Would you run 80-90 miles a week for a 15-15:30 5k?

Depends whether you are male or female. If male, you should be able to run 15:30 off fewer miles, say 50, with proper training; that is, a couple of workouts and a longish run per week.

Male. The person I was looking at on strava has run 14:32 when they were like, 23, but they are 34 now. But that isn't too old really so I was surprised.

What workouts would you implement on 50 mpw?

I did. But then again, I was Division 2

I don't understand. Tens of thousands of runners put in 80 MPW and can't break 20 minutes for 5k.

Yes, especially as a 48 year old.

Also, a lot of it comes down to have much you love running. If you love it, you probably won't see 80-90 mpw as a big sacrifice.

I would! Currently 18-high at 44 years old on 50 mpw.

I wouldn't run 80 for 15:30 and 90 for 15:00, but that's because I've broken 15:30* and am nearly at 15:00 off 35 mpw average.

*converting my 3200 time to a 5000m time

And I've broken 2:20* in the marathon on 60 mpw.

*converting my 5k time to a marathon time

Sure, that's only 80-90 minutes a day and I have the time for it, so why not? The goal of running isn't to train as little as possible.

Frankly your 5k time makes no material difference to your life above like 14:00, so don't worry whether you're "good enough" to enjoy your hobby.

You're assuming they don't enjoy running 80-90 mpw.

Maybe they like running and the 1530 5k is just a bonus.

I've got no experience of 80-90 mpw but I really enjoyed the marathon build-ups I've done at about 60-70 mpw. I couldn't do it all through the year but 6 month or so was fine. I suppose there were times when I felt tired and could've done with more sleep but there were very few runs that I didn't enjoy.

I ran way more than 80-90 for many years and got 15:33. The idea was not specifically to run 15:33 but to run as fast as possible. I'd have loved 14:33 or 13:33 but if the miles were the difference between 15:33 and something much slower I'd have done them. The thing about these kinds of questions is that they suggest people really don't like running itself all that much but do it as kind of a business exchange.

Why do you not like running or people that run if you’re on a running forum?

Not sure what the downvotes are for? Slow pokes getting jealous?

80-90 miles is 8-10 hours and for most people that is a lot if you also work full-time, have a family and other things to occupy your time.

For me it's not worth it unless I was running 14 minutes.

That's black and white thinking. Most people work full time and when they come home they have a family to tend to, friends to see and things to do - for example your partner might want to go out. Then there is also the injury risk when running 80+ miles per week of quality, week in, week out.

8-10 hours is really nothing. People training for Ironman will put in 15-25 hours a week. Most people that don’t really like running like yourself quit after college. On average those that like running won’t run 80+ miles a week because they get injured. Not some weird cost benefit analysis.

what's your PR then? 1600/3200/5k

80-90miles is too much for 15:30-15:00 5k, however everyone is different some people tend to perform well with high weekly mileage than others. I myself, was able to run 14:28 off of 50-60 miles/week and my teammate who runs 14:23 logged around 70-75miles/week. If you enjoy running that much mileage and feel recovered enough I see no reason as to why you can't run 80-90miles/week but it's probably not helping your body that much in improving your times.

In 2019 (at age 30) I ran many weeks in the 80-90 mpw range and ended up with a 15:40 5K PR. That was on the roads, so I could have maybe gotten under 15:30 in a track race. Was it worth it? Yes, absolutely. I enjoyed the training, and it wasn't a huge time commitment, about an hour and half most days. I still had plenty of time to help my wife around the house, take my kids to soccer practice, etc. I took a little bit of time off from running in 2021, but I never really used that extra 1-1.5 hours in the day for anything productive. I usually just slept in later, or stayed up watching TV later. Plus I gained a few pounds of fat, which wasn't fun. In fact, I'd say I'm actually MORE productive in other aspects of my life when I'm training consistently, because I know I have less time to waste.

I'm back running about 70-80 miles a week now, my most recent 5K was 16:15. I imagine I'll always run at least an hour per day for the foreseeable future, because it's good for my health, keeps me on a schedule, and it's fun.