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I like what you are saying Nayan. Consistency is very important and another important factor is body weight. If you are carry a few extra pounds then it that would be a easy way to run faster by running lighter.
The issue is the OP wants to be able to do it on 3 runs a week which is possible but it's a bit like having your cake and eating it.
I am still struggling withy this concept. I know that lots of slow easy consistent miles are the mainstay of any runners programme, but (and particularly for 5k) surely your vo2 and lactate systems need regular attention??
I could see it being the case if perhaps you were running 5k in 30 mins or below, but at the end of the scale going from 19-18 mins off oredominantly easy miles seems too good to be true.
Millsy- would you mind saying how many miles a week you do and roughly what you run them at?
Monday - 6 m recovery (9m/m)
Tuesday - intervals 8x800 m (approx 6- 6.15 m/m) + warm up/ cool down
Wednesday- 12 miles easy (8.30- 9m/m)
Thursday- 6 miles at 6.40 (between half and full mara pace) with w/u and c/d
Friday- rest
Saturday - Parkrun ( if feeling good then flat out) if tired 5 miles v easy (9.30 m/m)
Sunday- long run 20-22 miles (8.30-9m/m)
Some Sundays I would incorporate a race into the long run eg. 4 mile warm up 13.1 race ( either at Marathon pace 6.50 - twice- or flat out for a PB - only once)
I averaged about 54 miles a week and averaged 2.5 sessions a week.
DT - it might be a similar concept to before; surely natural speed/aptitude has something to do with it too? i.e. if Millsy is just better at running than I am (which he clearly is), he's going to be able to go from 19 to 18 minutes by increasing his mileage but find he needs to do more speedwork to get to, say, 17 minutes. I might see a similar effect from half marathon training getting me down to, erm, 20 minutes 11 seconds
but need to do more specific training to get me down to 19:xx.
I agree with the point that I will prob need to do a lot more specific speed work to get to 17 mins and below. I can now do that (if I can be arsed) as I have built some strong foundations over the last 2 yrs. I'm just not keen on people diving straight into hard sessions after not much running experience. Most people can see very big improvements just by running more easy miles.
yes i accept the point that Millsy maybe genetically and physiologically a better runner and therefore able to adapt quicker and more easily than me.
So is what your saying Lit, that whilst that works for Millsy it may not b sufficient for me then?
Ther week posted above is not too disimilar from one of mine, albeit the long run is a couple of miles longer and the easy paces are all about 30 secs a mile slower.
Not necessarily - he might have been doing it for longer too and there are all sorts of variables. I'm just saying that everyone's going to have a different level they can get to without specific training so you can't just interpret what's easy and difficult based on what happens to be your current level.
Millsy - sod age grading, male vs. female etc. - you're a better runner if you can go faster.
I thought we agreed that the benchmark times i laid down were a mark of adequacy so not quite as extreme as easy or hard
its a difficult one there. Obviously at higher levels women have their own races and that must be for good reason.
In terms of the age thing, i think I would need to be a v60 before I started getting on my high horse and accpting credit on that side of things!!
Purely an experiment of one so no guarantee that it will work for anyone else so everyone has to find what works best for them.
I've been consistently PBing for the last 2.5 yrs so will re-evaluate when I stop improving. A lot of it has come from trial and error, if something works I will stick with it.
So I generally do 6 runs a week and out of these 6, two or three are those sessions.
Flob- Hitting 50 miles is not difficult to muster when one of your runs is circa 20 miles. That leaves six days to find 30 more. Obviously millsy has set out just how he did it. The above comes in at circa 55 miles (assuming the 800's session was about 6 miles).
I worked the average out from Jan 1st to VLM race day.
DT19. Well put it this way - I had just about got to sub20min for 5k before I ditched internvals and 10ks at my threshold pace (thats what I used to mean by a tempo run). Then I got into HADDing and most of my miles are now at about 70% of my max HR, ie pretty easy.
After about a month of that I chuicked a fast 5k into the middle of a 10k run and, feeling good that day, managed to hold 4min/KM relatively easily. It wqs a 'comfotably hard' efffort as opposed to the eyeballs out fast finish I had nweeded for my previous PB for 5k.
Thatwas with practically no intervals or threshold work. Just a lot of easyish running. Maybe at faster paces / better fitness levels you cant use the same tricck but at my current level it seems to be the thing to focus on (building an aerobic base).
You do make me laugh Nayan
on the point of what works for you, I have what i call the 'vomit threshold' that holds me back all the time in 10k and below. Some people struggle from lack of leg power, others rom cardio system, for me its my stomach.
Therefore the mainstay of my running at least twice a week was a complete flat out 5k time trial on the treadmill with a few other unplanned random runs and that got me all my current pbs. I am debating whether or not I should then reintroduce that as whilst its againt the majority of sensible advice it was working.
As for 50 miles a week it has taken me 4.5 yrs to get there so build it up slowly.
Play the long game and you will reap the benefits.