I’ll keep it brief w context.
Background: solid high school program. 40-50mpw in xc, 35-40 in track. Workouts were very very high intensity, maintenance runs were too fast all the time.
FR year of college changed to slower runs, more strength work and 65-75mpw. PR’d in everything at 2:00, 2:37, 4:38 mile, 920 3k. All from late 2020.
Body type has changed. 5lbs heavier now but more muscle. PRs were run with lots of flab.
Running 50mpw currently and it feels right. I feel stronger now than I did in 2020. Ran a 10k on the roads in 35:00 2 weeks prior to gauge fitness, 6/10 effort, felt great. Could not have done that in previous years. But when I try to run 5k pace or faster I feel like I crash. Ran 9:40 in the 3k indoors last week and it was 100x harder than a 35’ 10k. Legs bonked hard after 5:00 at the mile. Im just confused and want to be better. When I ran my middle distance PRs I was not this aerobically strong, but now I couldn’t break 2:10 in the 800 if I had to guess.