I'll finish a 5k in NYC in 18 minutes, talk to the guys who finish around me and they're more often than not mid 30's, 60mpw, and not new to running. I'm pretty sure an extra 10 won't get them to 16.
I'll finish a 5k in NYC in 18 minutes, talk to the guys who finish around me and they're more often than not mid 30's, 60mpw, and not new to running. I'm pretty sure an extra 10 won't get them to 16.
Check TFRRs and you will see that there are thousands of D3 guys who can't break 16. These guys are in their prime and most run 70-80 MPW.
Lots.
nobrakesnobreak wrote:
highhoppingworm wrote:
Just consider how many people you see on strava etc. that are running 70 mile weeks with workouts and taking running pretty darn seriously and not even getting within a stones throw of that time. Your comments are fairly insulting to that entire cohort.
I'm curious, how many guys do you know are running 70mpw for over the last 3 years or more, under the age of 35, who aren't at least under 16? I really don't know many.
Another way to think about this is to consider the VDOT conversion. Would you also say that 99% of the population is capable of running a 2:33 marathon? I suspect not.
highhoppingworm wrote:
Another way to think about this is to consider the VDOT conversion. Would you also say that 99% of the population is capable of running a 2:33 marathon? I suspect not.
I agree with your prior post, but I don't think this is entirely fair. Only a small fraction of runners ever run a marathon that's consistent with their VDOT.
To answer the OP's question:
I ran about 90 mpw during the track season where I was running 15:30s. Most mileage was between 7:30 and 8:30, a lot with my dog.
I did a lot of 20x400, slightly faster than race pace, and 200s really fast.
I also did 4-mile track tempos at around 5:20.
5 track races that season were my hardest workouts.
I could never manage mile repeats at 5k pace. I just couldn't recover between them.
I also did a lot of 1 and 2 mile races that winter, prior to moving up to the 5k in the spring.
nobrakesnobreak wrote:
I'm curious, how many guys do you know are running 70mpw for over the last 3 years or more, under the age of 35, who aren't at least under 16? I really don't know many.
Me! Well, mid-60's mpw and now I'm 36. But I'm very athletic and coordinated, have trained in a way that I'm sure most people here would consider ideal and I've only broken 17 for a 5K one time and that was only by 2 seconds on a potentially slightly short course. I've run between 17:00 and 17:30 maybe 20 times over the last few years.
I didn't pick up running until I was 29 but I played rec league soccer up to that time and I don't think I was in terrible shape when I started (could run 2 miles or so out of the gate). It took me 6 months to break 20, 6 more to break 19, and 12 after that to break 18. I'm 6'5" if that's a factor in any of this.
I think I'm a pretty close example of what you're looking for. Again, I'm very athletic with a decent sports background, have trained pretty ideally for 7 years and have been unable to get anywhere near sub-16 for the 5K despite that being my main focus. Pretty reasonable raw speed too, I have broken 60 for the 400 at the end of a workout and sub-30 200's aren't too much of a hassle for me. I'm probably above average for most people athletically. If I can't do it how is it reasonable to assume "most" people could?