Stuck on a plateau

Train harder. If you rarely get injured then why not? A lot of people on here will call me on this but if you are rarely injured and not improving then why not train harder?

A Belmont Plateau?

Are you really asking this question after telling us you are only running 50mpw? How do you expect to get better running the same amount weekly. Just count your blessings that you are allowed to run in college with those lackluster times.

it may not be a case of doing loads more miles, it may be a case of training in a different way, maybe throw in some different kind of sessions than what you normally do. what does an average week look like?

a typical week looks like

Sunday: Long Run - 90 minutes (7:00-7:30 pace)

Monday: Easy Run - 50 minutes (7:30ish pace)

Tuesday: Some kind of intervals

for instance 6x1000 in 3:15-3:20 with 2 minute recovery followed by 4x400 in 72ish with 1 minute recovery

Wednesday: Recovery Run (45 minutes anywhere from 7:00-8:30 depending on how hard tuesday's workout was)

Thursday: Tempo or speed work (once I did 4x1 mile with 1 minute recovery at 5:40 pace)

Friday: 30-40 minute shakeout run

Saturday: Race or 60-70 minute run

I realize my times are lackluster, sorry

There's no real speed work there, no 100's 150's 200's you don't have to run them flat out, just fast

also, do you do any hill work?

we do hill work very rarely, maybe once every couple of weeks, In practice we also very seldom run less than 400m. I've seen some improvements in my longer distance times but I can't seem to get out of this rut in the mile/1500. I think one of my problems may be a lack of speed work but would that really account for no improvement over 3 years?

bump

Sorry, but Albert thinks you are insane...

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

-Albert Einstein

bump this thread to get some more feedback, makes sense if you do the same training over and over again that your improvement will be minimal, what about doing the same wrokouts but increasing the pace or volume to produce a different stimulus

I meant to add for me my workout times from a couple years ago are the same as now, the effort is the same and if I try to run faster workout times just begins to feel like a race but on the flip side my race times have not improved which makes sense because workout times are the same as 2-3 yrs ago, make any sense?

Seems to me that your training paces are simply too slow for a runner of your age and aspiration. The general workout plan seems decent (I agree with someone else who already noted lack of specific speedwork which is necessary if you consider yourself a miler). 50 mpw is low but not absurdly so for a miler.

Consider, then, doing a bit more mileage and ramping up the intensity. If you cannot manage the more intense paces, you need to be realistic about your ability. I hope it works out.

Good luck.

I think this point has been made, but its worth making again, from what you gave as a description it seems like there is no variety and just like in The Shining "All work and no play makes jon a dull boy" the same thing might be going with your training. Increase mileage for a while than go back down, swtich things up and make sure not every week is the same distance and effort, have hard and short weeks, have long and easy weeks... who's is coaching you anyhow? Like this is basic periodization of training stuff you learn in a level 1 coaching course.

runner_pucci wrote:

I think this point has been made, but its worth making again, from what you gave as a description it seems like there is no variety and just like in The Shining "All work and no play makes jon a dull boy" the same thing might be going with your training. Increase mileage for a while than go back down, swtich things up and make sure not every week is the same distance and effort, have hard and short weeks, have long and easy weeks... who's is coaching you anyhow? Like this is basic periodization of training stuff you learn in a level 1 coaching course.

I am not the OP but have a similiar dilemma, stuck in a plateau with no improvement, don't have a coach which is basically the problem I guess, no coaches in my area, my training week is also similiar to the OP's not much variety week to week, will try and "switch things up" and see what happens, just not sure how to go about changes things

I meant to say, not sure how to implement changes, basically do around 60 miles per week, maybe try something like this:

week 1: 50-60 (average week)

week 2: 60-70 (liitle volume)

week 3: 40-50 (more intensity)

wait... wrote:

A Belmont Plateau?

wait... You're letting your Philly show