 70mpw with the only speed work being a park run.. the trail running also really isn't ideal if you want to be good at park runs.

Sound alike you did 100% zone 2 style training.

This is my issue with zone 2 based training... Doing only zone 2 heart rate training will help your running efficiency and aerobic capacity to a point.. but mix in ~2 days of threshold training and longer efforts as well and you will see massive aerobics gains! 80% of what I do people would call zone 2 training but the benefits come from the 20% of hard miles and the recovery and consistency over the zone 2 portion. (Also I don't run based on heart rate but if you go back it usually would fit that definition on my easy days)

So it's no surprise that running faster has made you faster.. now do both. The more you do both and over time you will realize more mileage almost always wins in 5K plus given similar talents

this is so obviously the answer that I'm pretty surprised everyone else is so fixated on the mileage difference. you're not gonna run your best if you don't do workouts. if you did workouts while running 60-70 mpw you would've ran faster.

My 5K time improved a lot by training for the 800m rather than focusing on running more distance. I also included a two mile tempo run at the end of track sessions. My body couldn't handle more than 35-40mpw and only once a month 9 mile run.

If all you do is run the same mileage on the same routes at the same pace, you plateau, even start to decline. One interval workout a week at your present mileage seems to be the sweet spot for you.

OP. Let me understand this. You are wondering why you ran slower while doing high mileage with no workouts than doing low mileage and workouts?

Workouts are important. Plus you have all of last year's mileage in your legs.

If your question is, "was running 60-70 mpw worth it?" then the short answer is probably. The reason why you are seeing the same results after a hiatus at lower milage is because you have already reached that fitness level previously. After a hiatus, it does not necessarily matter if you get back to the volume you were at before. As long as you have somewhat consistent and effective training you can get back to your previous fitness level. I have personally experienced this. Back in 2021, I got surgery on my foot that resulted in almost a 1-year hiatus from running. Although I cross-trained during a lot of this period, for many people cross training can only get you so far. When I was cleared to run, I built up to around 30 miles per week the 9 months following and was able to get a small PR in the mile. Before my surgery I had run my PR mile on about 50-55 mpw. Since I had already been to that fitness level previously, my body just needed consistent training to get back to that level, the volume was not required. I am sure that if you ramp your training back up to 60-70 mpw that you will see a lot of fitness gains.

right

how about 100 words on a training program

base phase, aerobic-anaerobic phase, race phase

i would up the quality and do 50mpw base, with plenty of hills 8 weeks.

then add in 2 x per week, say 5x1 mile repeats, and say 5x800m hill intervals.

and be sure to recover after the hard work, run easssyyy.

then in the race phase, throw in some short intervals 2 x per week. and cut back the mileage to 30 miles / week.

what do you have rojo?

It’s a common occurrence

Jogging 8’miles not much value My guess is you can get faster yet going to 2-3x the interval work and roughly 30mi/week, but you’d have to cut your training pace down to 7’/mi or faster.

To original poster - If your not showing improvement from a bigger investment of time

and energy you MUST be making some fundamental errors or misjudgements about proper training. From my own experience as a masters running I took my 5k from mid 20's at 30 mpw to mid 17's moving up gradually to 60+ mile weeks.

The training was not just twice everything I was doing before btw.

Why do people think like this? Since when does what you did before NOT HELP YOU in what you are doing right now? There is such a thing as building a base and building a base can be done in many ways, such as playing other sports or even doing heavy labor jobs!

OR all those miles helped him build his base. All he had to do afterward was to run faster in practice.

Indeed, recovery, nutrition, and lifestyle are integral parts of the training package. I recall a post-race encounter with a seemingly fit individual who claimed to only run 10 miles per week. Frankly, that's hard to believe. He also confessed to engaging in heavy construction labor jobs. It's important to consider the context and the individual's past training. This anecdote underscores the significance of recovery, nutrition, and lifestyle in our training journeys. What you did the previous two or three years in training also matters!

True. I knew a guy of about 50 who said he could not run anymore. He was convinced. All he had to do was rest for a year or so, and he was back running. You must have the right recipe for yourself. Just because whistle pickups worked for Dave Wottle does not mean they will work for you. You also must understand and know the whys and hows of how he did them!

It's been said that you have to learn how to run slow before you can run fast. I overheard two of the best coaches in my state say about their kids, "That was his state championship effort last week. It will be long before he runs that fast or well again." One race or one workout can hurt your season. Unfortunately, I've seen it, done it, and enforced it on my runners.

Or more likely, INJURED.