Started running at 16 (played soccer at national age-group level until then).
17- 36:04 (but I ran 1/2M at 16y in 1:13)
18- 35:15
19- 34:21
20- 33:08
21- 31:39
22- 29:56
.....27- 28:3x and never improved after that, except for the marathon.
Until I was 21, I ran mostly 1500m and 800m (ran 3:41 and 1:49), then I focused on longer distances. I was always higher mileage guy- even at 16, just a few months after I started running, I was doing doubles 4x a week and mileage never went under 120kms/week (cca 75miles), except for a few weeks during race season. Most of my attempts at 10k were after the season in Novemebr on the roads. At 22 I ran my first track 10 000m. Since then until just recently I ran in avg. over 100miles/week for almost 10 years. My best year was when I was 27 and am still dissapointed that I didn't qualify for OG to represent my country. You would think that with a 5000m of 13:3x, I could run just under 28min, but I never did. Nor did I ran very well in marathon (4 times under 2:20, but I was hoping for sub 2:15). Few months ago, I had decided to let it go and pursue my non-running career with better focus. I always trained a lot and ran maybe a tad too fast in my workouts and left it on the track when it didn't matter. At this moment (as 30+y old and running 6 times a week-cca 100kms/w, without any quality) I couldn't probably crack 33min, but even if I could, I don't care and would never know.