How much faster could I get as a masters runner?

Absolute speed definitely declines in your 40s, but (if you've had a long break) endurance gets better. For me at least, 5ks are still more about absolute speed than endurance. I find I can still PR in the 10k and above, though the 10k is more because I never seriously raced it when I was younger. This is why so many Master's runners focus on marathons. You can PR in that into your mid to late 40s.

The age grade calculator is a good way of resetting your PRs after a long layoff. If you ran a 15:45 5k on the track at 22, you age graded to an 80.12 score. At 43, 17:16 5k and 35:00 10k are equivalent age grades on the roads. Also age grades out to a 1:16 half and a 2:40 marathon at 43.

runbundle.com

Age Grading Calculator

@runbundledotcom

What's your performance really worth?

Link:runbundle.com/tools/age-grading-calcul...

So to answer your question I think running a sub 16 5k in your 40s is unlikely (though some have done it). But given your previous age grade, something in the 17s is reasonable. But I think it'd take a fair amount of speed work to accomplish that because pure speed declines in your 40s. And with speed work especially too much speed work later in life, comes the risk of injury. Really Master's running should be about health and having fun. And sub 20 is enough to win most local Masters 5ks anyway.

OP is now 47 and has been hijacked by a spammer.

OP, with your impressive background 14+/5K reaching low 17 at 43 seems not just doable, but an easy task. E.g. I was not that fast in my youth (low 15/5K) and resumed consistent training at 60 only. Now at 65 and with 6 hours of training per week (running, elliptical, treadmill, xc-skiing in winter) can make it under 18:30. And, like you, I am overweight some 10-12 lbs vs. my good old young days. Good luck!

You suck! Do something useful with your life old man. Don’t you have a job? Haha 🖕

Orient?? What country do you live in?

You got this.

So at 43 you still have a few years where you can keep the decline at bay. The fact you took 20 years off definitely works in your favor in terms of injury reduction.

I did something similar where I stopped running at 18 and took it up again at 40. I am 46 now and have continued to get faster with increased training, my 10K PR at 18 was 39 and change but now I'm in the low 36's. I didn't do much at the 5K distance in HS but now my 5K is a bit faster than my 10K would predict.

Here in Sacramento we have a 54 year old who routinely throws down 10ks in the mid 35 to low 35s he was running in the high 33s in his late 40s so the decline is there but not dramatic, only a minute or so over 6 years.

My advice as a master's runner is to lift weights to augment your road training as we lose muscle mass as we age and our testosterone levels decline. I have found this helps a lot with the 5K and shorter distances.

Everyone is different but I think if you put in the training and avoid injuries you can pretty close to your younger PRs 43 though it will get harder to maintain as you progress through your 40s. However, that is going to take a lot of training, running in the low 16s is for a 5K is probably more realistic on 45-50 MPW and as others have said you might have better luck matching your PR at the 10K.

I should add the above all depends on how much time and energy you want to dedicate to training. If you lose another 15 pounds that would translate into 90 second improvement in the 5K and 3 minutes in the 10K. Now perhaps getting to your old race weight isn't realistic but even another 10 pounds would gain you a minute in the 5K so getting to 17 seems very realistic even if you stay at your current mileage.

No. You are not crazy. I did it. And I was never as good as you when younger. You're training looks rounded. Just needs a couple of years of consistent running.

Prefer not to answer to such personal attacks, but make an exception here....

I am a top-level manager in a large aerospace company. Love my job, paid very well. So, using your beggar terminology, you suck :-)

2 tell us please mkay

Somewhere in Europe.

Get you a coach.JS is the best coach you can get.

Contact me for magic online coaching. You will never regret. And did you know? I coach myself in a similar situation as yours. 24 years ago at age 40 I finished my elite running career and now I make a real atempt to run fast again in Masters world champs next year.

65 year old guy here, with continuous training logs going back to age 12 (53 years). Same PRs as you. The general trend after about 10 years of hard training (in my case ages 14 - 24) is inexorable slowing and decline.

Your big saving grace is your 20 year hiatus. I compete against a couple of guys who took that 20 years off in midlife and they beat me regularly. They have more pep in the legs and more fire in the belly.

You likely have a honeymoon period of about 5 years of improvement before the inevitable decline resumes. Don't run hurt, undertrain rather than overtrain, take a day off now and then, and find pleasure and joy in your workouts and competitions.

Similar story. Stopped running at 21. Started again when approaching 40. When I was young, I ran low 16:00s on sub-optimal training. After five years back, I've gone sub-2:40 in the marathon. Haven't prioritized the 5k, but I've gone sub-17 on marathon fitness. I think it would take you a few years, but with your talent low 16s or even sub-16 is possible. The key as others have mentioned is to be careful of overuse injury.

My wife is a former D1 scholarship runner, and her opinion is that
competing against your younger self is an exercise in frustration. For
one, most of us have a lot more going on as adults, a lot more stress,
than we did in high school or college. Second, most of us don't sleep as
well or as much as we did then, so it's harder to recover even if you
are able to train as much. So if you're only going to be happy if you
once again hit 14:XX for a 5K, you're likely going to be disappointed.
So as a fellow 43-year-old, I would recommend that you mentally
reset your PR's. Then was then. Now is now. But of course you likely
have a lot of upside compared to a 20-min 5K! And in smaller races, I
wouldn't be surprised if you start placing in your age group. :-) The
trick is staying healthy...

Definitely possible to get into the 17s and very probably under 17.

I'm a lifetime runner, and was running 17:50s at around 50, and actually improved to run 17:3x a couple of times in my mid-50s (in my case probably improvement due to adding in 100 minute runs once a week).

I think, if you stick with it for the next three years ago, you could have a shot at sub 17:00.