14:19 5k off 40 miles a week

really hard to say, but it sounds like you have a ton of talent.

A wild guess is 13:45 in a year or two. I never ran at your level. Just a guess.

Surely you can get under 14 because you are young.

i'd like to watch a video of your band and strength training pre season. good luck

It sounds like off 80 miles per week you would get hurt? If you were hurt now and in hs... but if you can can increase and stay healthy you could really improve... I would think it makes more sense to work on consistently round 60-65 miles per week and see how you improve. Seems more logical than doubling you mileage and hoping not to get hurt.

Run 60s for a few months see how it helps you improve and then add more if it’s working and you are healthy.

Have you tried trail running? I've noticed especially as I have gotten older doing most of my easy mileage on trails helps a lot.

trackrunner00 wrote:

So I am 19 and I have had a lot of struggles with injuries. I was just out for 9 months from a hip injury. In this time all I did with band exercises and light strength training. I have just got back into running and been training for 7 weeks. I have done 10 workouts so far and averaged 40-45 miles a week. I just ran a 14:19 5k. It has been my first race in years. (I think I can chop off a lot of time next week) I have never ran anything near as fast as this as I only did 9:17 2 mile in highschool because of injury. What do you guys think I can run off a year of consistency and 80 miles a week?

Sounds like a troll thread attempt to me. LoL

Out for hip injury nine months and then just seven weeks training and you hit 14.19 at 5 k ??

If not a troll thread you are really a great talent.If true you should stay at 50-60 miles a week at most and just keep on your good work. Of course a sub 14 within a year from now.

Can you please give us the ten workouts you did in the seven weeks with paces and recovery times between reps and pace and length of tempos if you did any?

Give this and I will tell if you are a troll or a big talent.

Mpw is a bogus metric.

Justyn Knight ran 13:30 off of 40 mpw. He has probably run 80mpw once or twice in his life.

Train to run fast races, not to have some arbitrary number in your log.

I never understand these kind of threads. Unless this is a troll attempt.

You self report that you have had great success training at 40 mpw and have a long injury history. So the obvious question is why are you trying to mess with success? The current plan is working - no guarantee of huge improvements from increased mileage.

Doug Padilla ran about a minute faster on about the same amount of miles you are doing now.

I’m not trolling. I don’t know why people are saying that, 14:19 isn’t even close to competitive at D1. I take 2 days off a week. Sunday and Wednesday I do 5 miles. I do workouts on Monday and Thursday which are big days (usually around 11). Saturday I do 11 for a long run. I haven’t done anything in my workouts that show I can go near 14:19. Monday I do threshold. 6-8k with 1 min rest. Or 5 miles at 5:20. 2* 15 minutes at 5:10-5:15 pace.

I have done three hard, non tempo workouts. Thursday’s have been something like 3 mile repeats with 400 jog @ 4:45 and then 6 400s at 66 with a minute rest. 3(2*800) alternating between a minute rest and 2 min 400. I have also done 5*1k @ 2:55 with 2:30 rest. I know these workout don’t correlate to a 14:19 but I am just getting in shape quickly. Don’t say it’s a troll I honestly want to know what people think. Thanks!

Wouldn’t really call it success but it’s nice not being injured. I guess it’s good for not being that fit. I mean it’s working to be an average collegiate athlete. I have not met one person that hasn’t improved a ton from increasing mileage. Yes, I know some great outliers in history have been good on low mileage but I have met so many great runners and that has never been the case

You were provided 2 examples. Justin Knight was the NCAA champ on about the same mileage. 40 is optimal for most runners. For some it is 70 but that is not you. You will get injured and burned out if you run more.

40 is optimal for 14 year olds maybe. Most collegiate runners are over 80

I mean it depends on your goals. Sounds like you can run 40-50 miles and continue to marginally improve and probably squeak under 14. You could definitely also run a great 1500 on that mileage.

If you have bigger aspirations at the 5k you are going to need to figure out a way to get mileage up in a way that also mitigates risk of injury. I know if I was talented enough to run 14:19 on 40 miles a week I would be figuring out a plan to slowly ramp to 70ish over the next 1.5 years and focusing a ton on the little things (drills, strengthening, massage, sleep etc.)... that is the type of talent that could end up as a 13:00-13:20 runner over the next decade if you develop right.

Not Hocker. Maybe your slow D3 buddies.

Pretty solid training. My athletes this summer ran 3:43 off approximately 50 miles a week for 6 months and another young runner your age ran 1:50.05 off 35 miles a week and had a 25 year old run 1:49 off 25 miles a week. The most important part of training is that you are training all energy systems. Volume is important to run faster for your 5k but staying healthy is more important. Sorry our summer is here in Australia. So that people don't get confused.

On the other hand I have a young female who is run 70-80 miles or sorry 140k a week and has run 32 minutes for 10k. Everyone is different and your coach should make amendments to your training so that you stay healthy. Good luck!

trackrunner00 wrote:

What do you guys think I can run off a year of consistency and 80 miles a week?

If your story is true, you should be running sub 13:30 and in the conversation for a top 10 finish at nationals by next year. That is RARE talent, so the odds are in favor of you being a big fat liar.

Are you doing any cross-training on your off days? The British triathlete who just smashed 15 for an unofficial 5km road record in 14:4x wasn’t running crazy mileage either, but she was logging a ton on the bike and in the pool. If you have access to these maybe start there and build up your aerobic strength while being conservative about your injury history. You have a lot of quality in your routine, and honestly you’d be surprised how many great athletes run 6 days a week. It’s not one-size-fits-all.

Many guys run their best on 40MPW. Ever hear of Justin Knight?