Why are some people here trying to justify running 60-80 mpw for a 1:30 half?

What is your question? My neighbor is in a running club. He and many of his friends run 80 MPW and have PRs in the 1:40-2:00 range.

This absolutely cannot be true. 80 MPW is likely in the top 0.1% (1/1000) in terms of training volume for half-marathon participants. There is no way you know “many” people running this much just to slog a 1:40+. I am not even that good (I ran 3:21:57 in my marathon debut and was damn proud of it!) but still managed 1:10/2:25 for the HM/marathon distances when I started getting into the mileage range you are talking about for extended periods of time. Someone hitting 80 miles for a week one time randomly does not equal 80 MPW.

I mean, I suppose I see your point — if the race pace isn’t particularly fast, that 80mpw will require a significant amount more training time at appropriate paces compared to a 1:10 HM athlete running 80mpw at paces appropriate for them. Otherwise… not sure what your point is? That less genetically gifted athletes don’t benefit from increased volume? It wouldn’t make sense to suggest a rapid increase from 30 to 80mpw, but if they are not too far off their goal of sub 1:30 and they’ve been doing 40-50mpw, bumping that up to 60+mpw is pretty sound advice, assuming a reasonable distribution of training intensities.

Hell, I'd be delighted with that result! Some of us are old and never were particularly good runners. With a lot of miles we become better runners than we used to be. No justification needed. Do YOU get paid to run? Or are you a hobbyjogger just like the rest of us?

Some people got crap running genetics but can grind. Is there a better way for them to train, probably? I still think you should mind your own business though.

There are about 25 guys in that range. My neighbor is 36. And that is completely normal. Millions of people who train forever run marathons at 4 hours.

Also, some people just like running a lot and are not singularly focused on improving their times.

Why do some people think mpw has a direct relation to how fast you can run? Anyone that has been on a large team knows that the same training can result in drastically different results.

Say someone never wanted to race again but wanted to run 80 mpw. Is it a waste because they're not racing? I don’t agree with your thinking here.

Some runners, run to train.

Some runners just like to run and keep a log.

Its fun.

It's possible if someone is more fast twitch / mid distance. I tried really hard to be more long distance runner and averaged 100 miles per week for 2 years and found my "genetic ceiling" for the half marathon to be around 1:15 and for the marathon 2:41. But I can run a sub-2 800m.

Just letsrun being letsrun. 1:40 isn't a slog to "normal" people - that's people doing 30-40 miles a week, while working normal jobs, and going balls out in the race.

"not even that good" leads to a debut 3:21 'thon and eventually a 2:25?

Why do so many people here have so much trouble admitting they're genetically gifted and are actually talented?

I have a hunch you've started a couple other threads here with a common theme recently. No matter, no justification is needed. Such people have probably figured out that running less than 60-80 would leave them with a result slower than 1:30.

You do know that in life if there's an activity you are not as good at doing as you want to be you usually spend more time training for or practicing that activity, not less. And you can never know what sort of reults you'll get when you train more. Such people will often surprise themselves and get results well beyond what they were expecting. This is not a transactionable sport.

I 100% agree with you that 1:40 is people doing 30-40 miles per week and going balls out. I just don’t think 1:40-2:00 is commonplace for people running 80 miles per week and going balls out. I also recognize that I have more talent than most. I am certainly not some anomaly though - I took 77th in Michigan’s state meet in D2 as a senior with a career best performance. Not exactly legendary.

They will eventually get crippled.

Btw 2 hours is walking pace.

Is 1:28 on 30-40 mpw and going balls out above average talent for mid 20s? That's what I did last March and I'm still trying to figure out if my talent is above, below, right about average

No. But if you mix it up you can improve without increasing the mileage.

Based on 10ks and workouts I should expect to be about 4 minutes faster in Febuary. But I'm curious about what this indicates about my talent relative to truly average people my age and gender.

Try to walk one mile in 9 minutes. Walk 13 miles at 9 minute pace and you likely wouldn't walk for a month afterwards.