Can I run just twice a week under 20 mpw and get to 20’ 5K?

Hey whats up man. Honestly if you want to get there your best option is to run more days a week, but if you are stuck on only running two days a week averaging 8-10 miles a day, then one day you would want to be doing some kind of sustained effort work and then the other day maybe speed or 800s. The pace you want to race at is 6:25 pace per mile, so maybe do some tempo work like 3-4 miles at a sustained pace like 7 flat pace per mile. You can jog 2 miles before and after. Then do some goal pace 800s like 6x800 at 6:25 pace or so.

Yes, 20mpw would be enough to go under 20mins. If you are injury prone, ditch the 800m repeats and just do a threshold or tempo session (or broken), easy run+strides and long run each week.

Bro, go play ping pong

This is tricky. The most efficient training is rather hard 800, repeats with good rest inbetween, but that might get you injured. You've got to spark that aerobic system and that means the more you run and the hard you run on those two days a week, the faster the progress, given your legs can handle it. You have plenty of time to recover so you do not need easy recovery runs, really. But to NOT get injured, you need to over a long period make your muscles and tendons resilient to running and that takes much more time than sparking the aerobic system. One hack is to run controlled, but to do hard intervals on a bike, or do them in low impact uphill running. Research shows that the fastest way to aerobic capability in the start is intervals like 4x4min hard with 2-4min rest. Probably your 5k pace is a good pace for those 4min, or you do 800m reps at your 5k pace (which is around 4min) If you do not have the bike option or the hills, you just need to be patient and progress over a long time, running easy/moderate and extending the time each of the 2 runs, and gradually do the hard 800m. After a while the effect of such hard efforts will be less and I would ease down a little to your 10k-20k pace. One tip is to introduce hill sprints as soon as you can . 5x10s in a moderate hill can be enough, but progress into it over manu weeks doing them controlled/progressive and gradually faster and listen to the muscles, so to speak

You would be safer and more risk averse if you ran 20 mpw over 4-5 days.

That being said, I think that if you ran 20 mpw in only 2 runs per week, no matter how you split it, then your 5k time would easily be under 20:00.

That means that you are running a 10-mile or greater run at least once a week.

What are your prs? If you had run at least 17-18 minutes when you were younger, that type of training may suffice. But if you're starting from scratch, it will be a lot harder (not impossible though.)

Thanks for the advice. Allow me to better re-state my current running and constraints.

I’m currently jogging base mileage for roughly one hour each, usually on Sundays and Wednesdays, typically 6-7 miles per session. Additionally, Mon-Thu, I’m jogging 1 mile because I jog half a mile to the gym to weight train and then half a mile back. That’s how I get my ~16 mpw number and this mileage is working very well for me as it’s the first time I’ve been running injury free for almost 3 months.

I’m thinking of consistently introducing some 800 repeats, not just base mileage, once or even both sessions during the week.

I’m okay running more than twice a week, but very very uncomfortable thinking about crossing 20 mpw at least for a couple more months. Previously I’ve run 30-40 mpw for a few weeks, but would keep getting some injury even around the 20 mpw mark (and am hoping my weight training and reduced smart running will get me to a better mileage place).

As for the PR question, as of last Oct’ish (probably not now) my PRs were 15”/100, 70”/400, 2’50”/800, but I don’t really have a 5K PR estimate much better than 25 mins. As I said, my times are not well aligned. I can do 800x5 repeats comfortably at 7’20” pace or even somewhat closer to 7’ pace with 1.5 to 2 min walk breaks.

Started running late in life during the pandemic, so little running experience or any sense of even a mile PR when younger.

Here are my two cents as people would say:

Monday: 1 mile jog to/from gym

Tuesday: off

Wednesday: 2mile jog, 3-4mile repeats(@6:30 with 3min rest), 2-3mile jog

Thursday: 1 mile jog to/from gym

Friday: off

Saturday: off

Sunday: 2mile jog, 4x400(1:40) with 1-3min rest + 4x200(45-50sec) with 1-3min rest, 2-3mile jog

Wednesday you can switch the 3-4mile repeats with 3-5mile tempo @7:30-7:45

Sunday you can switch the 4x400, 4x200 with 5x800 @3:00-3:15 with 3min rest

*This should help improve you stamina and speed and you will still end up with 16-17miles a week

I ran under 20 when I was 52 years old, on maybe 5 miles weekly, but was cycling, lifting, and swimming each week.

As a sample of one, one year in my 50s I got just under 20 while averaging 16 mpw all year on 3 runs/week with only a little swimming for cross training. I had been running that amount or a little less for a few years beforehand, though, so my legs could handle more and harder speedwork than yours probably can just yet.

I'm injury-prone too, and in your place I wouldn't try to run 800s at faster than goal pace, as that seems like it greatly increases your injury risks. I especially wouldn't do two sets per week. Your speed is already ok, as your 400 time is equivalent to a 19:59. I'd try something longer and not quite as fast, more like 3 or 4 1000s or 1200s at a little slower than goal pace. You could work a little on your speed with less injury risk by doing strides once a week, maybe when you get to the gym after warming up with your jog there. I think 5x1000 at goal pace (with one minute rest?) is supposed to be a predictor of your 5K time, but that pace and volume may be harder than your legs can handle in a workout just yet.

Gradually increasing your mileage seems like it would help a lot and eventually would strengthen your legs so you can do more speedwork. The easiest way looks to be by adding add 3-4 easy miles on Friday. That gives you a longish run Wednesday, short recovery jogs to & from the gym Thursday, and a medium run on Friday before your Saturday rest day. My next step would be to add a mile or two to your Monday longish run. Good luck.

It's possible but you might gain a lot getting out there three days instead of two. (context to my post: never broke 16:00, but did run a 15:09 3 mile once when i was training on 80 km per week, before the mileage broke me)

Last year, I was running three times per week (T, Th, S/Su). Two days of light progression running, tempoing/hammering an out-and-back course for 6 km per day. The third day, I would go to the track and run a time trial or 200/150 m repeats (total volume 7 km). So, 6+6+7 = 19 km, ~ 12 miles per week:

I raced 5 km a few times, running 17:20 at best and ~17:40 two or three other times. So you can definitely do it, but must be deliberate and direct with ur training!

If you are talented, yes. I ran 9-15 MPW in high school and ran 15:48.

Can you do that? Again, if you are talented enough.

I am 50. I run 20 MPW over 4 days and race 17 minutes for 5k. I do 2 easy 4 mile runs and 2 progressive runs with a cool down.

I happen to be not too different from OP except I’m aiming even lower like 22’ 5K for starters. There’s no way I can run either 3-4 miles at 7’ or 800 repeats at 6’25” right now, so should I just be running the tempo and workout as best as I can hoping the sustainable pace will just improve over time? Or should I run the target paces for shorter distances hoping the sustainable distance would improve over time? Or are they both equivalent in training effect?

The posters have the right idea with training, but are violating the golden rule: train with where you are not your goal pace. There are lots of calculators for pace conversions if you have a recent race time.

But the gist is that you should do workouts like:

-3-4 x 6 minutes at a pace you can sustain for about an hour w/ 60-90s rest.

-6-8 x 3 minutes at a pace you can sustain for 30 minutes with 2 min rest.

-10-15 x 90s at a pace you can sustain for 15 min with equal rest.

Also, do some strides once a week. One week do flat, the next do hills.