Runners who went from 6:30 5k pace to 5:00 pace? What type of training?

That took like 6 years to go from what I ran as a freshman to what I was running Sophomore year of college...

I ran the 20 min 5k at like, 20 miles a week maybe? Workouts 2-3x a week + a race most weeks.

When I broke 15:30 I was running 70 miles a week, working out 2-3 times a week (1-2 times a week + a race)

Are you a male or female?
What year in school?

What have you done up till now?

Why do I ask? I won our gym class 2-mile in 12:16 as a freshman. I was introduced to the coach, started serious training that summer, and by late September I ran 16:11 in a time trial of our home CC course (2.98 miles) as to whether a sophomore would move up to varsity, but I missed by 3 seconds.

I stayed at 2.5 miles and ran 5:13 per mile in the fresh-soph conference a few weeks later.

So, if you are a junior or senior in HS, or already out of HS, the answer to your question might be quite different than if you are just a freshman or sophomore, and whether you are a male or a female.

There is no magic number. It's different for everybody. Just keep working hard, and you will improve, especially as you mature through HS and college. 6:30 to 5:00 pace is a fantastic long-term goal, but it's also a gigantic step. Set some incremental race and training goals for each season (track and XC), and that will keep you motivated and on track for long-term success.

Honestly, it's probably going to take a few years of consistent training. 6:30 to 6 might be easy, but as you get faster, the gains don't come as quickly. Lots of HS runners get to 5:30 pace (17 5k), but most runners are going to take a longer time to develop into sub-16 runners.

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runningislife3 wrote:
How many weekly miles, types of hard runs , number of hard runs?

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Doing Hadd's base phase for a couple cycles or so got me pretty close

Smae training for both. Physical maturation makes the difference.