Yes, I have somewhat "coached" a 20 something year-old (maybe 30s?) coworker before and I was pretty pleased with the results. He went from a non-running smoker to a sub-20 5k runner within 12 weeks. He ran a 7:12 when I had him do a 1-mile time trial at the beginning of our "training". However, he quit smoking, bought decent shoes, and listened to what I told him. I had him going 4 days per week right off the bat and he got to 6 days per week within 6 weeks. We did keep track of his runs, so I have decent details in my notebook. Here are some tidbits. (side note: despite their many shortcomings, it is fairly easy to get HS kids to run "fast" … not so much for a 25+ year-old who has abused the hell out of their body; it takes much more work!)
WEEK ONE:
Monday: 1 mile warm-up. 1 mile time trial on an indoor track (7:12). 1-mile cool down. I used this mile time to give me a jump-off point for repeat/tempo work.
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 5 miles. I did not monitor his pace and told him that he did not need to either. He claimed to have completed the distance in 47:49 according to what I have written down.
Thursday: 3 miles. I told him to try to run a decent pace for the middle mile. He reported back that he was just under 8 minutes.
Friday: off
Saturday: 1 mile warm-up. 8 x 400m at 1:45 (goal) with 1:15 walk/jog rest. Needless to say, this was too ambitious. He got through the first 4 in the upper 1:40s and was nearing 2:00 on the last couple. He did finish the workout though. I think his slowest was 1:57. 1 mile cool down.
Sunday: off
WEEK ONE TOTAL: 15 miles
During week two, I did not have him do a time trial. Instead he did an easy 5 on Monday. Tuesday off. On Wednesday, I had him do a 1 mile warm-up and then a 3 mile tempo. I told him to try and shoot for 25 minutes. He reported back with 25:17. The loop he ran is probably closer to 2.9 than 3. 1 mile cool down. Thursday was an easy 5, untimed. Friday off. Saturday I had him shoot for 1:50 on his repeats with 1:10 walk/jog rest. He was between 1:47-1:53 on all 8. Looking back on this, I am fairly impressed with his pacing… Sunday off and he finished with ~20 for the week.
I had him continue on in similar vain for the next 8 weeks. I added an easy Tuesday run during week 3 and he added and easy Friday run during week 6. I did not ask him to do this; I was okay with 5 days per week. Monday became his long day. He got up to 11 miles. Anyways, here is what his week 10 (biggest week) looked like:
Monday: 10.7 miles in 88:22. I was VERY excited when he ran this. It was set up as a 90 minute out and back run. He managed 5.35 miles in the first 45 minutes and came back quicker. This is something that I preached to him throughout the schedule.
Tuesday: Easy 6
Wednesday: 1 mile warm-up, 5 mile tempo in 37:14, 1 mile cool-down
Thursday: Easy 6
Friday: Easy 4
Saturday: 2 mile warm-up, 12 x 400 in 1:34.5 average; 200m jog rest (I did not time the rest, but he was not walking at any point) 1 mile cool-down
Sunday: off