Below Average Hobby Jogger's Road to sub 20 min 5k?

In my early 30s I struggled for two years to break 20 mins, then I had a big breakthrough and lowered my PR from 20:15 to 18:45 in one race.

I made a few changes:

1. Lost weight. I was 6’2” / 185 lbs and probably 15% body fat. I lost 10 pounds and dropped my body fat to 11-12%. Suddenly I was way faster without even trying. The general rule is 2 seconds per pound per mile, so I got a minute faster just from weight loss.

2. In parallel, I upped my mileage from 15 mpw to 25 mpw, with one workout of 6x800 at ~6 min/mi pace with 2 mins rest. Sometimes I’d do a 20-min tempo at 645-ish pace instead of the 800 reps.

Note that this was all at sea level.

Basically just run more!

I think it's not necessarily "either/or."

With a 9 mile long run in a 20 mile week, it sounds like most of your runs are 5K or less? Also, I don't know what your speed days look like, but...

1. Maybe switch a "speed day" for a day at lactate threshold?

2. Bumping your runs up by 15 minutes per day of easy running (even on "workout days") might be an easy way to add mileage.

3. How does running at 4:00/km feel now? Can you hit that pace for a couple of minutes reasonably easily or do you struggle to run that fast? If you already have the leg speed, your main issue is endurance. You need to hold that 4:00/km for 20 minutes. "Speed work" might not be the only/best tool to help you get there.

4. Yup, the weight thing is real, too.

Good luck.

I’m a 37 year very average hobby jogger who went from about 22 min 5K on 20 miles a week to a 19 min just by upping my milage to 35-40 miles a week consistently. No speed workouts, just all zone 2. I think most hobby joggers would see great improvements just by increasing mileage alone. I bet I could keep lowering my time just on mileage alone with zero workouts if I had the time/energy to devote to it.

First of all, in the real world a sub 20 5k is well ABOVE average.

And second, like the other posters said, don't overestimate the power of workouts, don't underestimate the importance of mileage.

So drop one workout and up your mileage with 50%. Do that consistently for one year and will get a lot closer to your goal.

Read the Modifying the Norwegian approach thread from page 1.

Seems like there has been some generally solid advice in this thread so far. Personally, I'd say to stick to 1 speed workout per week but also add strides a couple times per week after an easy run. As others have pointed out, harder workouts and mileage are both parts of the equation, but at your level I think consistent mileage will help you a lot.

How long have you been in Bogota? And was your time trial on a track or on the roads? I know that any sort of hills at altitude seem to have a magnified effect. And the effects of the altitude could be greater if you don't have lifelong adaptations to living at altitude.

I'm curious where you are able to do your regular training, too. Do you have track access, or go to parks? Parque Simon Bolivar has often been my go-to when I visit, and the Ciclovia is nice on weekends and holidays.