Run less but faster?

50 miles per week is solid mileage for 5k. I do not think you should do less than that. Your workouts should be faster than half marathon pace though. Continue doing your easy runs where you are, but hopefully once per week you're running some efforts at 5k pace or shorter intervals faster than 5k pace.

The person running lower volume and higher intensity can run decent, but they need to eventually run more mileage to really reach their potential. Of course it is possible to run so much that it doesn't help anymore, but at 50 miles per week you aren't there yet so don't worry that you're running too much. I'd say this number wouldn't be until about 100 miles per week for a 5k runner that they start to not gain anything by doing the extra mileage.

---

easypacequest wrote:
My friend runs around 25 miles per week but all of his runs are around his HM pace. He also stops a lot (like at lampposts for breathers).

I run around 50 miles per week but most of my runs are slower than my marathon pace (eg low 8s/ high 7s). Some days I go even slower if I am tired but I never go near my HM pace unless doing a workout!!

I’m around one minute faster in a 5k based on recent TT, but our miles are similar and I get better as distance increases.

Is it worth me running all these extra miles? Could I just cut down on some runs but run faster in general? I’m focusing on 5k at the minute.

---