Best workouts for 3 miles in 7 weeks

What are you other PRs?

Running history?

In general, your best bet is going to be a combination of threshold/CV workouts, mileage, and a little bit of speed.

No other PRs. Haven't run a race since middle school...when I was a fatty.

Other than last year no real running history. I played lacrosse in high school, that's about it. I maxed out at 35 about 8 weeks ago. Each week I run my Sunday 8-10 mile long runs at about a 7:30-45 pace, a few easy jogs per week (I don't even keep track of pace on these), and one faster run about 6-7 miles at a 7-7:15 pace.

1k reps at sub 6 pace

How many?

First of all, because of you recent injury, you need to be really careful with increasing your mileage.

Your current training actually sounds pretty good for where you're at. Consistency is key.

You might benefit from adding in some basic speed on a frequent basis. Strides almost every day. Pick one day a week to do 6x200 at a crisp effort with full recovery (say, 90 s or so). You probably don't know what your mile pace is but these should be a bit faster than mile pace. If you have hills nearby do hill repeats instead.

It might also be time to add in some CV/LT work. Try 5x1k @ threshold pace with 90 s rest and see how that feels. Make sure to do a good warmup (15 minutes or so) and cool down (5-10 minutes). You can calculate your LT pace here:

http://www.runfastcoach.com/calc2/

Keep doing your faster 6-7 mile run every week. Try to do it over rolling hills if you can.

If you have access to a track, you might consider doing a mile time trial a week or two out from your goal race just to see where you're at and get a good, hard effort in.

Other than that, keep plugging along.

I would build up to doing 8 with 90 sec rest and once you get fitter decrease the rest time to 60 sec.

Thank you for the detailed response. I’ll incorporate your suggestions into training.