How much faster could I get with more MPW?

1) You're very likely to get faster
2) You do it by running more, mostly easy
3) You avoid injuries by increasing your mileage little by little and letting your body adapt

I currently do 3 days speed work and one easy long run per week. Should I add to my existing runs or add an additional easy run? Many thanks

Is this a troll? If true, you are exploding with talent and somehow uncoached.

Not a troll. My coach in high school believed in low mileage so the whole team run 9 MPW in and my parents didn’t let me run in college.

Just trying to understand, so did your coach have everyone run for like 1-2 miles each day and your practices lasted like half an hour? 9mpw o.O

For most people, the easiest thing to do would be to start by adding two easy runs per week, then adding some easy miles before/after your workouts. You really should find a good competitive running club/group or a competent coach. You might have what it takes to go a lot faster.

We had a 5k race on the weekend so that took up 3 miles already. Otherwise it was a 5k time trial. Then a 2-3 mile “long run”. Other days were speed work like 10x100 or 4x400. Practices lasted 30 minutes to an hour. Now I do a long run of 5.5 miles and my speed work is like 8x400, 10x300, etc.

Thank you I’ll try to find a coach to work with. This is why I wanted to run in college but my parents didn’t let me go to a university that was interested in having me on the team. I ran mid-18s for the 5k and there were some coaches that were interested when I explained that I was only running 9 MPW

If this is genuine, get coached ASAP and find out just how talented you are.

But I'm very skeptical, because this is basically like Ramanujan seeking out G.H. Hardy.

I swear it’s genuine. I just never received much guidance or support at all in running. My parents just care about academics which I’m not good at anyway and my high school coach wasn’t very experienced.

Thanks. I hope you can consider me both respectful and skeptical at the same time, because you may realize that it's incredibly likely that an uncoached 17:xx runner is spending time on LetsRun on a Saturday -- this not being a website totally on the radar of the casual runner.

And if you've tried this, my apologies for insulting your intelligence, but I've taught and tutored lots of young people in various academic subjects, and lots of them feel as though they should just "get" it or not -- because some students actually do -- but it turns out that many don't learn that way. And many, many thrive when they find what works best for them.

You asked about running, and I gave my answer. But still, when you get a coach, try to work through the same level of consistency and good methods that the coach provides as you approach academics. Again, you may have already done this, so I don't want to frustrate you. But still, even though you might not find academic success on the level your running peformance indicates, I'd be willing to bet my life savings that you can be better than you ever thought possible.

Good luck with everything. And if things don't work out perfectly, remember how great it is to improve and enjoy the process of improving every day.

Or they are living a super active lifestyle. We had a kid show up for outdoor track freshman year who dropped a 16:20 after 4 weeks. He never broke 15:40 despite mileage increases and 3 years of maturity. Those hours of soccer practice got him very close to his potential...

Now I have now clue if the OP is a troll. But the answer is the same to all these type of questions. You do the work and get what you get. Maybe she is a 15:00 talent at 70mpw. Nobody can answer that.

"incredibly unlikely"

This website comes up pretty prominently on google searches lol. I was feeling quite frustrated at my lack of running progress over the course of the past year because I broke 17:20 last July and am still stuck there as of my most recent race so I was trying to look for answers. Anyway thank you much for your help

Three speed workouts and a long run seem like they would be hard to into a 15 mile week. Perhaps you would supply the details for a recent week.

Yes. Please provide workouts, times and overall distance covered with warmup/cooldown for all 4 days. That would be a pretty great time for a male running 15 mpw. For a female that’s absolutely stellar if true.

So much BS. Just stop.

Hai!

Last week

Monday: 0.5 mile warm up and cool down, 3x1 mile, 3 min rest

1 5:34.9
2 5:34.8
3 5:34.6

Tuesday: 0.5 mile warm up and cool down, 1200-mile-1000-800 with 3 minute rest after the 1200 and mile, 2:39 after the 1000

1200 4:03.6
1600 5:32.4
1000 3:21.4
800 2:29.9

Thursday: 5.5 miles easy in 33:45

Saturday: 10x300 with 45 second rest (ran on the treadmill), 0.5 miles warm up and cool down. I ran 12.1 mph for 1-6 then, increased to 12.2-12.3-12.3-12.4 for the last four