What's the biggest drop in time you've ever achieved in one year? (800,1500, or 5000)

2:00-1:54 seems pretty "optimistic" but the 1500 is very reasonable and the 5k can probably be done if you put in significantly more miles than you did last year. You may be able to go down to 1:54 though, stranger things have happened. I can tell you one thing though - you're not gonna make that big of a drop in your 800 along with that big of a drop in you 5000 in the same season. Pick one of them, and focus on that and the 1500.

One year I dropped from 4:17/15:54 to 4:10/15:11

The poster before me is right though, pick one to focus on. Obviously that year I was much more focused on the 5k.

Depends massively on your age, current training, training history etc.

I've been running since I was 13 and when younger was always useless at the shorter mid distance events but much better at the longer stuff. At 16 had pb's of 2.06, 4.09, and 8.57. The next year after another identical winter of training (basicall 30ish mins of fast steady running after school Monday - Friday with a cross race most weekends) I went 1.57, 4.02, 8.40. Still cant quite understand how its possible to drop 9s over 800 and 17 over 3K but only 7 in the 1500. Next year I dropped again to 1.55, 3.52, but only 8.40 again, still doing the same training as before. Probably important to point out that I significantly 'filled out' over this couple of years. Over the years I've seen similar things happen with a lot of younger athletes I've helped out.

one year i went from 4:03 to 3:53 and 32:40 to 30:04. off of all 10k training. honestly no speedwork was involved.

From freshman to soph year of college:

800m - 2:00 to 1:55

1500 - 4:03 to 3:55

5000m - 15:27 to 14:23

800- 2:34 to 2:08

1600- 5:32 to 4:56

Those are improvements from 1 year in track.

17:03 to 16:25

35:52 to 34:36

4:26 to 4:16

1:23 HM to 1:17

Basically increased mileage from 30-40mpw to 60-70mpw, also did weekly tempo, weekly MaxVO2. Trained very hard, raced infrequently. Likely left some of my best races on the training track instead of easing off and prepping better. And I was in better shape than these times indicate (sub 34 in the 10km for sure and closer to 16 in 5km).

Your 800m results might be the hardest to drop, the rest are definitely workable with higher volume training.

5k- 17:10 to 15:23 (even split 15:40 in the last 5k of an 8k cross race)

Mile-4:30 outdoors to 4:20 indoors

800-2:02 to 2:00

You guessed it. I just cranked up the miles. That all occurred with rather poor periodization. My coach soon learned better.

I dropped from 17:03 to 15:56 one year... 10th grade to 11th grade.

From age 15 to 18 my 800m time went 2.05/1.56/1.52/1.49

from age 18-32 i stayed around 1.49-1.50.

alot depends on age and amount of training.

17:40ish,

4:52

2:07

To:

16:11

4:20

1:54.9

Junior to senior year of high school. I had started running as a soph, but really didn't have much coaching. I got arthroscopic knee surgery and missed outdoor as a junior, got steady training at about 50mpw over the summer and came back a new runner as a senior.

17:44 to 14:07

I went from 4:44 as a freshman to 4:19 as a sophomore. I also went from 10:31 to 9:24. 1600 and 3200.

second to last year of high school I went:

2:01-1:53

4:10-3:56

15:51-14:58

I had a year off due to injury and couldn't exercise at all. I finally recovered and ran an all out 5k soon after coming back in 21:00. Within 7 months I ran a 15:55 on the track.

Senior year of HS 4:37 (1600)

last spring as a fresh in college 3:57 (1500)

frosh year high school

5k-1833

sophomore year

5k-1603

Wenger wrote:

Depends massively on your age, current training, training history etc.

I've been running since I was 13 and when younger was always useless at the shorter mid distance events but much better at the longer stuff. At 16 had pb's of 2.06, 4.09, and 8.57. The next year after another identical winter of training (basicall 30ish mins of fast steady running after school Monday - Friday with a cross race most weekends) I went 1.57, 4.02, 8.40. Still cant quite understand how its possible to drop 9s over 800 and 17 over 3K but only 7 in the 1500. Next year I dropped again to 1.55, 3.52, but only 8.40 again, still doing the same training as before. Probably important to point out that I significantly 'filled out' over this couple of years. Over the years I've seen similar things happen with a lot of younger athletes I've helped out.

Would a 4:09 1500 suggest you could have run a much faster 800 than 2:06?

1:58.5 to 1:51.9 and 4:03 to 3:50 in one year. But in the previous 4 years, my 800 had only improved by 1s and my 1500m by 6s, so it was overdue. Amazing what proper training can do....