Seeking another perspective on my current running situation.
Some context: Current high school junior, looking to run 17:30 or so by the end of the season. Been trying to average 40 miles per week for the past year, but probably closer to 35 when including down weeks due to frequent racing. Been training since late June, built up to 43 mpw by late July. Most runs were slogs at 8:00-8:40 pace, with only a few exceptions in which I felt sluggish and the paces were mediocre.
PRs:
800m - 2:08 (05/21)
1600m - 4:55 (05/21)
5000 - 18:30 (10/20)
I had a solid track season with consistent results and improvement, but I raced 7 times in 2.5 weeks at the end of the season, so I took 3 weeks off after the season to recover from that. By August, I still felt that I was out of shape, but tried not to think anything of it. I trained at 9000 feet for 2.5 weeks at the end of August with 70 miles of biking total; towards the end of my time there, I crashed on my mountain bike and sustained some deep cuts and a bruised rib which ultimately led to me taking a week off running with 60 miles of decently hard cycling. My rib would hurt if I took deep breaths, but running easy was okay. I've also gained 5 pounds, but that may be due to growing.
Since then, I've done a few workouts - absolutely bombed one, but the other was decent (5x20/40/60s on/off avg. 5:00 pace for everything). I've had two races since 9/10, and in both I ran 20-flat for 5k going out in a downhill 5:50 and dying a bit at the end. On training runs, sub-8 pace feels way harder than it used to (9 mile long runs at 7-flat pace used to feel easy) and even 6 miles at 7:25 pace is a reasonably hard effort for me. I understand that the week off running and the extra weight has contributed to my lack of fitness, but I still feel that I should be able to run faster than 20 minutes in a 5k off a full summer of running.
Just want another perspective on the situation - thanks in advance to anyone who feels like responding.