4:35 to 4:20 mile in less than a year?

Do what you did during track but at a higher volume.

3-5 mile recovery runs are now 6-10, 8x400m is now 10-12x400m etc. Get aerobically stronger. 4:35 off of 3 months of the year at 35 mpw is impressive and shows strong potential IMO.

You’ll want to be able to run 800m in at least 2:00 and be able to break into the lower 16s for 5k to have the correct fitness profile

It seems totally doable to me. I had a similar progression. Good luck and remember to believe in yourself!

What kind of shape are you in now? That will help inform where your training should begin.

I imagine you already know this, but since you asked for any advice: Something that I learned late with regards to base training is that those easy miles should truly be easy. I ran them too hard, was sore, and eventually scrapped my base training. I’m back at it now, running my easy miles slower than I ever imagined, and I’m reaping the benefits. I’m adhering to the 80/20 philosophy of base training, by the way, which is 80% easy, 20% hard mileage.

I really like that idea of the 80/20, I think I'm almost already implementing that subconsciously haha. The altitude humbles you, so easy runs have been painfully slow, and even faster runs have been annoying because you can't hit the time you want.

Currently, I would say at sea level probably 4:55mi shape, I've just started working up my base training from 2 weeks ago (slowly moving up in mpw). This week should be around 30mi, next week 35 etc.

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Cool. It sounds like you’re starting properly. To clarify, was last year your senior year?

Keep in mind, if you think you’re in 4:55 shape, that’s a 35 sec drop you’re eyeing, as opposed to a 15 sec drop. Six months is a nice chunk of time, though.

One thing you may know better than me since I’ve never trained at altitude: Does it take longer to realize gains? In other words, is there a period of acclimation? I’m curious about that.

It might be difficult to run a 4:20 mile at altitude. I'm assuming that you ran your 4:35 mile at sea level. Keep training 6-7 days a week. Now is the time to build up your aerobic base. In February you can start with long intervals. Long intervals will help in building strength as will running hills. By April you can begin running shorter and faster intervals. After your long runs during the base build up phase I would run 6-8 strides after each distance run. These aren't sprints but they are run fast. Good form is important.

yes, i went from a 4:35 to a 4:15 in a year