I was a semi-competitive post-college runner who ran a 4:03 mile on 60mpw which was mostly slow mileage and longer repeats (800m/1600m) when I could find the time. While in school I had my VO2max tested by a well-known physiology lab and it came back as 82 (vVO2max was 4:17 mile pace) which I was told was pretty good. My measured resting HR is 35 and max HR is 238. However I don't have any races or performances at 5,000m or greater to point to since it was never my focus. I think my hardest training run was 18 miles at 5:25 pace.
I had to cut back training during grad school but have tons of time now that I'm 30 with a stable job schedule and just completed a six-month build up to about 90-100 mpw while avoiding injury. I've always dreamed up breaking 4 in the mile but also have been toying with the ideas of trying to qualify for the 2020 olympic marathon since I have dual citizenship with a country that had 3 qualifiers for the 2016 Olympics who all ran ~2:16-2:18.
However I have no clue what it would take to make this "dream a reality" so I'm turning to the LRC experts about:
-What type of mileage should I be shooting for?
-When should I race and try to quality for 2020?
-What time should I shoot for to make sure I get selected for the team?
-Are there times at shorter distances I should shoot for first? (5K/10K/Half)