I started running 6 years ago. When I first started out, my PRs were horrible. Something along the lines on a 9:30 mile and a 33 minute 5k.
Anyway, in March 2013 I quite quickly (within 6 or so months) managed to get my mile at 6:55 and my 5k at 24:30 off basically doing crappy running (3 miles hard 4-5x a week and a long run which I also did at a hard pace) - I did absolutely NO easy paced running. I build up like doimg 1 mile a night hard for a 2 weeks, then 1.5 then 2 and so on.
Then I fell off the wagon and stoped running and put weight on but for my new year resolution I decided to stop drinking, smoking, get my weight sorted and take running seriously. Anyway I built my fitness back up and continued doing the whole 20mpw hard and over the next couple of years 2014-2016 my PRs went from 6:55/24:30 to 5:25/20:30 off the 20mpw routine I had. My weight came down from a bmi of 30 to a bmi of 20.
I wanted to get that sub 20 and also go sub 5 at some point but my times/fitness plateaued doing this sort of training (probably because. Was at it for a few years) so I’ve been reading these boards for a few years and to my knowledge from what I’ve read, the best way to build your stamina capacity is by running a LOT of easy milage and doing tempos and workouts less often but going fairly hard when you do. So I did this.
In 2016 I increased my milage from 20mpw all the way up to 60mpw by august. I did lots of easy running at 9 minute mile pace. I even did a few half marathons in the 1:40-1:45 range, a few 10ks in 43-46 min range and I was regularly (2-3 times a week) doing workouts like 5-6 mile tempos at 7:20 minute mile pace, lots of 30 minute tempos at 7 minute mile pace, 1krepeats at 5k race pace all after building up milage.
I have toned my miles down to do hard speedwork and even done some 400s at mile speed... But dispite all of this, now, in 2018 - I am still roughly in about the SAME shape I was in when I was doing the hard 20mpw. Currently, I’m in about 20:15-21:00 5k shape. I also did a 1.5 mile time trail a couple of weeks back and hit 9:02 all out. I am so confused and frustrated. I have had bloodwork checked. Iron, thyroid, you name it and there is nothing physical wrong that should be stopping me improving. I have very lowbody fat (tested at 8%), my body is pretty ripped, I have a resting heart rate of 40 bpm and my heart even recovers rapidly after hard exercise (by about 80bpm in 2minutes).. I look like a solid 15 minute runner but my times do not show any of this. My times are average at best, I have NON-RUNNERS who can kick my butt, it’s embarrassing.. Is it possible I have maxed out my running abilities and it just wasn’t meant to be? Should I pick up another sport? Am I more fast twitch? My sprint times are slightly better than my distance but not by much (13.5, 30, 65 and 2:30).
What gives? :( This sport is the only reason I am sober (yes, I replaced running with booze). It just sucks that I can’t seem to get good at it. Sometimes I don’t feel like it’s a good swap, I don’t feel the reward anymore dispite being consistant and getting out the door every day, eating lots pf veggies good diet to fuel training etc.