How much can 100 mpw cut of a 19 minute 5k?

I agree whats the best way to lower ones 19 minute 5k in 6 months

Loweryour5k wrote:

If a man running 19 minutes in the 5k who is currently running 30 miles a week right now bulit up his milage to 100 miles a week how much time would he cut?

This is really hard to say. Runners are all different. Generally speaking more mileage helps, but for some that would be WAY too many miles. I know two high school boys who are elite and train so very differently. One peaks at 70 MPH while the other peaks at 45. The one at 45 tends to get injured if he goes over that. The 45 one tends to respond better to speed work while the 70 one shows bigger gains with increased mileage. Also, tapering is different for both. 45 guy needs a week and a half to taper, and the 70 guy does best with 2 DAYS.

All that said, going from 30 MPW to 100 MPW in less than 5 months has risks. Why pick 100? Why not shoot to double the miles? That's what I would do. Shoot for 60-65 by August.

It's a purely hypothetical question. People are treating it like the OP wants real advice.

The progression is adding 5 miles at the end of each week we will be at 40 at the end of this week I think the theory of more is better is true so if we hit 45 next week then 50 the week after that two weeks from now we will be at 60 miles a week.

A lot of ultra people run that much per week and they suck at 5ks.

Why don't you look at doing some workouts and not just looking at a weekly total?

Speaker of Hard Truths wrote:

not that simple wrote:

Still too many variables to say that he will be a LOT faster. What pace is he running the 100mpw? How many weeks will he run 100mpw? How long to get to 100mpw? What kind of recovery/taper before racing a 5k? How old is the runner?

He will be a LOT faster even in the worst case.

You are wrong.

not that simple wrote:

Speaker of Hard Truths wrote:

He will be a LOT faster even in the worst case.

You are wrong.

Are there scenarios where the guy could end up even slower than he is now? And I don't mean because of injury or burnout.

Loweryour5k wrote:

If a man running 19 minutes in the 5k who is currently running 30 miles a week right now bulit up his milage to 100 miles a week how much time would he cut?

Listen, kid. Your question is ridiculous. There is no way you can boil everything that goes into a 100mi week down to an improvement in a 5k PR. You are glossing over dozens of necessary details that impact the runner's journey.

I agree with the other poster that suggested he try 40 mpw first. Hell, have him try 60 or 70. There is no magic number, just 2 runs a day, 13 runs a week, for longer than you care to imagine

Centuried wrote:

not that simple wrote:

You are wrong.

Are there scenarios where the guy could end up even slower than he is now? And I don't mean because of injury or burnout.

Assuming he takes the time to build up and stays healthy, he will end up significantly faster over 5K than on 30 mpw, even before adding in speedwork (which will provide further improvement).

1- Lose weight

2- Gradually increase the mileage (add 3 miles each weak or so)

3- Long repeats for stamina, and short repeats for running economy are key

Say 75% of long repeats (800m and above) and 25% of short repeats (200m/300m/400m)

4- If he has average talent he might go sub 15 one day (keep the consistency)

It depends.

Depends on how tired your legs are when you run the 5k.

It also depends what quality of running you are doing. Are you just running, or are you doing some efforts?

If you have somewhat fresh legs and have done at least 6 weeks of running with efforts (i.e. tempos, hills, and maybe track intervals) then you should be cutting your time.

And, the last depends, is your diet. Are you losing weight? Are you slim? If you are still eating a lot and have a pudge, then you need to consider this part of your life.

You are welcome.

You most likely are doing all your mileage sub-8 per mile now. Not everyone can run 100 miles per week without breaking down. Emil Zatopek is the first person known to run 100 miles per week on a regular basis AND on regular basis combine interval workouts. Zatopek was the first sub-14 5000 metres man. If a person were to run 100 miles per week on a regular basis, all sub-8 per mile and do intense: 8x500 metres @ 1500 race pace; 7x800 metres @ 3000 metres race pace; 6x1200 metres @ 5000 metres race pace and not get injured, one would race 5K much faster than 19 minutes.

Someone who can only run a 19 minute 5K should not be running 100mpw.

There is a simple calculation for this:

19 min 5k = 15,79 km/h

That came off 30 mi/w, 100 mile is 3 and 1/3 times more. So the speed increase should be the same obviously.

Thus final speed is 52,63 km/h and the 5k time would be 5:42.

So time cut would be 13:18.

That may actually be a conservative estimate if the 30 mile per week did not consist of the best workouts. So sub 5 may be possible.

Good advice. Shoot for 60 mpw first. See if you can sustain that and how much you improve. Then go from there.

I know 13 year old girls who can break 19 with 15 miles a week of running.

Bottom line, if you can't break 19 with, say, 30 miles a week, why are you wasting your time? Get a job, read great books, feed the homeless, cure cancer... there is so much more you can do with that quantity of time.

If you're really set on 100mpw, fine, but run marathons or ultras or something that can be a source of pride.

The world doesn't need more overtrained 19 minute 5K runners.

ironside wrote:

Zatopek was the first sub-14 5000 metres man.

Gunder Hägg ran 13,58 in 1942.

I agree that adding on mileage isn't the right answer. A couple of quality workouts a week with ~50 mpw should be enough to improve your 5k.

I see no reason for a 17 year old to be running 100 mpw unless they are an ultra runner.

I'll pretty much echo what others have said, don't get fixated on the 100mi/wk and seek balanced training ,the most likely outcome of ramping up mileage of a 30mi/wk 19min 5k-er is injury. BUT 6 months of well balanced training could easily take 2-3minutes of someone's 5k time.

I'll share a poorly remembered success story though. I few underclassmen friends spent a couple years on JV running 19-20 for 5k xc. Senior year, they decided to drop the other sports and got serious over summer (i think they did 60-70 mi/wk plus strides... And i'm sure whatever group runs they did turned into tempo efforts). They got down into the 17:XXs and i think the 16s for a race or two.

My two cents: don't go over 60 miles per week. Slowly introduce strides and hill sprints 1-2x per week (add one rep per sesh until up to ten). Take the next few months building up to these sprints and peak mileage. Then spend a few months introducing the other training elements (fartleks, tempos, progressions...). Then spend the last few months focusing on race specific workouts.