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It really depends! It took me one year to go from 19:30 to 17:30, and a year of almost no improvement until I was able to break 17! I also almost broke 16 that year.
I had one guy on my team go from 18:45ish to 17 flat this season.
I know this doesnt help too much, if you find yourself plateuing like I did, try switching to a different method for a few months!
Within a year with consistent, focused and dedicated training.
Go for it !
This is a bad question because there is no context. Could be 5 years or 3 weeks
Surely it depends on how much consistent and quality training it took for you to get to 18 minutes?
What was your training like when you broke 18? Miles per week? Types of workouts?
Lego Man wrote:
It really depends! It took me one year to go from 19:30 to 17:30, and a year of almost no improvement until I was able to break 17! I also almost broke 16 that year.
I had one guy on my team go from 18:45ish to 17 flat this season.
I know this doesnt help too much, if you find yourself plateuing like I did, try switching to a different method for a few months!
What was your original training like and how did you switch it up to make such big improvements? I have only been running for a couple years and have been steadily increasing mileage but still find myself having trouble making even small improvements in race times.
Took me from April to November at the ripe old age of 29. That was by going from 40 mpw to 70 mpw and losing another 5 lbs.
18:00 to sub 17:00 took me ~6 months, from 30 mpw to 40-50 mpw with some cross training on the bike and bad sleep/nutrition. Then, in the next 12 months I got down to 16:10 on 50-60 mpw. Now it will probably take years to get to around 15:00, if it's even possible.
As the others said, it depends.
During HS my team would train inconsistently in the summer. They ran 4-6 days a week for 2-3 months. Then 10 weeks of consistent training. My teams times dropped :45-1:30 for almost everyone during the 10 week period.
If you're a teen 400/800 athlete, it may not be worth the effort. I had a high school 400/800 XC and T&F teammate who was a 51.xx/2:01.xx guy. He never broke 18 for 5K XC in high school. Back then, we raced 3 mile XC more often. He never raced 3mi. XC equivalent to sub-18 5K.