If my 5k improved 50 seconds how much should I expect my 800m to improve?

2:04-2:05, possibly faster if you didn't overdo with the racing in the fall and avoided a long training break after.

Your 800 is always proportional to 5000m but the ratio varies individual to individual. Many excellent 800 runners are terrible at 5000m but the best 5000m runners are always quite capable at 800m.

2:04-2:05 would be great, but what if my speed didn’t get any faster? Like I went from 17:45 to 16:52 but I think that was all endurance gains, will I be fine to just do what I’ve been doing or add speed work?

I’m the original poster btw

Just posting from a different device

There are women runners with sub-2 800m p.b. and sub-15:30 5000m p.b. There are men runners with sub-1:45 800m p.b. and sub-13:30 5000m. Runners whom are equally good at 800m & 5000m are rare.

let's do some math. You should improve by 8 seconds

5000m = 800m
_______ ______

50s 8s

How did you come up with equation?

so I’d be running 2:02?

You cut 50 seconds off your 5000m - that’s 1 second per 100 meters. The answer seemed to be joking though.

in all seriousness, you can’t predict it. It seems like your top end speed was holding you back more than a lack of endurance. I know someone who went from 2:11 to 1:59 in a year, but he also went from 9:40 to 9:0x.

That poster doesn't know. For 800m athletes, 800m is more correlated with 400m performance than 1500m performance. 5000m to 800m is like speed skating to hockey. There's correlation but weak correlation.

What proportions said.

Here's a guy who cut 3 minutes off his 5000 and cut 2 seconds off his 800, from a thread 10 years ago with Renato:

JOB KINYOR came to me for starting his training because his father, Barnabas Kinyor, 48"7 in 400 hs and 1'44"7 in 800m many years ago, introduced him to me (Barnabas is the husband of Selina Kosgei, my athlete winning Boston Marathon in 2009). Job was n. 3 in the National Championships for secondary school in 2006 in Decathlon. When he arrived in the camp, I saw very good attitudes of explosivity and coordination, but completely empty black board for every aerobic activity. After 5 months of training, he was not able running 5 km under 20' (and in LR everybody thinks Kenyans have years of Aerobic activity and are very strong under this point of view....).
In 2007, he ran 1'47" having a best in 5 km of 18'22".
In 2011, he ran 1'45"07 having a best of 15'07".
This year, he ran 1'43"74 at the beginning of the season, when was more ready aerobically.
But, along all these years, we NEVER forgot the training of speed, that was the main dish of his preparation, in every period of the year.