33 y/o, 90mpw for 10 years, working 40 h/week, 30:30 10k

sometimes all you need to do is change things up a little to get that final improvement.

Example: former American record holder in the 10K Marcus Nenow ran 27:40 by running 10 miles 2x per day = 130 per week. Mostly just tempo type running/steady states.

added track work and dropped it to 27:20 (-20 seconds off)

So for you...whatever you are not doing - do that

If you are not doing track work - do that

If you are not doing long runs - do that

If you are not doing tempos - do that

If you are doing all of that then you may need to make a more significant change:

1) by doing more mileage or 2) by doing less (either will probably work)

If you go for the do less mileage route - which is what I would suggest - the goal is to run fresher, faster on less mileage with more recovery. At the height of my best running I cut back to just 25-40 miles per week over a 9 month period and dropped by Pr's from:

31:26 - to 29:53 for 10K

25:30 - to 23:45 for 8k

etc

I was only running four days per week (so that everyday but Sunday I was running fresh). This enabled me to run tempo/steady states on Tues/Thur at a pretty good clip. Raced on Sat and ran longer about 15 miles at 6:00 pace on Sunday.

If you decide to do more mileage - you basically want to cut back on the quality workouts and just hit mileage at an easy pace. Maybe go as high as 130-150 per week. Do this for 8-10 weeks and you will have a bigger engine and can then start doing faster stuff again. this should give you the engine to run 30 seconds faster.

Some runners are just slow. I had several friends that were putting in 100mpw and doing it at 9-10 minutes per mile. If you are doing the miles... but slow. That is your answer.

*lose

Congrats. to you for your dedication. I hope you enjoyed the process and the grind.

Without more information it's hard to comment further.

What are your shorter distance (400, 800, mile) PBs?

Do you train by incorporating shorter intervals, tempos, hills? Have you been training all these years to run faster, or have you just been running the miles?

How long ago did you run that 30:30 10k?

Don Kardong's running poem went "To be a better runner, to be the very best, run more and more and more, and less and less and less."

You say it like it's a bad thing...

Maybe OP likes running a lot.

If he's complaining about not breaking 30, he's obviously not thrilled.

Op has the ability to grind & put in volume. But improving specific endurance at shorter distances doesn't seem to be a priority (it gets harder to do as you get away from college). I ran my 10k and HM prs at age 29 the fall after I had a very focused track season in which I ran my lifetime Prs in the 800 and 1500. Made those seemingly impossible 10k and HM paces seem easy. Go train specifically for 1500s and 5ks and get those Prs down. Then up the mileage and grind again.

What do you think you could drop for a 200 or 400 on the track fresh, right now?

Not really--most people in America won't even touch sub-40...low 30s is impressive.

That's 100% true--the challenge is dealing with the Strava comparison game too and not beating yourself up all the time for failing to hit your goals (not you specifically, of course, collective you) and watching other runners kill it.

beersandmiles has good advice, he's a 2:19 26.2 guy but also went 14:37 in the 5k...he's faster than OP but not by much, maybe he'll chime in.

i ran 30:30 a few days ago.

I'm 24, all of my runs are at threshold pace, but i only run 45mpw. i have been progressing really fast training this way.

This place has lost its troll radar

This is a good point. OP could start by throwing in some faster flat and hill strides. One day of 10s hill sprints with long recoveries. Maybe tacking on some fast 150s and 200s at the end of tempo and threshold workouts. That should be enough of a speed stimulus that is safe.

I encourage you to read this article. Joe Lemay was well under 29 and sub 2:14 while working your schedule, back in the 1990s no less. He might even speak with you if you reach out to him. Good luck!

runnersworld.com

Working Stiff

Joe LeMay Battles the Real World and His Body to Keep His Dreams Alive

Open link

I don't have time to re read this. I read it when it first came out. I can't recall if it mentions that Tom Fleming coached him. TF's philosophy was pretty much "if you're not getting the results you want, run more. If you're still not getting the results you want, run even more." Worked pretty well for Tom and several people he coached.

You reached your max. Wait for Nike to make better energy return shoes. Maybe you can break 30 before your age catches up. Don't neglect other parts of your life. 30 min 10K is so near so far. That is what Parker Valby runs.

No mention of his coach. BTW, a short cut to find out very quickly, hit control and F6, then type in the search box "coach", or "Tom Fleming" and it will mark where to scroll to find any mention of the word coach or name Tom Fleming.

Thanks for that tip. Le May was one of my favorites from that time. I thought he got royally screwed by USATF for the 2,000 Olympics but that's just an opinion. His website was always fun.